Books in the Approaches to the Evolution of Language series

While no direct evidence for the origin and evolution of language exists, Barnard looks to the present to explain the past, focussing on how modern hunter-gatherers, as non-literate people, use and perceive language. This fascinating book will be welcomed by all those interested in the evolution of language.

Since Darwin's theory of evolution, questions about the origin of language have generated a rapidly-growing scientific literature. Tecumseh Fitch cuts through this vast literature, bringing together its most important insights to explore one of the biggest unsolved puzzles of human history.

Written by one of the pioneers of the field, this is the first book to explain how speech and gesture evolved together into a system that all humans possess. David McNeill challenges the popular 'gesture-first' theory and proposes a groundbreaking theory of the evolution of language.

Evolution has not typically been recognised by linguists as a constraining factor when developing linguistic theories. It critiques a currently dominant framework in the field of linguistics - the Minimalist Program - by showing how it fails to take evolution into account.

The way language as a human faculty has evolved is a question that preoccupies researchers from a wide spread of disciplines. In this book, a team of writers has been brought together to examine the evolution of language from a variety of such standpoints.

The way language as a human faculty has evolved is a question that preoccupies researchers from a wide spread of disciplines. In this book, a team of writers has been brought together to examine the evolution of language from a variety of such standpoints.

The lack of direct evidence about language evolution makes it notoriously difficult to study. The Windows Approach gleans indirect evidence about it from phenomena such as fossil skulls, prehistoric shell-beads, homesign systems, pidgin languages and motherese. Botha elucidates, analyses and appraises this approach in detail.