An ambitious attempt to place language at the centre of the debate about human evolution
Derek Bickerton’s Language and Species is an ambitious and thought-provoking exploration of the origins of human language and its relationship to the evolution of the human mind. First published in 1990, the book challenges conventional explanations of language as primarily a means of communication, arguing instead that its fundamental purpose is representation: the ability to construct mental models of the world, including things that are absent, imaginary or abstract. Bickerton’s central argument is that the emergence of language, and particularly syntax, was a defining event in human evolution, transforming not only how humans communicate but also how they think.
Bickerton develops his argument by examining language, animal cognition, child development, creole languages, and the fossil record. His discussion begins with what he calls the ‘Continuity Paradox’: how could the infinite expressive possibilities of human language have evolved from the limited communication systems of other animals? Rather than proposing that human language developed gradually from animal vocalisations, Bickerton suggests that it emerged from an earlier, simpler form of language that he calls protolanguage. This system allowed early humans to represent objects and events without possessing the complex grammatical structures of modern language.
An interesting aspect of the book is Bickerton’s use of creole languages to investigate the transition from protolanguage to fully developed language. Drawing on his Language Bioprogram Hypothesis, he argues that the structural similarities found in creoles suggest an innate human capacity for language. He compares the development of creoles from pidgins with the acquisition of language by children, suggesting that both demonstrate how a relatively simple linguistic system can develop into a fully grammatical one. The examples of children, apes and adults deprived of normal linguistic exposure further support his contention that protolanguage is a distinct system rather than merely an imperfect version of modern language.
The book’s most significant element is its emphasis on the relationship between language and thought. Bickerton distinguishes between three levels of thinking: pre-linguistic thought, thought made possible by protolanguage, and the more complex reasoning enabled by full language. He argues that syntax allows the mind to organise information into complex, hierarchical structures, making possible sustained trains of thought, abstract reasoning and the creation of genuinely novel behaviours and artefacts. In this account, the emergence of syntax was not simply an improvement in communication but a fundamental transformation in human cognitive abilities.
Bickerton extends this argument to the evolution of modern human behaviour. He proposes that early hominins may have possessed protolanguage for hundreds of thousands of years before the emergence of fully developed language. The latter, he suggests, may have been closely associated with the appearance of the distinctive cognitive capacities of Homo sapiens. This provides an alternative to explanations that attribute the development of modern human behaviour to a gradual accumulation of technological innovations or a sudden cultural revolution in Europe. Instead, Bickerton suggests that the biological capacity for complex thought may have emerged before its full archaeological expression.
The book is to be praised for its interdisciplinary approach. Bickerton combines linguistics, evolutionary theory, psychology, neuroscience and palaeoanthropology in an attempt to explain one of the most fundamental questions concerning human origins. His distinction between representation and communication is particularly important, as is his argument that the grammatical structures of language may reflect underlying structures of human cognition. The book encourages the reader to reconsider familiar assumptions about the relationship between language, consciousness and intelligence.
However, Language and Species is not without its faults. Bickerton’s arguments frequently depend on speculative reconstructions of prehistoric cognitive abilities, particularly when discussing the linguistic capacities of early hominins such as Homo habilis and Homo erectus. The fossil record provides only indirect evidence of language, making it difficult to establish when protolanguage or syntax first emerged. His reliance on the analogy between child language acquisition and evolutionary development is also open to question, since the development of an individual child does not necessarily reproduce the evolutionary history of the species.
Furthermore, Bickerton’s assertion that language is essential for complex thought is controversial. Although syntax may greatly enhance abstract reasoning, the possibility of sophisticated non-linguistic cognition remains a challenge to his views. His treatment of language as a uniquely human representational system is therefore more convincing as a theoretical framework than as a demonstrated account of evolutionary history. Some of his conclusions also reflect the state of scientific knowledge in 1990 and must be considered in the context of subsequent research.
Nevertheless, Language and Species remains an important contribution to the study of language evolution. Its central proposition—that the emergence of syntax transformed the human capacity for thought—offers a compelling explanation for the relationship between language, cognition and modern human behaviour. The book is essential reading for anyone interested in human origins.
Language and Species is best seen not as a definitive explanation of how language evolved, but as an ambitious attempt to place language at the centre of human evolution. It demonstrates that understanding the origins of language requires us to consider not merely how humans learned to communicate, but how they became capable of thinking about the world in fundamentally new ways.