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We are born crying, but those cries signal the first stirring of
language. Within a year or so, infants master the sound system of their language; a
few years after that, they are engaging in conversations. This remarkable,
species-specific ability to acquire any human language -- "the language
faculty" -- raise... More

We are born crying, but those cries signal the first stirring of
language. Within a year or so, infants master the sound system of their language; a
few years after that, they are engaging in conversations. This remarkable,
species-specific ability to acquire any human language -- "the language
faculty" -- raises important biological questions about language, including how
it has evolved. This book by two distinguished scholars -- a computer scientist and
a linguist -- addresses the enduring question of the evolution of language.

Robert Berwick and Noam Chomsky explain that until recently the
evolutionary question could not be properly posed, because we did not have a clear
idea of how to define "language" and therefore what it was that had
evolved. But since the Minimalist Program, developed by Chomsky and others, we know
the key ingredients of language and can put together an account of the evolution of
human language and what distinguishes us from all other
animals.

Berwick and Chomsky discuss the biolinguistic perspective
on language, which views language as a particular object of the biological world;
the computational efficiency of language as a system of thought and understanding;
the tension between Darwin's idea of gradual change and our contemporary
understanding about evolutionary change and language; and evidence from nonhuman
animals, in particular vocal learning in songbirds.