How did language appear? How did we start talking? What was the first conversation about? The origin of language is one of the greatest mysteries of history. We are still far from solving it, but with the help of archaeology, neuroscience, linguistics, and biology we can draw conclusions, reject old hypotheses, and ask new questions.
The search for the origin of language begins many millions of years ago, when modern apes and humans were taking separate evolutionary paths, and ends about five thousand years ago, when the first languages emerged that resembled modern ones.
In this book, the scientist-linguist Sverker Johansson presents new theories about how and why people started to speak, and also introduces you to the ideas of Chomsky and other recognized linguists. If you want to understand how human language came about and why we talk the way we do, this book is for you.