“It is possible, in principle, that language suddenly appeared fully formed during human evolution without any gradual or intermediate forms. That notion, a linguistic Big Bang, has been championed by linguists such as Noam Chomsky. But it is extremely improbable, biologically speaking, that such a complex characteristic as our capacity for speech just popped out of nowhere. It is more likely that language evolved in several stages in the same way, for instance, as our large brains did or our toolmaking ability.”