A new article based on Shigeru Miyagawa’s Integration Hypothesis of language evolution was just published this week in Frontiers in Psychology, “The precedence of syntax in the rapid emergence of human language in evolution as defined by the integration hypothesis” (Vitor Nóbrega and Shigeru Miyagawa). Shigeru Miyagawa’s co-author, Vitor Nóbrega, is a Ph.D. candidate at the U of Sao Paulo. Frontiers is a respected scientific journal with high impact rating.

In related news, the BBC is producing a 30-minute radio program on Miyagawa’s work, to air in May on Radio 4, their biggest radio network with millions of listeners.

The Integration Hypothesis of human language evolution holds that human language is composed of two components, E for expressive, and L for lexical. Each component has an antecedent in nature: E as found, for example, in birdsong, and L in, for example, the alarm calls of monkeys. E and L integrated uniquely in humans to give rise to language.