Parlare e masticare:la rinfunzionalizzazione della masticazione per lo speech motor control

Aim of this work is to show the evolutionary connection between the chewing movements and the development of species-speci c traits useful for speech in Homo Sapiens. This study will demonstrate how motor control of masticatory system affects the whole body homeostasis and its interactions are reciprocal for the production of human articulated lan- guage. In this perspective we consider speech as the product of a slow evo- lution of structures previously used for primary purposes and then adapted to new purely human functions (refunctionalization).