The Cradle of Language

This book is the first to focus on the African origins of human language. It explores the origins of language and culture 250,000-150,000 years ago when modern humans evolved in Africa. Scholars from around the world address the fossil, genetic, and archaeological evidence and critically examine the ways it has been interpreted. The book also considers parellel developments among Europe's Neanderthals and the contrasting outcomes for the two species. Following an extensive introduction contextualizing and linking the book's topics and approaches, fifteen chapters bring together many of the most significant recent findings and developments in modern human origins research. The fields represented by the authors include genetics, biology, behavioural ecology, linguistics, archaeology, cognitive science, and anthropology.

Rudolf Botha is Emeritus Professor of General Linguistics at the University of Stellenbosch, Honorary Professor of Linguistics at Utrecht University, and a Fellow of the Netherlands Institute for Advanced Study (2001-02 & 2005-06). His books include Form and Meaning in Word Formation: A Study of Afrikaans Reduplication (CUP 1988), Challenging Chomsky: The Generative Garden Game (Blackwell 1989), and Unravelling the Evolution of Language (Elsevier 2003).
Chris Knight is Professor of Anthropology at the University of East London. Best known for his 1991 book, 'Blood Relations: Menstruation and the origins of culture', he helped initiate the Evolution of Language (evolang) series of international conferences and has published widely on the evolutionary emergence of language and symbolic culture. His next book will be The Human Conspiracy: Speech, deception and the selfish gene.