Groups, Gossip, and the Evolution of Language

Abstract

No one doubts that language is the single most important evolutionary development in our history as a species. So much flows from it in terms of our culture that it is difficult to imagine what a languageless human society would really be like. However, the very fact that language is so important in our daily lives raises questions about its function and origin. Just what does language do for us? Why did it evolve? And why did language evolve in our lineage but not in any of our sibling species such as chimpanzees?