Homo lingua, we talk all the time now. Twitter and texting (sexting!) rule the hubbub. The ultimate tool, language has been used to check genetic data indicating that behaviorally modern humans migrated out of Africa, across the Red Sea, roughly 50,000 years ago. Our first language was click, like Khoisian, or the !Kung and San. The San, in particular, show the widest genetic diversity, and this is considered the best indicator of founding population. Similarly, the widest genetics for apples is found in Kazakhstan, so it is the home of the apple tree.

Eden was probably crowded and contentious, with groups fighting over waterholes, or women. (Amazon Yanomamo laughed at researchers that asked if they fought over food.) But the exodus led across the Arabian Peninsula, into India, and was likely also contentious, given the previous expansion of Homo Erectus and Habilis. This could be where we get legends of trolls and ogres, which could also be Neanderthal, which met the second group of migrants that turned west across Turkey, into Europe. ("Before the Dawn" by Nicholas Wade, is a good source on this.)

It's fascinating to think about the reasons language started. Theories have included grooming becoming gossip and hunters making plans. I doubt the latter, since the plan would be usually the same, and while hunting, no one is talking. I think we can take some clues from what we do now.

Studies show that men have larger speaking vocabularies, and women larger comprehension. This is predicted if speech is what geneticists call a fitness indicator, a peacock's tail. It takes spare brainpower to speak entertainingly, and it takes good comprehension to discern the better speaker. Note that elaborate chitchat is not seen in sports bar with male-only populations ("Da Bulls.")

Other evidence is that everyone can speak (pretty much) so this is a deeply valuable attribute, thus evolved long ago, long before we left Africa, and also that we have a single grammar, inherited from the San. But another peacock's tail that is universally admired, and shared by all to some extent, is musical skill, especially singing. Nearly everyone can recognize simple tunes, even if they can't carry one. Ever considered why there are groupies for scrawny rock singers?

And a good speech just won the office of President (lots of good speeches, of course, and good policy, but...). So how do we get to this from no speech?

A guaranteed cool skill for kids is to make cool sounds, whistling, blowing into cupped hands, fake farts, etc. Blade of grass between thumbs (makes a good predator call, too). Imitating animals is common in farm communities ("Soooo-eee!!") Would have been useful in hunting, in warning of danger, in communicating during battle with other groups. Would have been effective at confusing rival groups, if one group had a big talent. One guy might have been enough.

And we have heard lots recently about "mirror" neurons. These aid mimicry as well as empathy, and might be the result of selection for imitating.

So I think speech and song arose roughly simultaneously. Both song and story have the attribute of rejecting nonsensical substitutions, improving data permanence. Both are universal. And both can be used for the opposite purpose.

During the Korean War, Chinese battles were launched with musical signals, playing of a flute or trumpet. Kodak chemists would time exposures with popular songs. Work songs, sea chanties, aided mechanical activity. And words can move us in our bodies, as art, not just instructions. One writer said that writing was saying with words what could not be said with words. Mark Twain said the right word had an effect that was both prompt and electric.

And words can give us immortality. Humans will remember things our loved ones said, that our leaders said, that our artists said, that our kids said. Some of those will passed along, and so on. Homer, the Bible, the Greek plays, Dante, Cervantes, are immortal now.

For those who bemoan the impermanence of digital data, think about the impermanence of a told story. With a good audience, it's not a worry.

A priest, a minister, a rabbi, a monkey, and a horse walk into a bar, and the bartender says, "What is this, some kind of joke?"