The paradox of speech: how humans became the most talkative primate

The paradox of speech: how evolutionary simplification made humans the most talkative primate

Join us for Professor Jacob Dunn’s Inaugural Professorial Lecture, in which he will explore why humans can speak in eloquent, complex sentences, while our closest primate relatives rely on just a handful of calls.

In this acoustic adventure through the primate world – from the booming roars of howler monkeys to the haunting songs of gibbons, Professor Jacob Dunn will explore the surprising story of how human speech evolved – not through gaining complexity, but by losing it. Drawing on his fascinating research into primate evolution and behaviour, he will reveal how the evolutionary loss of vocal membranes and air sacs - features still found in monkeys and apes – helped our ancestors produce clearer, more stable sounds. Join us to discover how evolution has shaped diverse pathways to vocal complexity – and what makes our voice, and that of other primates, so extraordinary.

Join us for the talk from 6pm and a free drinks reception from 7pm.

This is the in-person event. Click here to join us for the online event.

About our speaker

Professor Jacob Dunn is Professor of Evolutionary Biology at Anglia Ruskin University. He is a behavioural ecologist, broadly interested in the biology and evolution of communication systems in humans and other animals (mostly primates). His research takes a broad, multi-disciplinary perspective, ranging from detailed descriptions of vocal anatomy, through to recording animal sounds, carrying out playback experiments, and using comparative analyses to test evolutionary hypotheses. He regularly shares his research through high-impact publications, invited talks, and public science outreach events.

Jacob is the Principal Investigator of the Primate Evolution and Ecology Research (PEER) Group at ARU and leads funded projects with international collaborators, including fieldwork in Bolivia and Mexico. He also holds appointments as Visiting Professor in Bioacoustics at the University of Saint Etienne and Senior Research Fellow in Cognitive Biology at the University of Vienna. Before joining ARU in 2016, Jacob was a Lecturer in Biological Anthropology at the University of Cambridge.

[LS 10.12.25]