How language began: the story of humanity's greatest invention

Introduction -- Part One: The First Hominins; 1. Rise of the Hominins -- 2. The Fossil Hunters -- 3. The Hominins Depar -- 4. Everyone Speaks Languages of Signs -- Part Two: Human Biological Adaptations for Language; 5. Humans Get a Better Brain -- 6. How the Brain Makes Language Possible -- 7. When the Brain Goes Wrong -- 8. Talking with Tongues -- Part Three: The Evolution of Language Form; 9. Where Grammar Came From -- 10. Talking with the Hands -- 11. Just Good Enough -- Part Four: Cultural Evolution of Language; 12. Communities and Communication -- Conclusion.;A pioneering linguist upends widely held beliefs about the acquisition and use of language by debunking theories on a wide range of disciplines and through citing examples from his four decades of field work with Amazonian hunter-gatherers.