Language Evolution

From renowned neuroscientist Dr. Vyshedskiy comes a bold and original account of the evolutionary journey that led to humanity’s most defining trait: syntactic language. Drawing on over 40 years of research and his acclaimed course Neuroscience of Consciousness and the Evolution of Language at Boston University, Vyshedskiy masterfully bridges cutting-edge neuroscience with anthropology, linguistics, and evolutionary biology.70,000 years ago, Earth was home to at least six human species. Today, only Homo sapiens remain. What set us apart?

More than 30 years after his landmark book Evolution: A Theory in Crisis (1985), biologist Michael Denton revisits his thesis about the inability of Darwinian evolution to explain the history of life. From the origin of life to the origin of human language, the great divisions in the natural order are still as profound as ever, and still unsupported by the series of adaptive transitional forms predicted by Darwin. Denton makes a provocative new argument about the pervasiveness of nonadaptive order throughout biology, order that cannot be explained by the Darwinian mechanism.

In a radical new story about the birth of our species, The Origin of Language argues that it was not hunting, fighting, or tool-making that forced early humans to speak, but the inescapable need to care for our children. Journeying to the dawn of Homo sapiens, evolutionary biologist Madeleine...

With stories that entertain as much as they inform, renowned evolutionist David Sloan Wilson outlines the basic principles of evolution and shows how, when properly understood, they can illuminate the length and breadth of creation, from the origin of life to the nature of religion. What is...

Forget the language instinct—this is the story of how we make up language as we go Language is perhaps humanity’s most astonishing capacity—and one that remains poorly understood. In The Language Game, cognitive scientists Morten H. Christiansen and Nick Chater show us...

Fifty thousand years ago - merely a blip in evolutionary time - our Homo sapiens ancestors were competing for existence with several other human species, just as their precursors had done for millions of years. Yet something about our species distinguished it from the pack, and ultimately led to its survival while the rest became extinct. Just what was it that allowed Homo sapiens to become masters of the planet? Ian Tattersall, curator emeritus at the American Museum of Natural History, takes us deep into the fossil record to uncover what made humans so special.

"A gripping guide to the modern taming of the infinite." —New York Times Part history, part philosophy, part love letter to the study of mathematics, Everything and More is an illuminating tour of infinity. With his infectious curiosity and trademark verbal pyrotechnics, David Foster Wallace...

As language evolves faster than ever before, what is the future of 'correct' style? With wry cleverness and an uncanny intuition for the possibilities of Internet-age expressiveness, Favilla argues that rather than try to preserve the sanctity of the written language as laid out by Strunk and White, we should be concerned with the larger issues of clarity, flexibility, playfulness and political awareness. Her approach to the new rules - as practical as they are fun - will fascinate and delight believers and naysayers alike.

It is widely understood that Charles Darwin’s theory of evolution completely revolutionized the study of biology. Yet, according to David Sloan Wilson, the Darwinian revolution won’t be truly complete until it is applied more broadly—to everything associated with the words “human,”...

Born into a digital wonderland, our children are practically mini hackers right from the crib! Most of them were handed a device before they could walk, they clicked before they took their first bite and scrolled before they said their first words. But living online is a giant uncontrolled...

In this ambitious book, Jieun Kiaer explores the lives of English words in the twenty-first century, when the creation and use of language has become an increasingly dynamic, interactive, and diverse process in which ordinary people have taken leading roles—offering such coinages as "flexitarian," "MeToo," "glow up," and "shitizen" to "No sabo kids" and beyond. As English language grows ever more diverse, Kiaer believes, we need a paradigm shift.

Grumps the goat gets angry with everyone and everything all the time. The other animals try to reason with him but when something goes wrong, he just can't help himself. One day, something convinces Grumps that it's really not nice to be so angry. What brings about this change? Listen to find...

Snoffle the squirrel is very, very, very silly. She can't take anything seriously. But one day, an incident in Foggy Forest makes her feel very serious indeed. What happens and what does Snoffle learn. Listen to find out...

Woops the worm worries about everything. But one day, something happens that makes him not only stop worrying but also tell someone else not to. What do you think makes him forget all his worries? Listen to find out...

Prickles the porcupine is painfully shy. She can't bear to talk to anyone. But one day, her best friend, Woops the worm, decides to help her stop being so shy. What does Woops do? Listen to find out...

Zee the zebra is always moping around. One day, all the animals in Foggy Forest decide to show Zeezee how being sad is a downer for everyone. What do they do and how does Zeezee react? Listen to find out...

Uff the snail is always sulking. And, naturally, no likes a moody friend. But there is someone who cares. Who helps Uff forget his sulks. Listen to find out...