129: They Started It: Children and Language Evolution (with Madeleine Beekman)
Nov 19, 2025•2 hr 26 min
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Episode description
We've asked linguists about how language began, but what would an evolutionary biologist tell you? Prof Madeleine Beekman says it's part of a complex web of body, brain, and community, and at the heart of it is (perhaps surprisingly) childcare. Madeleine is the author of The Origin of Language: How We Learned to Speak and Why.
Timestamps
- Cold open: 0:00
- Intros: 0:42
- News: 9:07
- Related or Not: 30:02
- Interview with Madeleine Beekman: 49:43
- Words of the Week: 1:40:49
- Comments: 2:01:30
- The Reads: 2:08:07
- Outtakes: 2:17:38
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