Scientists have long theorized that abstract, symbolic thinking evolved to help humans negotiate such classically male activities as hunting, toolmaking, and warfare, and eventually developed into spoken language. Here anthropologist Dean Falk overturns this established idea, offering a daring theory that springs from a simple observation: parents all over the world, in all cultures, talk to infants by using baby talk or "motherese." In Falk's hypothesis, this sing-song that not only establishes an emotional link, it also lets mother and child communicate when they are not in physical contact, and may even explain the origins of music.

"That language began with melodious vocal exchanges between mother and offspring is a most attractive idea. It connects language with love, reassurance, and early bodily rhythms. Instead of the traditional focus on words and grammar, Dean Falk's refreshing new theory has the added bonus of injecting music, another human universal, into the language debate."—Franz de Waal