The evolutionary origins of human musicality remain unresolved despite extensive interdisciplinary research. Traditional accounts have conceptualized music either as a byproduct of language (Pinker, 1997) or as an adaptive system associated with social cohesion and emotional regulation (Mithen, 2005). Both perspectives, however, presuppose the existence of complex symbolic or cultural systems and do not adequately address earlier forms of vocal organization. This study proposes a systems-based integrative model in which musicality emerges from proto-vocal prosodic systems predating both language and music. These systems are hypothesized to consist of short, connected vocal units organized through motor continuity and characterized by modulation of pitch, intensity, and temporal structure. Drawing on evidence from paleoanthropology, genomics, auditory neuroscience, and cognitive science, the model argues that early vocal communication operated primarily through prosodic and affective dynamics rather than symbolic representation. It further proposes that both language and music diverged from this shared substrate through processes of functional differentiation. This framework positions musicality as an emergent property of interacting biological systems and provides a coherent and testable model for future interdisciplinary research.
Emilio Bueno Salazar (Sun,) studied this question.