The headline sums it up. This book offers a fascinating yet brief journey through the history of Evolution and Linguistics. Wolfe eloquently surveys the explanatory landscape offered by Evolution and current linguistic theory and finds them wanting - a case he argues convincingly. I think language did explode into being - and it is supremely ignorant to compare human language to that of Chimps, or really, any animal. Language does not reduce convincingly to a step-by-step Darwinian process.
I really enjoy this subject so I have a lot to say about his argument, which comes across as more critical than I mean it to be - I really did like the book. But there were many things I simply did not get. For one thing, he seems to argue that speech (alone?) differentiates humans from animals. I think it is more complete to subsume 'speech' under they designation 'human consciousness' - speech being a manifestation thereof. Speech is merely what's expressed, not necessarily what's fully going on in the brain. It also seems to me that Wolfe thinks that, because research does not indicate the location of any specific language organ - therefore our capacity for speech is not rooted in the workings of our our brain? If so, where does it reside? People born with "half-a-brain" still often show a capacity for normal language and intellectual ability - their brain just wires itself differently. Therefore, perhaps there is no specific spot where language ability resides, but that doesn't mean it ain't there... somewhere, maybe it's all over the place and can't be reduced to a particular location... but hey, that just one possible explanation.
Final point, I feel that Wolfe's argument for mnemonics as an explanation for the origin of language is gravely lacking. (Is he endeavouring to replace one just-so evolutionary story with another?) It is simplistic in the extreme, and to me indicates an incomplete understanding of the relation between mind and language and, perhaps, logic. Using mnemonic THINKING as an explanation for how we communicate or how we might've started communicating does not explain how the mental CAPACITY for such communication originated in the first place! You need the capacity for mnemonic thinking before you can think mnemonically. Therefore, the argument begs the question of what made the capacity of human language possible in the first place. Also, humans think symbolically, reason abstractly, look to the past and the future, make tools in anticipation of future needs (not reducible to the present moment) + much more. The Piraha are no different - albeit a more primitive expression of what makes all of humanity unique.
Ultimately, Wolfe's argument is unsatisfying... but hey, kudos to him for trying! He certainly made me think a bit more deeply about how wonderful and mystifying human speech is! I also like that he doesn't blindly agree with the fairy tales put forth by Darwinists!
4 out of 5 stars overall - 5 stars for the content of the book critiquing Darwin/Darwinism/Chomsky/the state of linguistics. Minus 1 star for his weak, but very brief argument for an alternate explanation for the origin of speech.
Overall a very good book and would recommend!
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