How did vocal language originate? Before trying to determine how referential vocabulary or
syntax may have arisen, it is critical to explain how ancient hominins began to produce
vocalization flexibly, without binding to emotions or functions. A crucial factor in the vocal
communicative split of hominins from the ape background may thus have been copious,
functionally flexible vocalization, starting in infancy and continuing throughout life, long
before there were more advanced linguistic features such as referential vocabulary. 2–3�…