'The Language Puzzle' by Steven Mithen

Reviewed by Pranav Minasandra

20 Apr 2024

Where did language come from? Did Neanderthals speak like we do? What makes a language anyway? Why are we the only ones among all the primates that have the ability to speak? And does it really make a difference?

Mithen’s book is intended for academics. It is not an academic book, but is best read with someone used to thinking very critically of what they read, paying attention to citations, and forming their own opinions in real time. The book is amazingly concise (although it weighs more than a kilogram) given the breadth of topics it has to cover. Mithen speaks (heh) about the evolution of humans, their phylogeny, tool use, discovery and use of fire, and their vocal and cerebral anatomies in comparison with other primates and other extinct hominids. He also talks about the genetic aspects of language, the evolution of words, and the structure of syntax. This book offers a lot to ponder over, and is thus a nice and slow read.

One criticism I have of this book is that not enough attention is paid to a bunch of literature I would have thought was relevant: information-theoretic investigations of language, the construction of language models and NLP, and the vast corpus of literature surrounding calls and their uses in non-primates.

I strongly recommend reading this book. It is intensely engaging, and does not patronise or equivocate unnecessarily. This is the readers’ book for knowing about language.