THE EVOLUTION OF SPEECH AND LANGUAGE

Sa？etak The paper deals with the topic of the evolution of speech and language and aims to, through a multidisciplinary approach and based on different material and available data and results, answer the question of the appearance of modern language and speech. Especially interesting is the question of whether modern language appeared through the process of saltation or in combination with some other elements of “modernity” (the so called “Human revolution model” or “Cognitive revolution model”) or if it is a result of a longer evolutionary development in which certain conditions and elements necessary for the development of speech and language appeared before others did. The authors attempted to answer these questions through the results of comparative research done on our closest evolutionary cousins, apes, through comparative anatomy, fossil material and archaeological material sensu stricto, that is, through remains of material culture. Based on available material, we conclude that modern language is a result of a long evolutionary development and that different elements appeared at different times during the evolutionary history of the tribe hominini