What do phylogenetic trees ... like spoken language, arose much more recently (in this case, very recently, as speech is a uniquely human trait). Thus, understanding the evolutionary history ...

There are currently ∼7,000 different living human languages. The peak of language diversity may have been ∼10,000 years ago when up to 20,000 different languages might have been spoken.

In the new study, Dunn and Gray's team created evolutionary trees for eight word-order features in humanity's best-described language groups -- Austronesian, Indo-European, Bantu and Uto-Aztecan.

New research on the rhythmic drumming and complex calls of chimpanzees could point scientists to the origins of language.

Some of the ‘letters’ had changed.” In addition to shedding light on the evolution of human language, researchers say that gaining a deeper understanding of NOVA1 could have important ...

Scientists in Darwin’s time and through most of the 20th century could only work out the branches of the evolutionary tree of life by looking at the structure and appearance of animals and plants.