RT Journal Article
T1 Williams Syndrome, Human Self-Domestication, and Language Evolution
A1 Niego, Amy
A1 Benítez Burraco, Antonio
AB Language evolution resulted from changes in our biology, behavior, and culture. Onesource of these changes might be human self-domestication. Williams syndrome(WS) is a clinical condition with a clearly defined genetic basis which results in adistinctive behavioral and cognitive profile, including enhanced sociability. In this paperwe show evidence that the WS phenotype can be satisfactorily construed as ahyper-domesticated human phenotype, plausibly resulting from the effect of the WShemideletion on selected candidates for domestication and neural crest (NC) function.Specifically, we show that genes involved in animal domestication and NC developmentand function are significantly dysregulated in the blood of subjects with WS. We alsodiscuss the consequences of this link between domestication and WS for our currentunderstanding of language evolution.
PB Frontiers Media
SN 1664-1078
YR 2019
FD 2019-03
LK http://hdl.handle.net/10272/16423
UL http://hdl.handle.net/10272/16423
LA eng
NO Niego, A.,  Benítez Burraco, A. (2019). Williams Syndrome, Human Self-Domestication, and Language Evolution. Frontiers in Psychology, 10. DOI: https://doi.org/10.3389/fpsyg.2019.00521
NO This research was funded by the Spanish Ministry of Economy and Competitiveness [Grant FFI2016-78034-C2-2-P (AEI/FEDER, UE) to AB-B].
DS Repositorio Institucional de la Universidad de Huelva
RD 1 jun 2026