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Finding Our Tongues: Mothers, Infants, and the Origins of Language |  | Author: Dean Falk
Publisher: Basic Books
Category: Book
List Price: $26.95
Buy New: $3.17
as of 9/5/2010 06:02 CDT details
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Seller: vana11
Rating:  6 reviews
Sales Rank: 499807
Format: Bargain Price
Media: Hardcover
Edition: 1
Pages: 256
Number Of Items: 1
Shipping Weight (lbs): 1
Dimensions (in): 9.2 x 6 x 1
Dewey Decimal Number: 401
ASIN: B002KHMZUE
Publication Date: March 13, 2009
Availability: Usually ships in 1-2 business days
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Product Description
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. |
| Customer Reviews:
Showing reviews 1-5 of 6
 "Finding our Toungues" - an entertaining and informative read. April 29, 2009
A. E. Davis (Seattle, WA USA)
8 out of 9 found this review helpful
"Finding our Tongues" is an exceptionally well written, informative and entertaining work - a fast read that I couldn't put down. I have spent a significant amount of time studying Spanish in the past 6 months and as a result I experienced several Ah-Ha moments while reading Falk's explanation of the stages of acquiring language. I was inspired by the way that the author pulled together evidence from many disciplines and knitted it all together to support her thesis that the evolution of language was driven by the interactions between mothers and infants and the need to "put the baby down". This would be an excellent book for anyone who has or is planning on having children and who would like to understand the stages of language acquisition. Having read this book I find myself hearing babies cry in a totally different way. If you are interested in the evolution of language, music, art or child development you must read this book!
An Alternative Perspective May 2, 2009
William Murdick
5 out of 6 found this review helpful
When linguists think about the origins of human language, they are really interested in the origins of grammar. How did grammar come about? For instance, when and why did early people stop naming actual things and start using nouns, like tree and rock, more powerfully as abstract categories with no reference to anything specific in the natural world. At that point a grammatical system, syntax, would be needed to refer to a specific tree or rock, perhaps one not visible at the moment.
Dr. Falk, as an evolutionary anthropologist, approaches the subject of language origin from a different (though complementary) perspective. She is interested, for example, in why humans would communicate with each other at all. How did such an impulse evolve? What is the connection between human messages and human nature? What role did mothering and infant needs play? Out of what other forms of communication, such as gestures and music, might the complex verbal system have taken its cues? Even if one focuses on grammatical issues in language development, it is useful to be aware of the broad view of evolving human nature that Falk presents. And beyond that, her book is a great read, page after page filled with fascinating bits of information about everyone's favorite topic--ourselves.
--Dr. William Murdick, author of "What English Teachers Need to Know about Grammar"
A delightful piece of original research May 15, 2009
Midwest Book Review (Oregon, WI USA)
5 out of 6 found this review helpful
Science, social science and language libraries alike at the high school to college levels will appreciate FINDING OUR TONGUES: MOTHERS, INFANTS & THE ORIGINS OF LANGUAGE. It provides a new theory of communication: that parents all over the world in all cultures use 'baby talk' to communicate with their children, and that it's this language that formed the foundation of human language. His discussion of 'motherese' is a delightful piece of original research.
Upright Posture changes How Mothers Interact With Infants February 10, 2010
Theron Stimmel (Martindale, Texas United States)
1 out of 1 found this review helpful
When our far distant ancestor stood upright many things changed. Falk argues that since infants could not easily cling to mothers, mothers had to find a way to interact with the infant both to comfort it and also guide its behavior. Thus, sounds from the mother became important. These sounds were probably music-like and evolved into speech. Falk thinks this is where language started and then devceloped far beyond mother child interactions. Falk is an anthropologist with excellent writing skills. This book takes us through the ways in which the differences in the human and the chimpanzee explain where we came from musically and linguistically. The book is a page turner but is very sound science.If you want to know yourself better, read Falk's book!
Dr. Theron Stimmel, Author of Opera and the Psychology of Love
 Long on Anthropology, Short on Language Acquisition April 2, 2010
Loves the View (Hawaii)
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.
Showing reviews 1-5 of 6
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