The Origin of Speech

Peter MacNeilage is Professor of Psychology at the University of Texas at Austin. He has written over 120 papers on the topic of complex action systems and their evolution. He is a fellow of the American Association for the Advancement of Science, the Acoustical Society of America, and the Center for Advanced Study in the Behavioral and Social Sciences.

Review from previous edition provides a plausible and persuasive account of the origin, evolution and development of speaking...This book does a masterful job of assembling and interpreting all of the evidence we have concerning the evolution of speaking. In the long run it may not be the final word, but until we have a better story, this is the one that must be the prime contender.

• PART I INTRODUCTION ; 1. Background: The Intellectual Context ; 2. Getting to the Explanation of Speech ; PART II SPEECH AND ITS ORIGIN: THE FRAME/CONTENT THEORY ; 3. The Nature of Modern Hominid Speech ; 4. Speech in Deep Time: How Speech Got Started ; PART III THE RELATION BETWEEN ONTOGENY AND PHYLOGENY ; 5. Ontogeny and Phylogeny 1: The Frame Stage ; 6. Ontogeny and Phylogeny 2: The Frame/Content Stage ; 7. The Origin of Words: How Frame-Stage Patterns Acquired Meanings ; PART IV BRAIN ORGANIZATION AND THE EVOLUTION OF SPEECH ; 8. Evolution of Brain Organization for Speech: Background ; 9. A Dual Brain System for the Frame/Content Mode ; 10. Evolution of Cerebral Hemispheric Specialization for Speech ; PART V THE FRAME/CONTENT THEORY AND GENERATIVE LINGUISTICS ; 11. Generative Phonology and the Origin of Speech ; 12. Generative Phonology and the Acquisition of Speech ; PART VI A PERSPECTIVE ON SPEECH FROM MANUAL EVOLUTION ; 13. An Amodal Phonology? Implications of the Existence of Sign Language ; PART VII LAST THINGS ; 14. Ultimate Causes: Genes and Memes ; 15. Conclusions ; References ; Index