Open challenges in understanding development and evolution of speech forms: The roles of embodied self-organization, motivation and active exploration

TL;DR

This paper reviews key scientific challenges in understanding how speech forms develop and evolve, emphasizing embodied self-organization, motivation, and active exploration as crucial factors.

Contribution

It highlights the importance of embodied self-organization, motivation, and curiosity-driven exploration in speech development and evolution, offering a perspective on their roles in speech formation.

Findings

Embodied self-organization influences speech form emergence.

Motivation and active exploration are vital in speech development.

Evolutionary perspectives link developmental mechanisms to speech origins.

Abstract

This article discusses open scientific challenges for understanding development and evolution of speech forms, as a commentary to Moulin-Frier et al. (Moulin-Frier et al., 2015). Based on the analysis of mathematical models of the origins of speech forms, with a focus on their assumptions , we study the fundamental question of how speech can be formed out of non--speech, at both developmental and evolutionary scales. In particular, we emphasize the importance of embodied self-organization , as well as the role of mechanisms of motivation and active curiosity-driven exploration in speech formation. Finally , we discuss an evolutionary-developmental perspective of the origins of speech.