Because all human groups have language, language itself, or at least the capacity for it, is probably at least 150,000 to 200,000 years old. This conclusion is backed up by evidence of abstract and symbolic behaviour in these early modern humans, taking the form of engravings on red-ochre [7, 8].
The Proto-Human language (also Proto-Sapiens, Proto-World) is the hypothetical direct genetic predecessor of all the world's spoken languages.
Evolution of Language FAQ
Language came about and evolved over time in order for humans to survive and develop. It was first invented and used by Homo sapiens, but researchers don't know exactly when. Language likely began somewhere between 50,000 and 100,000 years ago.
The first theory is that language started with people making different sounds, mostly imitating the things around them, like animal calls, nature sounds and the sounds of tools. Eventually they started using these sounds to talk to each other.
According to a 2009 study by researchers at Reading University, the oldest words in the English language include “I“, “we“, “who“, “two” and “three“, all of which date back tens of thousands of years.
So it seems to make sense that music came "before we had this complicated articulate language that we use to do abstract thinking." Even Charles Darwin "talked about our ancestors singing love songs to each other before we could speak articulate language," Patel says.
The Adamic language, according to Jewish tradition (as recorded in the midrashim) and some Christians, is the language spoken by Adam (and possibly Eve) in the Garden of Eden.
Because these cavemen lived in small communities of hunter-gatherers and had no regular contact with other similar communities, we can conclude that their languages might have been more complex than most of present-day languages.
1. Hebrew. The Hebrew language is the only living Canaanite language that is still in use at present. The earliest Hebrew writings that have been discovered, date back to 3,000 years ago.
Aramaic is best known as the language Jesus spoke. It is a Semitic language originating in the middle Euphrates. In 800-600 BC it spread from there to Syria and Mesopotamia. The oldest preserved inscriptions are from this period and written in Old Aramaic.
Intuitively, one might speculate that hominids (human ancestors) started by grunting or hooting or crying out, and 'gradually' this 'somehow' developed into the sort of language we have today.
The First Humans
One of the earliest known humans is Homo habilis, or “handy man,” who lived about 2.4 million to 1.4 million years ago in Eastern and Southern Africa.
Across multiple sources, Mandarin Chinese is the number one language listed as the most challenging to learn. The Defense Language Institute Foreign Language Center puts Mandarin in Category IV, which is the list of the most difficult languages to learn for English speakers.
World's oldest language is Sanskrit. The Sanskrit language is called Devbhasha. All European languages seem inspired by Sanskrit. All the universities and educational institutions spread across the world consider Sanskrit as the most ancient language.
The archaeological proof we have today allows us to state that the oldest dead language in the world is the Sumerian language. Dating back to at least 3500 BC, the oldest proof of written Sumerian was found in today's Iraq on an artifact known as the Kish Tablet.
Researchers have long debated when humans starting talking to each other. Estimates range wildly, from as late as 50,000 years ago to as early as the beginning of the human genus more than 2 million years ago.
Early humans could express thoughts and feelings by means of speech or by signs or gestures. They could signal with fire and smoke, drums, or whistles. These early methods of communication had two limitations. First, they were restricted as to the time in which communication could take place.
There is no concrete evidence of a single mother tongue spoken by ancient humans, though many experts cite the similarities among the world's oldest languages, including Greek, Latin, and Sanskrit, as evidence that modern languages share a common source [source: PBS] .
Some have said that may be the “tongues of angels” Paul mentioned in 1 Corinthians 13:1. Others suggest our Heavenly language will be music, which is understood in any language; or perhaps it will be the language of love – God's love returned to him and others.
The Aramaic word for God is alôh-ô ( Syriac dialect) or elâhâ (Biblical dialect), which comes from the same Proto- Semitic word (*ʾilâh-) as the Arabic and Hebrew terms; Jesus is described in Mark 15:34 as having used the word on the cross, with the ending meaning "my", when saying, "My God, my God, why hast thou ...
So while Jesus' most common spoken language was Aramaic, he was familiar with—if not fluent, or even proficient in—three or four different tongues.
The earliest known surviving recorded sound of a human voice was conducted on April 9, 1860 when Scott recorded someone singing the song "Au Clair de la Lune" ("By the Light of the Moon") on the device.
Music did not emerge as a result of the emergence and development of language. Music came FIRST. The language part came later. Pulling together evidence from infant development, language acquisition, and music cognition, the authors explored the roles of and interactions between music and language.
Vocal cords are stretchy flaps of skin in your throat that vibrate to make a sound. In order to speak, we move air past our vocal cords, which makes them vibrate. The vocal cords must be in good shape for speech to sound clear and loud.