Recent discussion on the evolution and genesis of language is strongly conditioned by particular interpretation and mutual relevance of three basic notions: i) recursion, ultimately reduced to merge in the minimalist frameword, which should be properly developed and discussed within linguistic theory; ii) protolanguage, which is proper of the studies on language evolution; iii) linguistic variation (paameter setting), which should follow from both any good theory on language faculty and any reasonable hypothesis concerning its origin.