Did Neanderthals speak like New Zealanders?
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Neanderthals have spoken out for the first time in 30,000 years, with the help of scientists who have simulated their voices using fossil evidence and a computer synthesizer.
And they may have sounded a bit like New Zealanders.
Robert McCarthy, an anthropologist at Florida Atlantic University in Boca Raton, used new reconstructions of Neanderthal vocal tracts to work out how they would have sounded, NewScientist.com reported.
The conclusion is that Neanderthals spoke, but lacked the "quantal vowel" sounds that underlie modern speech and which provide cues that help speakers understand one another.
By modelling the sounds that a Neanderthal larynx would have made, McCarthy's team engineered the sound of a Neanderthal saying "e."
In contrast to a modern human "e," the Neanderthal version lacks a quantal hallmark, which helps a listener distinguish the word "beat" from "bit," for instance.
- Reuters
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i'll say. this is just plain insulting.
It would take a neanderthal to believe that 'they' have fossil evidence of a neanderthal.
Neanderthals of the world, unite! You have nothing to lose but your voices!
Thanks to posters for the Saturday morning laugh! What a great way to start the day!
That'll explain why we have an exceptional rugby team aye...aye, aye bra!
Munky - how do you know? There is very little evidence of Neanderthals having culture like modern homo sapiens - for example, evidence of burials with personal goods, or art.
Clan of the Cave Bear doesn't count.
Wonder if Cavemen were obsessed with Rugby as well??
This seems to be a bit far-fetched, I saw nothing linking the title and article together.
As a new arrival to NZ I fully concur with the findings of this report.
It pains me to listen to the, dare I say it, appalling vocal skills of the average NZ'er ! Lets go back to basics... Its Yes... not Yis
Funney Eh !
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Anyone stopped to think what a Neanderthal REALLY is?? Keep in mind all the frauds/fabrications made for Piltdown Man, Nebraska Man etc. Whilst Piltdown, Nebraska etc were fakes, Neanderthal was certainly real...just not in the way we have been led to believe by the wonderful visions of interpretative science. If they are transition fossils on the so called 'path' to man, then why do they have greater brain capacity than 'modern' man especially when brain size is given as one of the characteristics of an improved position along the evolutionary track. Maybe we are just getting dumber (no surprise there either)?! Maybe Neanderthal people really are humans? - now there is something we could all look a little harder into. Use that brain and think for yourselves instead of just swallowing someones attempt for scientific funding.