article_snippet.sent: The hierarchical complexity found in present-day language is likely to have been present in human language since present-day language emergence,' says Shigeru Miyagawa, Professor of Linguistics at Massachusetts Institute of Technology.
article_snippet.sent: But according to Professor Miyagawa, single words bear traces of syntax showing that they must be descended from an older, syntax-laden system, rather than from simple, primal utterances. '
article_snippet.sent: Since we can find syntax within words, there is no reason to consider them as 'linguistic fossils' of a prior, presyntax stage,' no reason to consider them as 'linguistic fossils' of a prior, presyntax stage adds.
article_snippet.sent: Professor Miyagawa has a different theory about what created human language.
article_snippet.sent: In his paper, Professor Miyagawa writes that a single word today can be 'internally complex, often as complex as an entire phrase,' making it less likely that words we use today are descended from a presyntax mode of speech. '
article_snippet.sent: Hierarchical structure is present not only in single words, but also in compounds, which, contrary to the claims of some, are not the structureless fossilised form of a prior stage,' his says.
article_snippet.sent: Andrea Moro, a professor of linguistics at the Institute for Advanced Study in Pavia, Italy, who edited the paper, calls the paper a 'very interesting' critique of the idea that human language developed gradually.
article_snippet.sent: However, Professor Moro suggests there is an 'intuitive difference' between cases where words assemble to form either a compound word or a sentence.
article_snippet.sent: Professor Moro believes it is possible that studies of the concept of 'symmetry-breaking,' a potentially distinctive part of sentence formation, 'may offer new empirical data to test the hypothesis and shed light on the birth of human language.'
highlights_snippet.sent: Professor Shigeru Miyagawa notes single words bear traces of syntax .
  
highlights_snippet.sent: Professor Shigeru Miyagawa says this shows the words came from an older, syntax-laden system .
  