Hostname: page-component-6bf8c574d5-qdpjg Total loading time: 0 Render date: 2025-03-02T16:29:18.017Z Has data issue: false hasContentIssue false
  • English
  • Français

Steven Mithen, The language puzzle: Piecing together the six-million-year story of how words evolved. New York: Basic Books, 2024. Pp. viii + 534.

Review products

Steven Mithen, The language puzzle: Piecing together the six-million-year story of how words evolved. New York: Basic Books, 2024. Pp. viii + 534.

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  31 January 2025

Norbert Francis Open the ORCID record for Norbert Francis [Opens in a new window]
Norbert Francis*
Affiliation:
College of Education, Northern Arizona University, Flagstaff, AZ 86001, USA norbert.francis@nau.edu
Get access Rights & Permissions [Opens in a new window]

Abstract

An abstract is not available for this content so a preview has been provided. Please use the Get access link above for information on how to access this content.
Image of the first page of this content. For PDF version, please use the ‘Save PDF’ preceeding this image.'
Type
Book Review
Information
Journal of Linguistics , First View , pp. 1 - 5
Check for updates
Copyright
© The Author(s), 2025. Published by Cambridge University Press

Access options

Get access to the full version of this content by using one of the access options below. (Log in options will check for institutional or personal access. Content may require purchase if you do not have access.)

References

REFERENCES

Darwin, C. 1981 (1871). The descent of man, and selection in relation to sex. Princeton, NJ: Princeton University Press.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Everett, D. 2017. How language began: The story of humanity’s greatest invention. New York: Norton.Google Scholar
Fitch, W. T. 2013. Musical protolanguage: Darwin’s theory of language evolution revisited. In Bolhuis, J. J. & Everaert, M. (eds.), Birdsong, speech, and language: Exploring the evolution of mind and brain. Cambridge, MA: MIT Press.Google Scholar
Francis, N. 2024. The evolution of communication and language in the voices of nature. Biology and Philosophy, 39.11, 1–13.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Hauser, M., Yang, C., Berwick, R. C., Tattersall, I., Ryan, M. J., Watumull, J., Chomsky, N. & Lewontin, R. C.. 2014. The mystery of language evolution. Frontiers of Psychology, 5, 401, 1–12.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Mithen, S. 2006. The singing Neanderthals: The origins of music, language, mind and body. Cambridge: Harvard University Press.Google Scholar
Pinker, S. 2013. Language as an adaptation to the cognitive niche. In Christiansen, M. H. & Kirby, S. (eds.), Language evolution, 16–37. Oxford: Oxford University Press.Google Scholar
Wray, A. 2002. The transition to language. Oxford: Oxford University Press.CrossRefGoogle Scholar