Language Plateaus in Evolution?

May, 2007

In reading[1] about the different levels of human language competency that plateau at various ages (6, puberty, etc), it made me wonder if those capabilities mirrored those of our ancestors at various stages of evolution. Just as a human embryo looks like amphibians, etc as it is developing (in a mirror of DNA development over the ages), maybe language skill levels that jump in quantum leaps mirror primate evolution?

[1] Introducing Chomsky, John Maher, Judy Groves, Icon Books, 1996.