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"Language and Species" presents the most detailed and well- documented scenario to date of the origins of language. Drawing on "living linguistic fossils" such as "ape talk", the "two-word" stage of small children, and pidgin languages, and on recent discoveries in paleoanthropology, Bickerton shows how a primitive "protolanguage" could have offered "Homo erectus" a novel ecological niche. He goes on to demonstrate how this protolanguage could have developed into the languages we speak today. "You are drawn into [Bickerton's] appreciation of the dominant role language plays not only in what we say, but in what we think and, therefore, what we are".--Robert Wright, "New York Times Book Review" "The evolution of language is a fascinating topic, and Bickerton's "Language and Species" is the best introduction we have".--John C. Marshall, "Nature" Derek Bickerton is professor of linguistics at the University of Hawaii and is the author of several books including "Roots of Language".
