2007-12-01 good - if slightly complex account of current thinking on language evolution

This is an interesting is sometimes difficult account of current thinking around language evolution. Kenneally argues that there is no one single language organ, but a range of faculties that allow us to use language. She also explains that as language evolved, it shaped us, as much as we shaped language. She remains open minded on the (for some people) critical question of whether the mastery of language reflects some distinctive capacity that is uniquely human.

This isn't an easy book and as a lay reader I struggled with it. I was very glad to have first read Steven Pinker and Guy Deutscher (who's "Unfolding of Language" is amazing). Kenneally lacks Pinker's ability to simplify and explain the research that has shaped scientists' understanding. For example, an account of an apparently key experiment into sparrow's mastery of syntax was compressed into three paragraphs and left me confused and frustrated.

One way in which Keneally differs entirely from Pinker is the way she roots her account in the stories of the lives and personalities of the leading academics working in this field (including Pinker himself). She's particularly fascinating on Noam Chomsky, the founding father of modern linguistics. Chomsky declared language evolution impossible to study - in this regard following an academic tradition going back over one hundred years. Kenneally explains how Chomsky has - reluctantly - been forced to change his view. She gives a great account of the clash of personalities and theories as the new subject of language evolution itself evolves.