The Origin and Diversification of Language

Language gives human beings the gift of amazing behavioral flexibility, and yet much remains to be known about how we developed the sophisticated linguistic skills that we take for granted. In this volume, a range of distinguished scientists from disciplines as diverse as primatology, archaeology, neurobiology, and linguistics present the latest evidence on the origin, spread and diversification of language.

The ability of human beings to communicate practical and symbolic information of great complexity to one another through the medium of articulate speech is one of the hallmarks of our species. But as with many other key innovations in human evolution, the beginnings of language did not leave direct traces in the fossil record. The exploration of various kinds of indirect evidence has thus proven essential. Making use of the most recent theoretical developments and technological breakthroughs, the contributors to this volume bring a new perspective to questions of language origins and diversification.

Distributed for the California Academy of Sciences

Nina G. Jablonski is Irvine Chair of Anthropology and Chair of the Department of Anthropology at the California Academy of Sciences. Leslie C. Aiello is Professor of Biological Anthropology at University College, London.