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Finding Our Tongues: Mothers, Infants, and the Origins of Language
Scientists have long theorized that abstract, symbolic thinking evolved to help humans negotiate such classically male activities as hunting, tool making, and warfare, and eventually developed into spoken language. In Finding Our Tongues, Dean Falk overturns this established idea, offering a daring new theory that springs from a simple observation: parents all over the world, in all cultures, talk to infants by using baby talk or “Motherese.” Falk shows how Motherese developed as a way of reassuring babies when mothers had to put them down in order to do work. The melodic vocalizations of early Motherese not only provided the basis of language but also contributed to the growth of music and art.Combining cutting-edge neuroscience with classic anthropology, Falk offers a potent challenge to conventional wisdom about the emergence of human language.
Dean Falk is Hale G. Smith Professor of Anthropology at Florida State University. She is the author of Braindance and Primate Diversity, and co-author of The Face in the Mirror. Her “putting the baby down” theory, published in Behavioral and Brain Sciences, has been featured in the New York Times, Washington Post, Scientific American, New Scientist, National Geographic, and Newsweek. She lives in Tallahassee, Florida, and Santa Fe, New Mexico.
Dean Falk is Hale G. Smith Professor of Anthropology at Florida State University. She is the author of Braindance and Primate Diversity, and co-author of The Face in the Mirror. Her “putting the baby down” theory, published in Behavioral and Brain Sciences, has been featured in the New York Times, Washington Post, Scientific American, New Scientist, National Geographic, and Newsweek. She lives in Tallahassee, Florida, and Santa Fe, New Mexico.
251 pages, Hardcover
First published January 1, 2009
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160 people want to read
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Displaying 1 - 11 of 11 reviews
October 1, 2010
In an interesting contrast to the usual "man the hunter" scenario of human evolution, Dean Falk presents a "man the parent", or more precisely, "woman the parent" theory. Human communication, and eventually human culture and society, she argues, is rooted in the basic nonstandard language shared by mothers and infants: baby talk, or what she calls "motherese".
While, disappointingly, Falk neglects to trace the particular increments that led us from motherese to modern language, as a broad hypothesis, her idea is interesting. Especially intriguing is her research that indicates
that similar patterns of motherese occurs in various cultures across the globe, hinting at a single common linguistic primogenitor.
She has a tendency to over-extrapolate and is maybe not as forthcoming about the possible fallibility of her theory as she could be. She tries to tie language to music too quickly, without fully clearing up the purely linguistic aspect of her study first, and some of her subjective personal experiences tie in too neatly with the scientific principle she's proposing.
Still, you can take or leave her theory, and it is an interesting one, clearly and relatably explained in this small but appreciated contribution to the subject.
While, disappointingly, Falk neglects to trace the particular increments that led us from motherese to modern language, as a broad hypothesis, her idea is interesting. Especially intriguing is her research that indicates
that similar patterns of motherese occurs in various cultures across the globe, hinting at a single common linguistic primogenitor.
She has a tendency to over-extrapolate and is maybe not as forthcoming about the possible fallibility of her theory as she could be. She tries to tie language to music too quickly, without fully clearing up the purely linguistic aspect of her study first, and some of her subjective personal experiences tie in too neatly with the scientific principle she's proposing.
Still, you can take or leave her theory, and it is an interesting one, clearly and relatably explained in this small but appreciated contribution to the subject.
February 6, 2013
This book is an anthropological look at the origin of human speech. The first 70 or so pages (comprising more than a third of the book) contain very little on language. Author Dean Falk talks about evolutionary changes such as walking erect, carrying children who can no longer cling and sleeping on the ground instead of in the safety of trees.
The part on language begins with a long description (giving many examples) of "motherese", the musical and simple way that mothers and caregivers talk with their babies. The author feels speech originated from the need to comfort and warn babies. Comfort was important since a crying baby could alert a predator. Oral warnings were needed once babies could no longer cling. Sleeping on the ground was not as safe as sleeping in trees and similarly needed warnings. There is some material on vocabulary development. There are chapters on music and the visual arts.
Research is cited and the Notes are extensive.
Perhaps I'm hard on this book by giving it 3 stars, but from its title and the blurb on the cover, I expected a lot more related to origination of speech and language.
The part on language begins with a long description (giving many examples) of "motherese", the musical and simple way that mothers and caregivers talk with their babies. The author feels speech originated from the need to comfort and warn babies. Comfort was important since a crying baby could alert a predator. Oral warnings were needed once babies could no longer cling. Sleeping on the ground was not as safe as sleeping in trees and similarly needed warnings. There is some material on vocabulary development. There are chapters on music and the visual arts.
Research is cited and the Notes are extensive.
Perhaps I'm hard on this book by giving it 3 stars, but from its title and the blurb on the cover, I expected a lot more related to origination of speech and language.
September 22, 2009
It was enchanting to read of how our ancestral brother could no longer ride on the hairy back of his nomadic, recently-turned-biped mother. That was millions of years ago. Mostly he'd be carried in her arms (some say, possibly the left one, which would land him closer to her heartbeat and eventually select in favor of righthandedness).
Sometimes, however, she'd have to use both hands for gathering fruits or doing whatever other chores fell on that primeval mother. She's put him on the ground, and soothe his fears with guttural noises, then babble, then lullabies, then words... Before you knew it the foundations of language had been laid. This is Dean Falk's story, told not as a science book, but as a movie. I'm glad I ran into this little book.
Sometimes, however, she'd have to use both hands for gathering fruits or doing whatever other chores fell on that primeval mother. She's put him on the ground, and soothe his fears with guttural noises, then babble, then lullabies, then words... Before you knew it the foundations of language had been laid. This is Dean Falk's story, told not as a science book, but as a movie. I'm glad I ran into this little book.
April 18, 2011
This is interesting so far. The idea behind it all is our upright walking created smaller birth canals (well established) which created the need for smaller, more dependent babies (well established), which created the need to talk to babies because the babies weren't strong enough to cling to mom's tummy or back and thus got laid down nearby while mom took care of various tasks (makes sense...). This created motherese (debatable) which was the beginning of language (the author's pet theory). Totally interesting.
April 15, 2011
As a new mother myself, I especially enjoyed reading this book about the evolution of language, or at least one hypothesis about how language evolved and the role played by mother and baby interactions. Full of fascinating anecdotes, stories and examples and amply researched. Whether or not the theory holds, I learned a lot about babies, human evolution and development and had a new respect for the hard work and impact of the simple things we mothers do such as babbling and singing to our babies!
Want to read
March 30, 2011I heard Dean Falk give a seminar for the Center for Functional Anatomy and Evolution, during which she alluded to this hypothesis.
September 3, 2012
Ever wonder how humans learned to talk? So does Dean Falk, and this book has her fascinating theories on the subject. My review on Yahoo Voices http://voices.yahoo.com/book-review-f...
September 23, 2009
Dean Falk proposes a daring new theory in this book: language developed because of mothers and babies!
January 6, 2010
For those of you interested in how and why language developed in our species, this is an interesting, well-written read. If that's not your cup of tea, this won't be your kind of book.
March 4, 2014
Interesting and I wanted more. This is rather thin for this type of book, I could have easily read more background if it had been included.
Displaying 1 - 11 of 11 reviews