We review Berwick and Chomsky's Why Only Us, Language and Evolution, a book premised on language as an instrument primarily of thought, only secondarily of communication. The authors conclude that a Universal Grammar can be reduced to three biologically isolated components, whose computational system for syntax was the result of a single mutation that occurred about 80,000 years ago. We question that argument because it ignores the origin of words, even though Berwick and Chomsky acknowledge that words evolved before grammar. It also fails to explain what evolutionary problem language uniquely solved (Wallace's question). To answer that question, we review recent discoveries about the ontogeny and phylogeny of words. Ontogenetically, two modes of nonverbal relation between infant and mother begin at or within 6 months of birth that are crucial antecedents of the infant's first words: intersubjectivity and joint attention. Intersubjectivity refers to rhythmic shared affect between infant and caretaker(s) that develop during the first 6 months. When the infant begins to crawl, they begin to attend jointly to environmental objects. Phylogenetically, Hrdy and Bickerton describe aspects of Homo erectus' ecology and cognition that facilitated the evolution of words. Hrdy shows how cooperative breeding established trust between infant and caretakers, laying the groundwork for a community of mutual trust among adults. Bickerton shows how 'confrontational scavenging' led to displaced reference, whereby an individual communicated the nature of a dead animal and its location to members of the group that could not see it. Thus, both phylogenetically and ontogenetically, the original function of language was primarily an instrument of communication. Rejecting Berwick and Chomsky's answer to Wallace's question that syntax afforded better planning and inference, we endorse Bickerton's view that language enabled speakers to refer to objects not immediately present. Thus arose context-free mental representations, unique to human language and thought.

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我们回顾了 Berwick 和 Chomsky 的《为什么只有我们，语言和进化》，这本书的前提是语言主要是思想的工具，其次是交流的工具。作者得出结论，通用语法可以简化为三个生物学上孤立的组件，其语法计算系统是大约 80,000 年前发生的单个突变的结果。我们质疑这个论点，因为它忽略了单词的起源，尽管 Berwick 和 Chomsky 承认单词是在语法之前进化的。它也无法解释进化问题语言唯一解决的问题（华莱士的问题）。为了回答这个问题，我们回顾了最近关于词的个体发育和系统发育的发现。个体发生学上，婴儿和母亲之间的两种非语言关系在出生后 6 个月或之内开始，它们是婴儿第一句话的关键前因：主体间性和共同注意。主体间性是指婴儿和看护人在前 6 个月内发展起来的有节奏的共同情感。当婴儿开始爬行时，他们开始共同关注环境物体。在系统发育上，Hrdy 和 Bickerton 描述了直立人生态学和认知的各个方面，这些方面促进了单词的进化。Hrdy 展示了合作育种如何在婴儿和看护人之间建立信任，为成年人之间的相互信任社区奠定基础。比克顿展示了“对抗性清道夫”如何导致参考文献发生位移，个体通过这种方式向无法看到它的群体成员传达死亡动物的性质及其位置。因此，无论是系统发育还是个体发育，语言的原始功能主要是一种交流工具。拒绝 Berwick 和 Chomsky 对 Wallace 的问题的回答，即语法提供了更好的规划和推理，我们赞同 Bickerton 的观点，即语言使说话者能够指称不是立即出现的对象。因此，出现了人类语言和思想所独有的与上下文无关的心理表征。关于句法提供更好的规划和推理的问题，我们赞同 Bickerton 的观点，即语言使说话者能够指称不是立即出现的对象。因此，出现了人类语言和思想所独有的与上下文无关的心理表征。关于句法提供更好的规划和推理的问题，我们赞同 Bickerton 的观点，即语言使说话者能够指称不是立即出现的对象。因此，出现了人类语言和思想所独有的与上下文无关的心理表征。