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How language began : the story of humanity's greatest invention / Daniel L. Everett.

by Everett, Daniel Leonard.

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Liveright Publishing Corporation, a division of W. W. Norton & Company, 2017.

Language and languages -- Origin.

Human communication.

Psycholinguistics.

9780871407955 (hc.)

First American edition.

xviii, 330 pages : illustrations ; 25 cm.

Includes bibliographical references and index.

Introduction -- Part One: The First Hominins; 1. Rise of the Hominins -- 2. The Fossil Hunters -- 3. The Hominins Depart -- 4. Everyone Speaks Languages of Signs -- Part Two: Human Biological Adaptations for Language; 5. Humans Get a Better Brain -- 6. How the Brain Makes Language Possible -- 7. When the Brain Goes Wrong -- 8. Talking with Tongues -- Part Three: The Evolution of Language Form; 9. Where Grammar Came From -- 10. Talking with the Hands -- 11. Just Good Enough -- Part Four: Cultural Evolution of Language; 12. Communities and Communication -- Conclusion.

"Mankind has a distinct advantage over other terrestrial species: we talk to one another. But how did we acquire the most advanced form of communication on Earth? Linguist Daniel L. Everett provides a comprehensive examination of the evolutionary story of language, from the earliest speaking attempts by hominids to the more than seven thousand languages that exist today. Although fossil hunters and linguists have brought us closer to unearthing the true origins of language, Daniel Everett's discoveries have upended the contemporary linguistic world. While conducting field research in the Amazonian rainforest, Everett came across an age-old language nestled amongst a tribe of hunter-gatherers. Challenging long-standing principles in the field, language began, Everett theorizes, with Homo Erectus, who catalyzed words through culturally invented symbols. Early humans, as their brains grew larger, incorporated gestures and voice intonations to communicate, all of which built on each other for 60,000 generations. Tracing crucial shifts and developments across the ages, Everett breaks down every component of speech, from harnessing control of more than a hundred respiratory muscles in the larynx and diaphragm, to mastering the use of the tongue. Moving on from biology to execution, Everett explores why elements such as grammar and storytelling are not nearly as critical to language as one might suspect. In the book's final section, Cultural Evolution of Language, Everett takes the ever-debated "language gap" to task, delving into the chasm that separates "us" from "the animals." He approaches the subject from various disciplines, including anthropology, neuroscience, and archaeology, to reveal that it was social complexity, as well as cultural, physiological, and neurological superiority, that allowed humans - with our clawless hands, breakable bones, and soft skin - to become the apex predator. How humans went from mere communication to language. An invaluable study of what makes us human."--Provided by publisher.

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