I don't think I have ever mentioned Liam O'Leary...not because he is of no importance but because he is not needy. Every now and then I go through the throes of pretending that I have to move out tomorrow and I begin clearing...I am about to throw out the following clipping but I can't resist posting it!
Geneticists find missing link in evolution of language.
The roots of spoken language trace back to one common ancestor in Africa. Linguistic Eve, as the lead scientist calls this first human to possess a key language gene, was not necessarily a woman, but was the first person whose lips, mouth and face were agile enough to form the precise structures of speech.
Eve, whose natural gift for gab grew out of a random mutation which has since spread throughout all humanity, lived in Africa between 200,000 ad 300,000 years ago, before humans migrated to Asia and Europe. Eve's mutation was marked by a key leap in the evolution of language but it remains to be learned whether it was the great leap out of silence - from gesturing to speech - or whether it allowed grunts and groans to evolve into more finely enunciated grammatical sentences.
I hadn't even thought of muscles when addressing grammatical correctness!
