- Hardcover: 256 pages
- Publisher: Basic Books; 1 edition (7 May 2009)
- Language English
- ISBN-10: 0465002196
- ISBN-13: 978-0465002191
- Product Dimensions: 23.1 x 16.3 x 3 cm
- Amazon Bestsellers Rank: 796,507 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)
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"(A) neat story, built from bits of primatology, paleoanthropology and other disciplines, that broadens into interesting notions about the co-evolution of music and art. Necessarily, this is all speculative ("it is likely that", "may also have" and so on), but no more so than any other such theory. There is something magnificent, finally, about the long path our species has blazed from baby-reassuring nonsense vocalisations to Eminem."
--The Guardian, 16th August 2009
--The Guardian, 16th August 2009
Product Description
Scientists have long theorized that abstract, symbolic thinking evolved to help humans negotiate such classically male activities as hunting, tool making, and warfare, and eventually developed into spoken language. In Finding Our Tongues, Dean Falk overturns this established idea, offering a daring new theory that springs from a simple observation: parents all over the world, in all cultures, talk to infants by using baby talk or Motherese. Falk shows how Motherese developed as a way of reassuring babies when mothers had to put them down in order to do work. The melodic vocalizations of early Motherese not only provided the basis of language but also contributed to the growth of music and art. Combining cutting-edge neuroscience with classic anthropology, Falk offers a potent challenge to conventional wisdom about the emergence of human language.
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7 reviews
9 of 10 people found the following review helpful
"Finding our Toungues" - an entertaining and informative read.
29 April 2009
Format:Hardcover
"Finding our Tongues" is an exceptionally well written, informative and entertaining work - a fast read that I couldn't put down. I have spent a significant amount of time studying Spanish in the past 6 months and as a result I experienced several Ah-Ha moments while reading Falk's explanation of the stages of acquiring language. I was inspired by the way that the author pulled together evidence from many disciplines and knitted it all together to support her thesis that the evolution of language was driven by the interactions between mothers and infants and the need to "put the baby down". This would be an excellent book for anyone who has or is planning on having children and who would like to understand the stages of language acquisition. Having read this book I find myself hearing babies cry in a totally different way. If you are interested in the evolution of language, music, art or child development you must read this book!
5 of 6 people found the following review helpful
A delightful piece of original research
15 May 2009
Format:Hardcover
Science, social science and language libraries alike at the high school to college levels will appreciate FINDING OUR TONGUES: MOTHERS, INFANTS & THE ORIGINS OF LANGUAGE. It provides a new theory of communication: that parents all over the world in all cultures use 'baby talk' to communicate with their children, and that it's this language that formed the foundation of human language. His discussion of 'motherese' is a delightful piece of original research.
5 of 6 people found the following review helpful
An Alternative Perspective
2 May 2009
Format:Hardcover
When linguists think about the origins of human language, they are really interested in the origins of grammar. How did grammar come about? For instance, when and why did early people stop naming actual things and start using nouns, like tree and rock, more powerfully as abstract categories with no reference to anything specific in the natural world. At that point a grammatical system, syntax, would be needed to refer to a specific tree or rock, perhaps one not visible at the moment.
Dr. Falk, as an evolutionary anthropologist, approaches the subject of language origin from a different (though complementary) perspective. She is interested, for example, in why humans would communicate with each other at all. How did such an impulse evolve? What is the connection between human messages and human nature? What role did mothering and infant needs play? Out of what other forms of communication, such as gestures and music, might the complex verbal system have taken its cues? Even if one focuses on grammatical issues in language development, it is useful to be aware of the broad view of evolving human nature that Falk presents. And beyond that, her book is a great read, page after page filled with fascinating bits of information about everyone's favorite topic--ourselves.
--Dr. William Murdick, author of "What English Teachers Need to Know about Grammar"
Dr. Falk, as an evolutionary anthropologist, approaches the subject of language origin from a different (though complementary) perspective. She is interested, for example, in why humans would communicate with each other at all. How did such an impulse evolve? What is the connection between human messages and human nature? What role did mothering and infant needs play? Out of what other forms of communication, such as gestures and music, might the complex verbal system have taken its cues? Even if one focuses on grammatical issues in language development, it is useful to be aware of the broad view of evolving human nature that Falk presents. And beyond that, her book is a great read, page after page filled with fascinating bits of information about everyone's favorite topic--ourselves.
--Dr. William Murdick, author of "What English Teachers Need to Know about Grammar"
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