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Lingua madre: Cure materne e origini del linguaggio
In un periodo remotissimo della preistoria, tra i sette e i cinque milioni di anni fa, accadde qualcosa dalla portata evolutiva incalcolabile: i nostri progenitori raggiunsero la postura eretta, diventando bipedi. Secondo la paleoantropologa Dean Falk ciò pose le condizioni per un altro, dirompente accadimento, le cui origini sono ritenute in genere molto più tarde, oltre che misteriose. Si tratta della nascita del linguaggio, l’elemento distintivo dell’animale uomo. Al riguardo, Falk avanza una congettura rivoluzionaria ed estremamente suggestiva, che collega appunto bipedismo e articolazione dei suoni. Nella sua ricostruzione dello scenario primordiale protagoniste assolute sono le antiche madri e la loro prole. Non avrebbero potuto raccogliere bacche, radici, erbe necessarie al sostentamento senza appoggiare a terra i piccoli, ormai incapaci di aggrapparsi a loro come invece continuava a succedere tra le scimmie antropomorfe. L’unico contatto con gli esserini inermi e piangenti rimaneva allora quello vocale. Cercavano di acquietarli con vocalizzi, ossia rudimentali sonorità melodiche destinate in seguito a trovare affinamento e sviluppo nel protolinguaggio, ma sopravvissute fino a noi attraverso il maternese, la lingua universale dalle tonalità affettive e dalle modulazioni musicali con cui in tutto il mondo ci si rivolge ai bambini piccoli. Falk ritiene questa «musica parlata» fondamentale non solo per l’apprendimento delle abilità linguistiche e per la maturazione emotiva e sociale; la sua analisi appassionata rivaluta l’interazione madri-figli anche per sfere diverse dell’espressione umana, il canto per esempio. Musica e linguaggio affonderebbero così nella notte dei tempi, quando accudire significava restare a portata di voce.
283 pages, Paperback
First published January 1, 2009
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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