The Language Puzzle

April 8, 2024
In this fascinating analysis, archaeologist Mithen (The Singing Neanderthals) chronicles human ancestors’ progress from grunts and screams to jokes and poetry. Primate studies offer insight into the origins of language, Mithen contends, suggesting that chimpanzees’ combination of grunts, barks, and other noises in predictable sequences might indicate primitive syntax. Tracing how the physical evolution of the brain, tongue, throat, and ears gave hominins more intelligence and articulate vocal tracts, Mithen argues that by one million years ago homo erectus was likely uttering “iconic words,” whose sounds mimic features of the objects they describe (“Languages throughout the world use hard consonants for father, as in dad and pa, and soft, vowel-like consonants... for mother, as in mommy”). The Neanderthals developed bigger vocabularies and sentences governed by grammar, and were followed by homo sapiens, whose more sophisticated brains invented abstract words and metaphors that made language a font of cognitive creativity. In down-to-earth prose, Mithen weaves a wealth of genetic, linguistic, and paleoanthropological research into a coherent tapestry, with surprising revelations about Stone Age communication as well as present-day language. (Babies automatically process the frequency with which certain syllables follow each other to pick discrete words out of speech.) The result is a stimulating inquiry into the origins of language. Agent: George Lucas, InkWell Management.

April 15, 2024
Readers of this book likely know at least 50,000 words and speak around 16,000 every day. Mithen provides the story of how they came to do it. Language, like history or biology, is a massive field of study, and a one-volume overview is no mean feat. Mithen, a professor of early prehistory and author of The Singing Neanderthal, combines lucid prose with a lifetime of experience in this compendious exploration of linguistics, anthropology, neuroscience, geography, genetics, and philosophy. The author explains that modern languages (there are around 7,000) arrange words into "meaningful utterances using rules to modify and place them into a particular order." Without languages, we would still be living as Stone Age hunter-gatherers. "Unlike toolmaking, walking on two legs, and complex patterns of social relations," writes Mithen, "language has remained stubbornly aloof from the primate world, becoming the last bastion of human uniqueness." The term miraculous, a shopworn word in science writing, remains a universally accepted description of how infants learn one or even several languages perfectly in a few years. Adults find it much harder. Raised as human children, even the most brilliant chimpanzee never attains the proficiency of a 2-year-old human. In 15 lengthy chapters, the author explores such a wide range of topics that the book serves well as a popular, definitely not dumbed-down account of human evolution. Some chapters--e.g., on primate communication, or the vocal tract--contain more information than many readers may want to know. Others (fire, toolmaking) are informative, despite covering areas well served by entire books. Dramatic advances in neuroscience and genetics haven't turned up a brain area or genes specific for language, but there is no doubt that the words we use influence how we perceive the world. An expert education into "the most fundamental aspect of the modern mind."

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Starred review from June 1, 2024

Archaeologist Mithen (early prehistory, Univ. of Reading; Land of the Ilich) casts a wide, scholarly net in this account of how human evolution and the "ratchet effect" (one development leading to another) took society from grunts to cuneiform tablets to today's use of computational evolutionary linguistics for studying language development. He presents so much material and multidisciplinary research that readers might feel a little overwhelmed at first, but most will find it reassuring that it is all here. Readers may want to focus on the "kiss-squeaks" and "travel hoos" of apes; the anatomical features of word formation in humans; the political implications of language usage; or, perhaps most remarkable of all, the miracle of how children learn to speak. Helpful charts and illustrations enhance the clarity of Mithen's explanations. But he is also willing to consider alternative explanations for things and does so without being dismissive. His enthusiasm for words is evident in his engaged and accessible writing style. VERDICT A brilliant, generous, expansive, and joyful book about the evolution of language.--Ellen Gilbert

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