The first word : the search for the origins of language

Summary: The search for the origin of human language has finally come of age. For centuries, progress in Ur-language research was slow and spasmodic; many scientists came to believe that there was no definitive way to answer its central questions. Then, in the past 20 years, everything changed. Linguist Kenneally shows how linguists, cognitive scientists, animal researchers, biologists, and geneticists have all contributed valuable new insights into language evolution.--From publisher description.

Record details

ISBN: 9780670034901 (alk. paper)
ISBN: 0670034908 (alk. paper)
Physical Description: print
viii, 357 p. ; 25 cm.
Publisher: New York : Viking, 2007.

Content descriptions

Bibliography, etc. Note:

Includes bibliographical references (p. [323]-340) and index.

Formatted Contents Note:

pt. 1. Language is not a thing. Noam Chomsky -- Sue Savage-Rumbaugh -- Steven Pinker and Paul Bloom -- Philip Lieberman -- pt. 2. If you have human language. You have something to talk about -- You have words -- You have gestures -- You have speech -- You have structure -- You have a human brain -- Your genes have human mutations -- pt. 3. What evolves?. Species evolve -- Culture evolves -- Why things evolve -- pt. 4. Where next?. The future of the debate -- The future of language and evolution.