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Eve Spoke: Human Language and Human Evolution
If we were to summon the first man and woman from their prehistoric graves, what would they―indeed, what could they―say to us? The human imagination never ceases to be captivated by the quest for its own roots. Who were our ancestors? In the evolutionary clash of brains and brawn, what was it that prevailed and made us, Homo sapiens, uniquely human? Today scientists cite language as the distinctively human feature. But what is language―a sign, a grunt? a sound with collective symbolic meaning? This remarkable book seeks to set the record straight with a critical refinement of the language theory, providing us for the first time with a scientific explanation of how Eve came to speak at all.
Wrestling with the age-old question of why such a large gulf exists between humans and other animals, Philip Lieberman mines both the fossil record and modern neuroscientific techniques to chart the development of the anatomy and brain mechanisms necessary for human language as we know it. Eschewing any notion of a language gene or instinct, he pursues instead an evolutionary path in which environment acts on a biological capacity to reveal the interconnectedness of systems that make us most human: precise motor skills, speech, language, and complex thought. Eve Spoke challenges the dominant scientific theories of language's origins and forges a new understanding of the role of language in our evolution.
Wrestling with the age-old question of why such a large gulf exists between humans and other animals, Philip Lieberman mines both the fossil record and modern neuroscientific techniques to chart the development of the anatomy and brain mechanisms necessary for human language as we know it. Eschewing any notion of a language gene or instinct, he pursues instead an evolutionary path in which environment acts on a biological capacity to reveal the interconnectedness of systems that make us most human: precise motor skills, speech, language, and complex thought. Eve Spoke challenges the dominant scientific theories of language's origins and forges a new understanding of the role of language in our evolution.
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First published January 1, 1998
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Displaying 1 - 9 of 9 reviews
September 21, 2025
Eve Spoke, Philip Lieberman, 1998, 192 pp., ISBN 0393040895, Library-of-Congress P116, Dewey 401.
By 150,000 years ago, our ancestors had the [hyoid bone in the] tongue, enabling speech. p. xiii. [Apes don't have it. A Neanderthal skeleton with a hyoid bone was found in 1989. -- Frontiers: New Discoveries About Man and His Planet, Outer Space and the Universe, Isaac Asimov, 1991.]
The author knocks down a straw man, "humans evolved separately in many places." p. 6. The author admits that Neanderthals spoke. p. 8.
"The larynx evolved to protect the lungs of lungfish when they swam underwater." p. 45.
"Neanderthal vocal tract could produce vowels except i, u, a, and not consonants like k and g." p. 63.
By 150,000 years ago, our ancestors had the [hyoid bone in the] tongue, enabling speech. p. xiii. [Apes don't have it. A Neanderthal skeleton with a hyoid bone was found in 1989. -- Frontiers: New Discoveries About Man and His Planet, Outer Space and the Universe, Isaac Asimov, 1991.]
The author knocks down a straw man, "humans evolved separately in many places." p. 6. The author admits that Neanderthals spoke. p. 8.
"The larynx evolved to protect the lungs of lungfish when they swam underwater." p. 45.
"Neanderthal vocal tract could produce vowels except i, u, a, and not consonants like k and g." p. 63.
September 16, 2012
An overview of the unique human adaptations to speaking, both those in the mouth and those in the brain. It's aimed at a popular audience, but that doesn't mean it ever talks down to you or tries to oversimplify. It deliberately takes sides in the controversies about language evolution, arguing that Neanderthals had language but significantly inferior to that of modern humans, and that there is no instinctive Universal Grammar underlying the world's languages. (In this second point, Lieberman disagrees with Chomsky, no less). I would have preferred to read a book that gathered a wider variety of authors and theories on language evolution, but no such book was available at the local libraries. In a pinch, I think it's possible to get some sense of the disputes in a balanced way by reading this book together with The Language Instinct by Steven Pinker, a linguist and popular writer who supports the Chomskian orthodoxy.
March 4, 2019
In Eve Spoke, the noted linguist and cognitive scientist Philip Lieberman charts the evolution of human beings with respect to our ability to speak.
Much of this book tells the story of the evolution of speech, not least with regard to our unusual biology, but underlying it all is the standpoint of a man who recognises the fundamental importance of society and social learning in our evolution. The science here is impeccable, the story fascinating, the writing excellent.
Lieberman is particularly good when it comes to revealing the sleights of hand and other tricks employed by such people as Noam Chomsky and Steven Pinker, both of whom take genetics as their starting point. Although Chomsky has contributed a huge amount to linguistics, his genetically reductionist star is fading, and hopefully Pinker’s will fade with it.
The book was published in 1998, and as a consequence is behind the times when it comes to the Neanderthals. Lieberman goes for the ‘genetically isolated’ theory when it comes to matters of evolutionary competition, whereas today we know that some interbreeding did take place between homo sapiens and the Neanderthals. This is a minor matter however which doesn’t alter Lieberman’s main thesis in the slightest.
