A Change in Diet May Have Transformed Human Language

“In Europe, our data suggests that the use of labiodentals has increased dramatically only in the last couple of millennia, correlated with the rise of food processing technology such as industrial milling,” explains Steven Moran, one of the two co-first authors of the study. “The influence of biological conditions on the development of sounds has so far been underestimated.”
Interdisciplinary approach to verify hypothesis

The project was inspired by an observation made by linguist Charles Hockett back in 1985. Hockett noticed that languages that foster labiodentals are often found in societies with access to softer foods. “But there are dozens of superficial correlations involving language which are spurious, and linguistic behavior, such as pronunciation, doesn’t fossilize,” says co-first author Damián Blasi, of the University of Zurich and the Max Planck Institute for the Science of Human History.

In order to unravel the mechanisms underlying the observed correlations, the scientists combined insights, data and methods from across the sciences, including biological anthropology, phonetics and historical linguistics. “It was a rare case of consilience across disciplines,” says Blasi. What made the project possible was the availability of newly developed, large datasets, detailed biomechanical simulation models, and computationally intensive methods of data analysis, according to the researchers.

“Our results shed light on complex causal links between cultural practices, human biology and language,” says Balthasar Bickel, project leader and UZH professor. “They also challenge the common assumption that, when it comes to language, the past sounds just like the present.” Based on the findings of the study and the new methods it developed, linguists can now tackle a host of unsolved questions, such as how languages actually sounded thousands of years ago. Did Caesar say “veni, vidi, vici” – or was it more like “weni, widi, wici’”?

Contacts and sources:
Anne GibsonMax Planck Institute for the Science of Human History

Citation: D. E. Blasi, S. Moran, S. R. Moisik, P. Widmer, D. Dediu, B. Bickel
Human sound systems are shaped by post Neolithic changes in bite configuration.
Science (2019)