Hypoglossal canal 3654199 213251090 2008-05-18T14:37:22Z Gracillis 4775916 [[th:ช่องประสาทกล้ามเนื้อลิ้น]] {{Infobox Bone | Name = Hypoglossal canal | Latin = canalis nervi hypoglossi | GraySubject = 31 | GrayPage = 131 | Image = Gray130.png | Caption = [[Occipital bone]]. Inner surface. | Image2 = | Caption2 = | System = | MeshName = | MeshNumber = | DorlandsPre = c_04 | DorlandsSuf = 12208711 | }} The '''hypoglossal canal''' is a bony canal in the [[occipital bone]] of the [[skull]]. ==Anatomy== It transmits the [[hypoglossal nerve]] from its point of entry near the [[medulla oblongata]] to its exit from the base of the skull near the [[jugular foramen]]. It lies in the [[epiphysis|epiphyseal]] junction between the basiocciput and the jugular process of the occipital bone. ==Theorized role in speech== The Hypoglossal canal has recently been used to try to determine the antiquity of human speech. Researchers have found that hominids who lived as long as 2 million years ago had the same size canal as that of modern day chimpanzees, some scientists thus assume they were incapable of speech. However, archaric H. sapiens 400,000 years ago had the same size canal as that of modern humans, meaning they could have been capable of speech. Some Neanderthals also had the same size hypoglossal canal as archaic H. sapiens. However recent studies involving several primate species have given inconclusive results as to whether there is any association between its size and speech <ref>[http://www.berkeley.edu/news/berkeleyan/1999/0224/talk.html 02.24.99 - Graduate Students Discredit Theory that Neanderthals Could Talk<!-- Bot generated title -->]</ref>. ==Additional images== <gallery> Image:Gray193.png|Base of the skull. Upper surface. Image:Gray308.png|Median sagittal section through the occipital bone and first three cervical vertebræ. </gallery> ==References== {{reflist}} ==External links== * {{SUNYAnatomyFigs|22|5b|15}} * {{NormanAnatomy|cranialnerves}} ({{NormanAnatomyFig|XII}}) * {{RocheLexicon|34257.000-1}} * {{RocheLexicon|34257.000-2}} * [http://www.uwo.ca/cns/resident/pocketbook/pictures/skullbase.jpg Image at uwo.ca] {{Skull}} {{Foramina of skull}} [[Category:Foramina of the skull]] {{musculoskeletal-stub}} [[th:ช่องประสาทกล้ามเนื้อลิ้น]]