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	Mohrbooks Literary Agency Sebastian Ritscher
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Society & Social Sciences

THE ORIGIN OF LANGUAGE

Madeleine Beekman

How Homo Sapiens Learned to Speak and Why

In a radical new story about the birth of our species, The Origin of Language argues that it was not hunting, fighting, or tool-making that forced early humans to speak, but the inescapable need to care for our children.

Journeying to the dawn of Homo sapiens, evolutionary biologist Madeleine Beekman reveals the "happy accidents" hidden in our molecular biologyDNA, chromosomes, and proteinsthat led to one of the most fateful events in the history of life on Earth: our giving birth to babies earlier in their development than our hominid cousins the Neanderthals and Denisovans. Faced with highly dependent infants requiring years of nurturing and protection, early human communities needed to cooperate and coordinate, and it was this unprecedented need for communication that triggered the creation of human languageand changed everything.

Infused with cutting-edge science, sharp humor, and insights into the history of biology and its luminaries, Beekman weaves a narrative that's both enlightening and entertaining. Challenging the traditional theories of male luminaries like Chomksy, Pinker, and Harari, she invites us into the intricate world of molecular biology and its ancient secrets. The Origin of Language is a tour de force by a brilliant biologist on how a culture of cooperation and care have shaped our existence.

Madeleine Beekman is Professor of Evolutionary Biology and Behavioral Ecology Emerita at the University of Sydney, Australia. Mother Tongue was conceived on sabbatical at the Institute for Advanced Study in Berlin. She has held fellowships at Cornell, Stellenbosch University (South Africa), and the University of Wageningen (the Netherlands). The author of nearly 200 scientific articles, she is a member of the academic board of the oldest continuing scientific journal, Philosophical Transactions of the Royal Society of London.

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Book Published 2025-08-05 by Simon & Schuster

Comments

Beekman uncovers the evolutionary mysteries behind human speech in this riveting exploration of our linguistic past. As artificial intelligence reshapes communication, understanding the deep roots of human language has never been more crucial. A must-read for anyone seeking essential insights to navigate our rapidly evolving technological future.

Dutch: Uitgeverij Nieuwezijds S&S UK Portuguese (Portugal): Betrand

An entertaining and enlightening examination of the roots of speech.

Beautiful, playful, and all-encompassing. Beekman elegantly delves into that most elusive and tantalizing aspect of our evolution: language. On every page there's something that makes you smile and think, 'I didn't know that!

A rigorous examination of the evolution of human communication. Compelling, thought provoking, and hugely entertaining. I learned even as I laughed.

With a knack for making complex topics accessible and interesting, Beekman guides us through human evolution, with stops along the way to explain why we walk upright and why babies are cute but koalas are boring. She persuasively argues for childcare as the linchpin in the evolution of our ability to speak, and shows how language, that extraordinary human accomplishment, engages in an exquisite to-and-fro with the brain.