redrobinbookreviews

The First Word: The Search for the Origins of Language   Christine Kenneally
Well-written, informative, and scholarly overview of current research and thinking about the origins of human language. Very well organized. Deftly covers the ideas that have lead to linguists’ current understanding of how humans evolved language. The idea that language evolved, and the mechanism(s) of how it evolved, are new, so Kenneally spends a lot of time speculating on the future of the field. Other than the speculations, an excellent book. Learned a lot.