The (Co)Evolution of Language and Music Under Human Self-Domestication

Autor: Aleksey Nikolsky, Antonio Benítez-Burraco
Rok vydání: 2023
Předmět:
Zdroj: Human Nature.
ISSN: 1936-4776
1045-6767
DOI: 10.1007/s12110-023-09447-1
Popis: Purpose. Together with language, music is perhaps the most distinctive behavioral trait of the human species. Different hypotheses have been proposed to explain why only humans perform music and how this ability might have evolved in our species. Methods. In this paper, we advance a new model of music evolution that builds on the self-domestication view of human evolution, according to which the human phenotype is, at least in part, the outcome of a process similar to mammal domestication, triggered by the reduction in reactive aggression responses resulting from environmental changes. Results. In the paper, we specifically argue that self-domestication can account for some of the cognitive changes, and particularly for the behaviors conducive for the complexification of music through a cultural mechanism. We hypothesize 4 stages in the evolution of music under self-domestication forces: collective proto-music, private timbre-oriented music, small group pitch-oriented music, and finally, collective tonally-organized music. This line of development encompasses the worldwide diversity of music types and genres and parallels what has been hypothesized for languages. Conclusion. Overall, music diversity might have emerged in a gradual fashion under the effects of our enhanced abilities for cultural niche construction, as shaped by the progressive decrease in reactive (i.e., impulsive, triggered by fear or anger) aggression and the increase in proactive (i.e., premeditated, goal-directed) aggression.
Databáze: OpenAIRE
Externí odkaz: