Title: The Symbolic Species: The Co-Evolution of Language and the Brain
Publisher: W.W. Norton & Co, New York, 1997
Terrence Deacon, anthropologist, draws from multiple disciplines, including evolutionary theory, linguistics, neuroscience, and semiotics, perspectives to propose that language and the unique human capacity for symbolic thought, co-evolved with the brain. He explores the basis for humans’ advanced cognitive abilities, including linguistic communication, and why many human activities are impossible for animals.