Practice question · Multiple choice
The human descended larynx increases choking hazards yet expands phonetic range. Why does this morphological trade-off support natural selection for speech over simple non-adaptive drift?
Hints
- Why would natural selection preserve an anatomical feature that directly endangers survival?
- What relationship must exist between a physical penalty and an evolutionary advantage?
Show the answer
B. Adaptive benefits must outweigh survival risks
Why
Costly traits persist only when conferring strong selective advantages that offset their survival penalties. Misinterpreting this as drift overlooks the severe fitness cost of choking, while viewing vowel expansion as a mere byproduct ignores the anatomical trade-off.
Practise Origins, Evolution and Linguistic Relativity
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