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Dewey Decimal Number: 400 Format: Bargain Price Label: Viking Adult Manufacturer: Viking Adult Number Of Items: 1 Number Of Pages: 368 Publication Date: July 19, 2007 Publisher: Viking Adult Studio: Viking Adult Related Items:
Browse for similar items by category: Click to Display Editorial Review: Product Description: An accessible exploration of a burgeoning new field: the incredible evolution of language The first popular book to recount the exciting, very recent developments in tracing the origins of language, The First Word is at the forefront of a controversial, compelling new field. Acclaimed science writer Christine Kenneally explains how a relatively small group of scientists that include Noam Chomsky and Steven Pinker assembled the astounding narrative of how the fundamental process of evolution produced a linguistic apeĀin other words, us. Infused with the wonder of discovery, this vital and engrossing book offers us all a better understanding of the story of humankind. Average Rating:
 Rating:  - The first book to trace breakthroughs in the new field of language historyLanguage's use and development has received much discussion elsewhere, but this is the first book to trace breakthroughs in the new field of language history, showing how a handful of scholars took evolutionary linguistics from speculation to fact-supported science, and surveying how words were made and disseminated. An excellent reader both for college and high-school level linguistics collections and for general readers interested in literary development. Diane C. Donovan California ... Read More Rating:  - An overview of the discussionIf you're looking for details on the various schools of thought for the origins of language, go to the sources - Chomsky, Pinker, et al. Several of the reviewers here thought that's what this was (or should have been), but as one remarked, it would have to have been four times longer than it was. The First Word is not a technical deep dive; it is an overview of the debate, and as such mirrors many of the biases in the debate. For example, much is said about how Noam Chomsky had (and in many ... Read More Rating: - Very Informative and ApproachableI thought this was a very fair and balanced approach to the biological and social history behind the development of human language. Though it does not draw any particular conclusions, it presents the reader with several well researched expert opinions on the subject and makes heavy use of science as backup. I am sure it wasn't the absolute authority on the subject of evolutionary linguistics, and there may well be some issues with the book, but I thought it was a great and approachable read for those of us ... Read More Rating: - The Search is the ThingThe key word in the title of this book is "search." No one knows much about the evolution of the capacity for language in humans, and even the current state of the capacity is the subject of fundamental debate. Kenneally is best at describing the history and sociology of the conflicting parties to the debate. In the process, the reader will learn a good deal about the structure of the human brain, the nature of adaptation in evolutionary theory, the physiology of sound production, the relationship between communication ... Read More Rating: - difficult read; don't try to read on vacation (as I did)this was a tough read; I had to force myself to pick it up each time; tough read while on vacation (and I'm a neurologist interested in language...) 
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