Introduction

Language and migration constitute two of the characteristics of Homo sapiens . In the same way that our ability to communicate through a complex symbolic system distinguishes us from other animals, including our closest evolutionary relatives, our propensity to migrate, most notably exemplified by the great human migration out of Africa about 80,000 years ago, distinguishes us from other hominid species, all now extinct. It has been argued that it is precisely the combination of language and migration that has resulted in the globally dominant position of our species ( Gugliotta, 2008 ).