(Same as Linguistics M4.) Lecture, three hours; discussion, one hour. Homo Sapiens is only species on Earth with capacity to create infinite number of utterances from small inventory of speech sounds. How and why our species developed this ability is question of fundamental scientific and humanistic importance. Survey of origin of human language from number of intellectual perspectives, including linguistics, anthropology, and evolutionary biology. Exploration of relationship between language faculty and linguistic theory. P/NP or letter grading.