Language in Nature: on the Evolutionary Roots of a Cultural Phenomenon

What could an evolutionary explanation for language look like? Here I review relevant evidence from linguistics, comparative biology, evolutionary theory and the fossil record, which suggest vocal imitation and hierarchical compositionality as the essential and uniquely human biological foundations of language. I also outline a plausible scenario for how human language evolved, and propose that language preceded, and facilitated the development of, other cognitive domains such as reasoning, the ability to plan, and consciousness