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“It is very clear to me that Neanderthals spoke”

2022-01-16T20:48:00.774Z


The paleontologist José María Bermúdez de Castro has been elected academician of the Royal Spanish Academy where he will occupy the letter K


The paleoanthropologist José María Bermúdez de Castro, at the Paseo Sierra de Atapuerca Museum, in Burgos, last March. Ricardo Ordóñez (EL PAÍS)

José María Bermúdez de Castro (Madrid, 69 years old) acknowledges that most of his literary production is not in Spanish. The paleontologist, co-director of the Atapuerca sites in Burgos, is a world leader in the study of human evolution and the relevant science is published in English. “I am sure that the first articles I wrote in Spanish, many years ago, have hardly been cited. In Spanish we have missed the train of science and we write in English”, he admits. Despite this, last December he was elected an academic by the plenary session of the Royal Spanish Academy (RAE) to occupy the letter K, perhaps to fight in that complicated language battle.

From that position, as the biologist Margarita Salas did at the time or now the physicist José Manuel Sánchez Ron, he will contribute his experience so that the academy continues to fulfill its function, recognized in its statutes, of ensuring that the changes experienced by the Spanish language in its constant adaptation to the needs of its speakers, it does not break the unity it maintains throughout the Hispanic sphere.

In this process of adaptation, the language of science is a source of continuous novelties that requires special attention, and he promises all his effort: “The more you make me work, the better.

For me it is a great gift and I want to reciprocate”.

Ask.

Is it possible to increase the use of Spanish in science if the scientific production of Spanish speakers continues to be a minority?

Answer.

Without a doubt, if science were Spanish, there would be many terms in Spanish.

But high-impact journals, where scientific results are published, are in English, which is a complicated situation.

We are very good in literature, music, but in science there are many scientists outside, because that is where they can prosper.

Q.

If we look at the history of the evolution of our species, in the last 50,000 years we see a trend towards homogeneity.

50,000 years ago we lived with other human species such as Neanderthals, erectus or Denisovans.

Now there is only one.

And the same thing happens with languages.

200 years ago hundreds of languages ​​were spoken on Earth that today have disappeared.

How do you see Spanish in the face of this homogenization?

R.

If you apply it to biology, it is seen with the Neanderthals themselves. Their groups are isolated and reduced during the last great ice age and in the end

Homo sapiens

stays with the entire planet. Something similar can happen with languages ​​and it is also much faster.

We are in a globalization to which language is no stranger. Languages ​​also travel with people. And in countries where there are many languages, because there are many human groups, those with few speakers tend, if not to disappear, to see their use reduced. Spanish, like English, French or Chinese, are the ones that have the most presence and the ones that will be learned in addition to the specific language of a place. They are the languages ​​that you can use when you arrive in any country, although, obviously, the most useful language in that sense is English. This phenomenon is planetary. But in any case, Spanish must be defended as much as possible, because it is a very predominant language on the planet, very beautiful, and it is our language.

P.

Science is an activity where objectivity is valued, but in which the subjective aspects that are incorporated with language can also have a lot of influence. A few days ago we saw the case of

flurone

, a neologism that mixes parts of the word flu and coronavirus in English to refer to coinfection by both viruses. It was something that had been going on since the beginning of the pandemic, but they give it a new name and suddenly panic breaks out. Language, also in the scientific field, has an effect that can completely change the perception of the same fact.

R.

Yes, it is curious how we are amazed at new words.

And it is also interesting that it is an English name, which seems to sell more, as is done when you want to sell more of a product.

It seems absurd to me, but I don't know, we were ecstatic, as if it were something magical.

Q.

Is it possible to know when language arose?

A.

I believe that the language is many, many years old, 40,000 years old and possibly more. Within the Atapuerca project, Ignacio Martínez Mendizábal and Mercedes Conde Valverde have done one of the most beautiful works I know on the subject through audition. It seems to me that it is the best way we have of approaching language because the soft parts of the vocal apparatus, the tongue, the larynx, the vocal cords, the lungs, almost all disappear. And with the brain, which is what controls everything, the same thing happens. All of this is not left to us in the fossil record. What we do have left is the receiving organ.

Ignacio Martínez and Mercedes Conde, together with acoustic engineers, have generated models using the metric, morphological variables, etc., that exist in the middle ear and the inner ear of fossils.

The result is that the audiometry of Neanderthals practically coincides with ours.

They could perceive consonants.

We have a very complex vocal apparatus and thanks to that vocal apparatus and our understanding of vowels we can establish words with the different phonemes and understand their meaning

Many mammals, like chimpanzees or monkeys, produce a vowel when they howl, but we have consonants, which are very difficult to pronounce. We have a very complex vocal apparatus and thanks to this vocal apparatus and our understanding of vowels we can establish words with the different phonemes and understand their meaning. If you look at an audiogram from a chimpanzee, which is completely different from ours, or an audiogram from a Neanderthal, which is like ours, it seems obvious that Neanderthals heard the same frequencies and with the same intensity as we do. Therefore, it is very clear to me that this implies the ability to understand a language.

I am practically convinced that the Neanderthals had a language like us.

And surely they could also emit a series of sounds that would serve to describe their natural environment.

They still can't tell you, look at a tiger or a lion, but look at that beast that is dangerous.

It is very clear to me that Neanderthals spoke.

what language?

I don't know, but of course they had the capacity to emit a series of sounds that could include consonants similar to those we have, which are complex.

The R, for example, is not pronounced by just anyone.

It would be very difficult for a British person and we have that ability because of our vocal apparatus and because we have learned it since we were born listening to our parents.

Languages ​​are part of the cultural legacy of humanity and must be preserved, and this diversity must not be lost

I am convinced that Neanderthals could talk and possibly we could understand each other in some way when we met in the Levantine corridor. In the sites where there are

Homo sapiens

, tools typical of the Neanderthals appear. There is a very clear exchange of material information between them and us. And, therefore, surely the language was not very different and favored the exchange and even the hybridization that took place.

P.

The appearance of language would enhance the capacity for human socialization, essential in our species, but the appearance of different languages ​​is also something that fosters aversion towards the different ones, a trait that is also very typical of humans. Is it possible that this trend towards the homogenization of languages ​​that we are experiencing with globalization supposes a loss of diversity, but can also help reduce the antagonisms between human groups?

R.

It is clear that language unites us, but it also separates us.

Globalization is possible thanks to the fact that we are able to understand each other through a vehicle that is the common language.

Diversity is partly disappearing and if you go to a hotel in China, for example, you will find rooms very similar to the ones we have in Spain.

Everything has been homogenizing little by little and the language also tends to that homogenization.

Languages ​​are part of the cultural legacy of humanity and must be preserved, and this diversity must not be lost.

But in the end, to trade or attract customers in a global market, you either speak the dominant language or you get nothing.

Q.

What are your goals as a scientist at the RAE?

R.

To begin with, you know that this was a very pleasant surprise for me, because I did not apply.

So I still don't know exactly what role I can have in the RAE.

I am not going to work on questions of philology and I am not an expert in lexicography either.

I am a scientist and I will work on everything you ask me to apply that knowledge and that experience.

This will almost coincide with my professional retirement from science, so I'll have a lot more time to spend on these things.

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Source: elparis

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