Abstract

The recent studies devoted to the special role that auditory hallucinations plays in schizophrenic syndrome open up new perspectives on the problem of the origin of language. Highlighting the interplay of biological and cultural evolutionary conditions which served as a background to the emergence and affirmation of the audio ‐ vocal language, this studies activate a variety of disciplines that converge synergistically in a new image of the hominization process and of the role that the phono‐ auditory system – and related phenomena such as brain lateralization – have played in the “construction” of the human body and mind. Comparing some recent phenomenological and neurobiological theories of auditory hallucinations, we will attempt to identify a middle path that, through the aesthesiological description of the structural characteristics of the phono ‐ auditory modality, allow to shed new light on the evolutionary advantages and risks associated with the acquisition of spoken language.