Unlike all other known living beings on this planet, humans can speak. Generations of scientists have worked on this remarkable fact. There are many speculations about the origins of human language, but to this day, there is no convincing explanation. In "The Origins of Human Communication," Michael Tomasello makes a crucial step toward solving this puzzle. Drawing on rich empirical material from primate and infant research, as well as the most influential theories of language philosophy, and using a variety of compelling examples from everyday human communication, he presents a sophisticated multi-level model of language development from both an individual and a species perspective. The central pivot in this model is gestures, pointing, and pantomime.