Relying heavily on evolutionary developmental biology, we will investigate transdisciplinary questions about origins of language. On the surface, we will look at the evolution of language, including the physical and cognitive aspects of language, and the individual developmental trajectories each of us takes in our learning of a language (or two or three). More deeply, we necessarily draw on computational modelling, archaeology, physical anthropology, psychology, comparative cognition, and cultural anthropology to try to understand the parameters of this topic, and the evidence within. As students in the class, you will be asked to think deeply, critically, and broadly in areas where we have little evidence or, more frequently, contradictory evidence. This is not a class where there is a “right” answer. Rather we come at these questions with little bits of evidence and most importantly, our big brains.