"Evolution of language" redirects here. For development of languages over time, see Evolution of languages.
This article has multiple issues. Please help improve it or discuss these issues on the talk page. (Learn how and when to remove these template messages)
This article needs additional citations for verification. Please help improve this article by adding citations to reliable sources. Unsourced material may be challenged and removed. Find sources: "Origin of language" – news · newspapers · books · scholar · JSTOR(July 2017) (Learn how and when to remove this message)
This article's tone or style may not reflect the encyclopedic tone used on Wikipedia. See Wikipedia's guide to writing better articles for suggestions.(February 2018) (Learn how and when to remove this message)
(Learn how and when to remove this message)
Part of a series on
Linguistics
Outline
History
Index
General linguistics
Diachronic
Lexicography
Morphology
Phonology
Pragmatics
Semantics
Syntax
Syntax–semantics interface
Typology
Applied linguistics
Acquisition
Anthropological
Applied
Computational
Conversation analysis
Corpus linguistics
Discourse analysis
Distance
Documentation
Ethnography of communication
Ethnomethodology
Forensic
History of linguistics
Interlinguistics
Neurolinguistics
Philology
Philosophy of language
Phonetics
Psycholinguistics
Sociolinguistics
Text
Translating and interpreting
Writing systems
Theoretical frameworks
Formalist
Constituency
Dependency
Distributionalism
Generative
Glossematics
Functional
Cognitive
Construction grammar
Functional discourse grammar
Grammaticalization
Interactional linguistics
Prague school
Systemic functional
Usage-based
Structuralism
Topics
Autonomy of syntax
Compositionality
Conservative/innovative forms
Descriptivism
Etymology
Iconicity
Internet linguistics
LGBT linguistics
Origin of language
Orthography
Philosophy of linguistics
Prescriptivism
Second-language acquisition
Theory of language
Portal
v
t
e
The origin of language, its relationship with human evolution, and its consequences have been subjects of study for centuries. Scholars wishing to study the origins of language must draw inferences from evidence such as the fossil record, archaeological evidence, contemporary language diversity, studies of language acquisition, and comparisons between human language and systems of animal communication (particularly other primates).[1] Many argue that the origins of language probably relate closely to the origins of modern human behavior, but there is little agreement about the facts and implications of this connection.
The shortage of direct, empirical evidence has caused many scholars to regard the entire topic as unsuitable for serious study; in 1866, the Linguistic Society of Paris banned any existing or future debates on the subject, a prohibition which remained influential across much of the Western world until late in the twentieth century.[2][3] Various hypotheses have been developed about how, why, when, and where language might have emerged.[4] Still, little more has been universally agreed upon by 1996 than over a century and a half ago, when Charles Darwin's theory of evolution by natural selection had provoked a surge of speculation on the topic.[5] Since the early 1990s, however, a number of linguists, archaeologists, psychologists, anthropologists, and others have attempted to address this issue with new, modern methods.[6]
^Shah, Sonia (20 September 2023). "The Animals Are Talking. What Does It Mean?". The New York Times. Archived from the original on 21 September 2023. Retrieved 21 September 2023.
^Hauser, M. D.; Yang, C.; Berwick, R. C.; Tattersall, I.; Ryan, M. J.; Watumull, J.; Chomsky, N.; Lewontin, R. C. (2014). "The mystery of language evolution". Frontiers in Psychology. 5: 401. doi:10.3389/fpsyg.2014.00401. PMC 4019876. PMID 24847300.
^Stam, J. H. 1976. Inquiries into the origins of language. New York: Harper and Row, p. 255.
^Tallerman, Maggie; Gibson, Kathleen Rita (2012). The Oxford handbook of language evolution. Oxford University Press. ISBN 978-0-199-54111-9.
^Müller, F. M. 1996 [1861]. The theoretical stage, and the origin of language. Lecture 9 from Lectures on the Science of Language. Reprinted in R. Harris (ed.), The Origin of Language. Bristol: Thoemmes Press, pp. 7–41.
^Christiansen, Morten H; Kirby, Simon (2003). "Language evolution: the hardest problem in science?". In Morten H. Christiansen; Simon Kirby (eds.). Language evolution. Oxford University Press. pp. 77–93. ISBN 978-0-199-24484-3.
and 27 Related for: Origin of language information
The originoflanguage, its relationship with human evolution, and its consequences have been subjects of study for centuries. Scholars wishing to study...
ᜆᜄᜎᜓᜄ᜔) is an Austronesian language spoken as a first language by the ethnic Tagalog people, who make up a quarter of the population of the Philippines, and...
List of South African slang words List of English words from indigenous languagesof the Americas List of English words of Arabic origin List of Arabic...
origins, it became fashionable to speculate about the originoflanguage. Thinkers such as Rousseau and Johann Gottfried Herder argued that language had...
accounts of the originoflanguage in the world's mythologies and other stories pertaining to the originoflanguage, the development oflanguage and the...
The evolutionary originof religion and religious behavior is a field of study related to evolutionary psychology, the originoflanguage and mythology,...
The originof the Basques and the Basque language is a controversial topic that has given rise to numerous hypotheses. Modern Basque, a descendant or...
Essay on the OriginofLanguages (French: Essai sur l'origine des langues) is an essay by Jean-Jacques Rousseau published posthumously in 1781. Rousseau...
purposes, that were later modified for symbolic language. Language bioprogram theory Originoflanguage Marcus, G.; Rabagliati, H. (2006). "What developmental...
language family is a group oflanguages related through descent from a common ancestral language or parental language, called the proto-languageof that...
number of words of French origin have entered the English language to the extent that many Latin words have come to the English language. Up to 45% of all...
auxiliary language, is no longer widely spoken. Language acquisition – Process in which a first language is being acquired Originoflanguage Formal semantics...
do languages have the properties they do?"; or "What is the originoflanguage?". In addition to these fundamental questions, the theory oflanguage also...
word roots in many European languages, for example, can be traced all the way back to the originof the Indo-European language family. Even though etymological...
Modern Sign Language communication OriginoflanguageOriginof speech Sign language glove Sign language in infants and toddlers Sign language media Sign...
On the Originof Species (or, more completely, On the Originof Species by Means of Natural Selection, or the Preservation of Favoured Races in the Struggle...
figurative language is a distinction within some fields oflanguage analysis, in particular stylistics, rhetoric, and semantics. Literal language uses words...
Country oforigin (CO) represents the country or countries of manufacture, production, design, or brand origin where an article or product comes from....
relate it to the originoflanguage, with much disagreement surrounding whether music arose before, after or simultaneously with language. Many theories...
cover names of ethnic groups or place names derived from Indigenous languages. Most words of Native American/First Nations languageorigin are the common...
Language analysis for the determination oforigin (LADO) is an instrument used in asylum cases to determine the national or ethnic originof the asylum...
[ˈnepali]) is an Indo-Aryan language native to the Himalayas region of South Asia. It is the official, and most widely spoken, languageof Nepal, where it also...
Languagesof Nepal, referred to as Nepalese languages in the country's constitution, are the languages having at least an ancient history or origin inside...
on the Spanish language Influence of Arabic on other languages List of Arabic loanwords in English List of French words of Arabic origin Spanish terms...
Mythical originsoflanguageOriginoflanguage Proto-Human language Universal language Enochian Sacred language "Is 'Ge'ez' the original languageof humanity...
a Turkish origin for the Sumerians, and therefore the originoflanguage was Turkish. a paper of the Austrian linguist Hermann F. Kvergić of Vienna entitled...
Global Information
Portal