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I personally think we developed language because of our deep inner need to complain.

Man invented language to satisfy his deep need to complain.

I think we're still in a muddle with our language, because once you get words and a spoken language it gets harder to communicate.

Language is one component of the human cognitive capacity which happens to be fairly amenable to enquiry. So we know a good deal about that.

Language is an intrinsic part of who we are and what has, for good or evil, happened to us.

I don't think language could have evolved if it was the only distinctive trait. It goes hand in hand with our ability to develop tools and technologies, and also with the fact that we cooperate with nonrelatives.

Language is a living thing. We can feel it changing. Parts of it become old: they drop off and are forgotten. New pieces bud out, spread into leaves, and become big branches, proliferating.

The thinking is that we started evolving language not by speaking but by gesturing.

Human language... prevents us from sticking to the matter at hand.

There is the fear, common to all English-only speakers, that the chief purpose of foreign languages is to make fun of us. Otherwise, you know, why not just come out and say it?