Language Origins: Perspectives on Evolution

A cross-section of current work in language evolution is provided by cognitive scientists working in a number of disciplines. They cover how spoken language emerged, how syntax and morphology emerged, what can be learned from other species, and how languages emerged and diverged. The 17 papers were originally presented to an international conference on language evolution held in March 2002 at Harvard University. Annotation ©2006 Book News, Inc., Portland, OR

Maggie Tallerman is Reader in Linguistics at the University of Newcastle-upon-Tyne. She has spent her professional life in North East England, having previously taught for 21 years at the University of Durham. Her research interests centre on the origins and evolution of syntax and morphology; modern Brythonic Celtic syntax and morphology; and language typology. She is the author of Understanding Syntax (1998; second edition 2005), and has published widely on the morphosyntax of modern Welsh and Breton, as well as on language evolution. She was review editor for the Journal of Linguistics from 1994 to 2005.