In the Western world the study of language began as a philosophical inquiry into origins.¹ The Greeks (Third and Fourth Century B.C.) initiated the study of language essentially to explain its origin.

It is too early to assess with any degree of confidence the true import of recent finds by Richard Leakey near the east shore of Lake Rudolf in Kenya. Nevertheless, the impact on evolutionary theories related to the origin of man is potentially so explosive, these reports merit, even at this early date, a tentative evaluation.