The First Word: The Search for the Origins of LanguageA compelling look at the quest for the origins of human language from an accomplished linguist Language is a distinctly human gift. However, because it leaves no permanent trace, its evolution has long been a mystery, and it is only in the last fifteen years that we have begun to understand how language came into being. The First Wordis the compelling story of the quest for the origins of human language. The book follows two intertwined narratives. The first is an account of how language developed—how the random and layered processes of evolution wound together to produce a talking animal: us. The second addresses why scientists are at last able to explore the subject. For more than a hundred years, language evolution was considered a scientific taboo. Kenneally focuses on figures like Noam Chomsky and Steven Pinker, along with cognitive scientists, biologists, geneticists, and animal researchers, in order to answer the fundamental question: Is language a uniquely human phenomenon? The First Wordis the first book of its kind written for a general audience. Sure to appeal to fans of Steven Pinker’s The Language Instinctand Jared Diamond’s Guns, Germs, and Steel, Kenneally’s book is set to join them as a seminal account of human history. |
Contents
Prelude | 1 |
LANGUAGE IS NOT A THING | 15 |
Sue SavageRumbaugh | 40 |
Philip Lieberman | 68 |
You have something to talk about | 91 |
You have words | 112 |
You have speech | 139 |
You have structure | 154 |
Species evolve | 207 |
Culture evolves | 226 |
Why things evolve | 243 |
WHERE NEXT? | 255 |
The future of language and evolution | 279 |
Acknowledgments | 301 |
323 | |
341 | |
Other editions - View all
The First Word: The Search for the Origins of Language Christine Kenneally No preview available - 2008 |
The First Word: The Search for the Origins of Language Christine Kenneally No preview available - 2008 |
Common terms and phrases
ability alarm calls animals apes Arbib argued baboon basal ganglia basic behavior biological bonobos chimp chimpanzees Chomsky Chomsky's Chomskyan cognitive color common ancestor communication complex complicated culture Deacon develop Diana monkeys dolphins evolution of language evolutionary evolved example experiments explained Fitch FOXP2 genes genetic genome gesture grammar guage Hauser Homo human brain human language idea imitation individuals innate Jackendoff Kanzi kind Kirby language evolution larynx linguistic look meaning mental million years ago mirror neurons monkeys mutation natural Neanderthals neurons Noam Chomsky orangutans origins of language Panbanisha Philip Lieberman Pinker and Bloom primates Ray Jackendoff researchers Savage-Rumbaugh scientists selection sentences sounds speak speakers species speech Steven Pinker structure Sue Savage-Rumbaugh symbolic syntactic syntax talk Terrence Deacon theory things thought thousand tion Tomasello tool trait ture understand unique University verb vervets vocal words wrote