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316voluntary vocalizations is ignored when hominid vocal communication is discussed.Although no evidence exists either for or against voluntary vocal production inchimpanzees, it is known that some monkeys do produce calls voluntarily. Why, then,should the monkey evidence not be used to consider the possibility that early hominidswere capable of referential vocal production?” (King, 1994:109). In the last few yearsKanzi, a bonobo that provided some of the most remarkable examples of the ape’s abilityto comprehend human language, also provided evidence that apes can control their vocalchords as well as their hands. It was noticed that every time Kanzi communicated withhumans with specially designed graphic symbols, he also produced (obviouslyvoluntarily) some vocalization. It was later found out that Kanzi was actually producingthe articulate equivalent of the symbols he was indicating, or, in other words, he wassaying (articulating) these words, although in a very high pitch and with some distortions(Greenspan & Shanker, 2004:163).The localization of musical abilities in the right hemisphere and of language (andspeech) in the left hemisphere was another major obstacle for acceptance of the vocaltheory. A closer look revealed that the seemingly simple dichotomy “music is in righthemisphere, and language is in left hemisphere” is not so simple. When music signals arelearned from early childhood, they are localized in the left hemisphere:• Avian birds acquire their species-specific songs during the earliest period oftheir development. As a result, their songs are controlled by the left hemisphere of theirbrains (Nottebohm, 1971, 1972; Bright, 1984; Bradshaw & Rogers, 1993).• Most professional musicians learn music consciously from quite earlychildhood. This must be the reason why there is lateralization of part of their musicalknowledge in the left hemisphere (Henson, 1985).• The pitch-based element (intonation) of tone languages is acquired (learned) inearly childhood, long before the acquisition of articulated sounds of speech (Kessen et al.1979:98-99; Clumeck, 1980:259-265; Moskowitz, 1991:148). As a result the system oftones of tone languages is also localized in the left hemisphere (Gandour et al. 1988).Thus, musical activities, which are transmitted culturally (learned) during the individual’searly development, are localized in the left hemisphere in both animals and humans.• Despite the fact that study of lesions (brain damage cases) are pointing to thelocalization of music and language in different parts of the brain, studies based on brainimagingmethods (or a study of normally functioning brains, when the areas involved indifferent activities are identified) provide important proof of close links between musicand language processing in our brains. One of the biggest authorities in this sphere,Isabelle Peretz, wrote “In my view, the only consensus that has been reached today aboutthe cerebral organization underlying music concerns pitch contour processing. The vastmajority of studies point to the superior temporal gyrus and frontal regions of the rightside of the brain as the responsible areas for processing pitch contour information.However, it remains to be determined if this mechanism is music-specific, since theintonation patterns for speech seem to recruit similarly located, if not identical, braincircuitries” (Peretz, 2003. Cited from Mithen, 2005: 65).As to the brilliant works concerned with teaching ASL (American SignLanguage) and other non-vocal forms of communication to the apes, they provide us witha unique possibility to understand the cognitive capacities of our closest living relativesbut they can hardly tell us much about the early history of the development of language