# 129: They Started It: Children and Language Evolution (with Madeleine Beekman)

An episode of [Because Language - a podcast about linguistics, the science of language.](https://invisiblenetwork.ai/podcast/436133392), 19 Nov 2025, 2 h 26 min.

Audio: https://traffic.libsyn.com/secure/talkthetalk/129_They_Started_It.mp3?dest-id=897956

We've asked linguists about how language began, but what would an evolutionary biologist tell you? Prof Madeleine Beekman says it's part of a complex web of body, brain, and community, and at the heart of it is (perhaps surprisingly) childcare. Madeleine is the author of The Origin of Language: How We Learned to Speak and Why. Timestamps • Cold open: 0:00 • Intros: 0:42 • News: 9:07 • Related or Not: 30:02 • Interview with Madeleine Beekman: 49:43 • Words of the Week: 1:40:49 • Comments: 2:01:30 • The Reads: 2:08:07 • Outtakes: 2:17:38

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