A terrific book.
Much of this book tells the story of the evolution of speech, not least with regard to our unusual biology, but underlying it all is the standpoint of a man who recognises the fundamental importance of society and social learning in our evolution. The science here is impeccable, the story fascinating, the writing excellent.
Lieberman is particularly good when it comes to revealing the sleights of hand and other tricks employed by such people as Noam Chomsky and Steven Pinker, both of whom take genetics as their starting point. Although Chomsky has contributed a huge amount to linguistics, his genetically reductionist star is fading, and hopefully Pinker’s will fade with it.
The book was published in 1998, and as a consequence is behind the times when it comes to the Neanderthals. Lieberman goes for the ‘genetically isolated’ theory when it comes to matters of evolutionary competition, whereas today we know that some interbreeding did take place between homo sapiens and the Neanderthals. This is a minor matter however which doesn’t alter Lieberman’s main thesis in the slightest.
A terrific book.
July 1, 2021
If we could pare the conflict between formalists and functionalists down to one thing only, I am pretty sure that one thing would have to be the definition of "language". Lieberman is a functionalist, adopting the idea that language evolved to serve as a means for communication. He does not only criticize the alternative view defended by Chomsky and others; he ridicules it. You can tell from the tone of his writing that the author despises Chomsky and his generative hypothesis, which is Lieberman's prerogative, but he should have offered a more convincing argument.
Lieberman's main focus in this book is on speech, but formalists, when discussing language evolution, are more concerned with the cognitive system that is independent of speech. It would have been better if the author had laid out his definition from the beginning, but he didn't. Lieberman also fails to provide answers to the questions posed by the Chomskian linguists regarding language evolution, and by language, I mean the cognitive system. For example, why is it that computational efficiency always wins over communicative efficiency? If language had evolved to satisfy the communicative pressure, we would expect it to be more communicatively efficient, but it is not. The property of displacement, which exists in every language studied, taxes cognition. Wouldn't be more economical and communicatively efficient if words were pronounced where they received their interpretations?
Lieberman's main focus in this book is on speech, but formalists, when discussing language evolution, are more concerned with the cognitive system that is independent of speech. It would have been better if the author had laid out his definition from the beginning, but he didn't. Lieberman also fails to provide answers to the questions posed by the Chomskian linguists regarding language evolution, and by language, I mean the cognitive system. For example, why is it that computational efficiency always wins over communicative efficiency? If language had evolved to satisfy the communicative pressure, we would expect it to be more communicatively efficient, but it is not. The property of displacement, which exists in every language studied, taxes cognition. Wouldn't be more economical and communicatively efficient if words were pronounced where they received their interpretations?
November 21, 2015
This book is all about the evolution of speech. It has a lot of details on how speech was created through sounds made. It states different theories from different scientists and their research. It uses many forms of writing to get the information to the reader including graphs(page 15), pictures(page 57), and diagrams (page 57). The book doesn't only have drawn in pictures, it has actual pictures as seen on page 88.
This book uses metaphor to help explain the complex topic. An example of this is, "Speech is a Five Ring Circus"(Lieberman 15). Then it expains by saying how complex speaking is, just like a circus. I also learned a lot from this book. For example, did you know that the velum is a structure in the body that can seal the mouth from the nose? Not only that, but speech uses our lips, tongue, lungs, larynx, and velum!
I rated this book 4 out of 5 stars because although I learned a lot and it was very interesting, I had an extremely hard time keeping focus. I would reccomend this book to anyone who is interested in psychology, human sciences, or want a good read about speech.
This book uses metaphor to help explain the complex topic. An example of this is, "Speech is a Five Ring Circus"(Lieberman 15). Then it expains by saying how complex speaking is, just like a circus. I also learned a lot from this book. For example, did you know that the velum is a structure in the body that can seal the mouth from the nose? Not only that, but speech uses our lips, tongue, lungs, larynx, and velum!
I rated this book 4 out of 5 stars because although I learned a lot and it was very interesting, I had an extremely hard time keeping focus. I would reccomend this book to anyone who is interested in psychology, human sciences, or want a good read about speech.
December 24, 2007
As one of my few forays into biological/scientific concerns (I'm a big fan of the late, great Steven Jay Gould), I found this a very engaging read. The author's seemingly well-grounded speculations on how the human race developed complex speech patterns was fairly fascinating...at least for an architect.
January 3, 2013
Finally got around to finishing it. Very fun and easy to read, gives few new perspectives of brain and language development, but why do sheep in other languages make different sounds?
November 23, 2012
This is a really good book. Clear, concise, fascinating. I recommend it to anybody interested in human evolution, language or psychology/evolution.
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