This question can be answered empirically, but we must acknowledge that establishing function may be problematic, especially when dealing with biological systems, which often have multiple functions. Well, the foregoing is rather longer than I intended, but it is necessary to treat these things with some care to avoid confusion. I hope I have succeeded, at least in part. Think 2, June 1993, pp. Continuous Computation and the Emergence of the Discrete.
Words Lie in Our Way.
A Unifying Model in Language and Cognition.