Origins of Language

The dictionary states that language is, “the method of human communication.” Thus a language is the construction of words made to represent something. However many questions arise from the origins of language.

All the questions of language can be originated from one main question: “How did man come to create language?” Such a question seems easy at first to answer, yet as this is examined the educated mind realizes simply just how little is known of the subject. 

The origin of language is a peculiar topic, for why was it that man decided to form a language. Yet before ‘why’, comes ‘how.’ 

As the mind uses thought, it is processing words in order to think. Thus speech and thought are directly connected. Therefore if a man knows not of words, than it can be said that he posses no words to think in. Try to imagine what you are thinking without words. Such a transaction is impossible. 

If it is true that for thought to be capable, language must exist, how was it that the founder of language came to desire speech? How did a man simply want communication with others, when he had no words to think it in. Can you think that you want to speak without using words? No. 

Yet, how did he chose what words to create? For example, many words such as ‘the’ are almost impossible to describe. But how was it that the prehistoric man could comprehend such words without even a language to think in. 

Furthermore, if that man then created mass amounts of words, he must have had to document them somehow. Unless the man had incredible memory capabilities, how would be remember all the words that he created? But without a writing system, how did this man write down the words and their denotations? Now try to imagine documenting a meaning and pronunciation of a word without writing it using the alphabet. It is simply contradictory to write a word without letters.

Supposing that the founder of language had in deed desired the construction of a language how did he decide which sounds to represent what words. Did this man simply think of sounds from the top of his head? Also how was the man able to prioritize the meaning of words if he new nothing of anything. 

Assuming that the man was able to create a language, how would did he teach others of his findings. Surely teaching a baby to speak is easy when they are around others who speak as well. Yet in this case, it would simply be one man teaching another who knew nothing of thought or words to comprehend language. The fact of the matter is, that not one man could understand the other and thus teaching the language would be unfeasible. And even if it were, not one man would care, for he would not have once word to think logically or feel understanding. 

And therefore how was it that every human came to speak a language? How was there a person in every region who created a language? Presuming that this man was successful in forming a language, what were the odds that a man from ever region of the earth thought, or rather did not think to create a language. There are roughly 6,912 languages known today, but as the information above questions: how is this possible?

How was it that languages continued to grow and combine with one another? How did Latin transform into Italian? Gaelic to English? And so forth. After language had been created why did it still continue to grow and change?

Such answers to our past may never be answered. Perhaps the greatest characteristic of human beings is our ability to think, yet how was this done? How did we think of such a thing?