The Origins of Language: An Introduction to Evolutionary Linguistics

This book offers an introduction to the multidisciplinary subject of evolutionary linguistics, which seeks to explain the biological origins of language and its subsequent development in humans.Roughly six million years ago, a branch of hominids from the forests of East Africa started to thrive in the drier environment created by the East African Rift System.A host of physical developments culminated in the brains of early humans increasing dramatically in size and cognitive power.Influenced by a unique and complex social organisation, communication signals became much more diverse and dependent on memory and learning mechanisms.But language is not only used to interact with our fellow beings.It is also closely connected to our thoughts. This makes language a biological, social, cultural and cognitive phenomenon all at once.What precise role did each of these aspects play in the emergence of language and how were they all coordinated to produce the most sophisticated communication syst