That curiosity turned into a career as a leading expert on language, and then as a leading advocate of evolutionary psychology.
And Dr. Merritt Ruhlen of Stanford, an expert on language families, said the two authors had put together a "very useful overview".
Quentin Atkinson, an expert on language phylogeny at the University of Auckland, in New Zealand, said that Mr. Lee's time scale was plausible but that if Japonic had spread through an agriculturally driven population expansion, his language tree should be much bushier at its root.
William Jones, an expert on languages, translated existing Hindu and Muslim penal codes into English so that they could be evaluated and applied by English-speaking judges.
Experts on language — the real ones, not those of us who merely use it — are having an intense debate about which species can talk.
As it brings together experts on language trends, the rise and fall of new words, slang and so on, has a certain claim to being the most careful selector (if non-Americans can forgive its American slant).
The next word of the line was deemed partially illegible by Ms. Yardeni and Mr. Elitzur, but Mr. Knohl, who is an expert on the language of the Bible and Talmud, says the word is "hayeh," or "live" in the imperative.
The research "does seem to suggest some striking similarities between bird and human [brains]," says Patricia Kuhl, an expert on human language acquisition at the University of Washington.
Roger Axtell, an expert on body language, described the gesture as possibly meaning "I've had enough, go away" and noted, "It's a fairly strong gesture".
An expert on Dutch language and communication, who is also a teacher at the University of Primary Teachers, reviewed the text.
Dr. Anthony Traill, an expert on click languages at the University of Witwatersrand in South Africa, said he did not find the hunting idea very plausible.
