出版社：Consejo Superior de Investigaciones Científicas
摘要：The presence of Neanderthal DNA in some human genomes has been recently confirmed, and hence the feasibility of a (limited) interbreeding between Neanderthals and modern humans. We discuss if such a genetic transference could help to explain the cognitive profile of the formers, and particularly, if it could be used, along with other diverse lines of evidence (paleoanthropological and archaeological), to infer the possession of modern language by this species. Nevertheless, both the genetic data and the complementary evidences are suggestive of complex language plausibly being a human innovation. All the same, this possibility is still compatible with the evolutionary continuity of the diverse biological and cognitive devices that contribute to language processing and ultimately, with the possibility of Neanderthals being endowed with some kind of (less computationally complex) language.
关键词：Archaeology;Biolinguistics;Cognition;Modern language;Neanderthals;Paleoanthropology;Phylogeny;Upper Pleistocene;Western Palaearctic;Arqueología;Biolingüística;Cognición;Filogenia;Lenguaje moderno;Neandertales;Paleoantropología;Paleártico occidental;Pleistoceno superior
