Speech is unique to humans, and this is true for three main reasons.
Your larynx is low in your neck with a long air column above your vocal cords. Because of this physical design you can make clear vowel sounds. And the back of your tongue extends deep down into your neck and modulates air flow to make clear consonant sounds. Contrast that with apes that have a flat, horizontal tongues leaving them unable to make consonant sounds.
As cool as those two facts are they pale in comparison to this…you have a prewired brain that can learn and convey abstract ideas. Now, don’t stop and say anything at all right now. Just mull that over in your prewired brain for a moment.
OK…did you mull? Good. Now, think about your favorite color. Mine’s blue (as if you couldn’t tell by the design of my website). There are so many things your mind can conjure up just by thinking of a color. But even better than that…you can describe the word pictures your mind is conjuring up in words that other humans can understand. Then, they can actually understand your meaning even if it doesn’t coincide with the mere scientific facts of why our eyes can see the color blue.
Do you get what I’m telling you? See the significance of this trio of design traits? Scientists admit they can find no evolutionary development to explain our speech center in our brains. Of course, a Christian who believes the word of God when it says He created us with every capability isn’t stumped. We know that we’re prewired for making and understanding speech by the most intelligent being in the universe.
Yes, speech is unique to humans.
But if you disagree…I’m willing to talk about it.
It does my heart good to know I’m not some inconsequential little animated pile of carbon. I’m confident I’ll leave more than a footprint here on earth. I’m going to live forever with the One who gave me awareness of my own existence. And I’m going to love every minute.
In Faith, Hope, and Love,
