Though language can exist without well-developed speech abilities (many modern languages can be whistled, hummed, or signed), there can be no speech without language. Neanderthalensis did not have speech capabilities like those of sapiens. But they most certainly could have had a working language without a sapiens vocal apparatus. The inability of neanderthalensis to produce /i/, /a/ and /u/ (at least according to Philip Lieberman) would be a handicap for speech, but these ‘cardinal’ or ‘quantal’ vowels are neither necessary nor sufficient for language (not necessary because of signed
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