Frontmatter -- Preface 2010 -- Preface 1994 -- Contents -- Prologue: What Do We Mean by the Origin of Language? -- 1 Language and History: Voices from the Past -- 2 Language Families: What is Known -- 3 Controversy: What is Debated -- 4 Native Americans: Language in the New World -- 5 The Origin of Language: Are There Global Cognates? -- 6 A Window on the World: What Has Been Resolved -- 7 Genes: Biology and Language -- 8 The Emerging Synthesis: On the Origin of Modern Humans -- Epilogue: Reconstruction, Sound Correspondences, and Homelands -- An Annotated Bibliography -- Appendices -- Index