When did humans develop language?

I think that humans developed language skills when they reached a part in evolution that they needed to be able to communicate so that they could evolve more, if we had not developed language we would still all be cavemen as we wouldn’t be able to evolve.

I believe sign language was the first mode of language to be created because cave men used sign language as a way to communicate by pointing and other basic signals however it was a very different form of sign language to what we use today. Speech was the second mode of language because after cave men started to sign they started to grunt to go with the sign language and eventually they got clearer and began to speak actual words. Writing was created after spoken language, it is a way to put what is spoken onto paper (or clay) it was designed to be able to tell people in the future what had happened, it was also used to keep record of things like slaves.

Writing was invented around 4000BC in Mesopotamia (modern day Iraq) however there is also older writing that was made up of pictures however this form of writing was not complex enough to class as actual writing. Mesopotamia cuneiform was created by pressing a reed stylus into soft clay and then letting it harden. It was a form of writing in which each symbol represented an entire word. Advantages of the invention of writing are that we can communicate with people far away and to a large community.

Ancient languages that have been lost can be deciphered by using computer algorithms.

The oldest surviving language is Tamil, it dates back to about 3500BC is spoken form and about 500BC in written form. Tamil is still spoken by about 80 million people today all over the world.

Websites:
http://www.wisegeek.com/where-was-writing-invented.htm
http://www.isi.edu/natural-language/mt/decipher.html
http://answers.yahoo.com/question/index?qid=20070424044813AA0ILZJ

When was writing invented and where? What advantages does the invention of writing have for human development?

Though there is some debate surrounding exactly which group of humans was the first to create a written language, it is generally accepted that it was the Sumerians of ancient Mesopotamia – the so called “cradle of civilisation”. This innovation allowed the Sumerians to record transactions, educate and perform administrative duties more easily, contributing to their cultural and scientific development.

The Sumerians cuneiform (comprised from wedge shapes) written script evolved from an agricultural counting system employed in ancient Mesopotamia to manage taxes and trades. Prior to the written script, farmers would hold decorated tokens that corresponded to particular goods of theirs, such as sheep, grain or land. However, this system became cumbersome when persons owned vast quantities of agricultural items and was later simplified by substituting the physical tokens for drawn representations on clay tablets. Though originally appearing as unordered pictograms, this unification of previously separate symbols onto single tablets set the framework for the future Sumerian cuneiform, and eventually became less pictorial and more abstract, partially due to the nature of the primitive styli and clay tablets employed by the scribes. The development of phonograms and new characters to represent other non-agricultural and trade related ideas also occurred as the benefits of the written language became clear. Particularly, the establishment of phonograms allowed scribes to record the names of people and ideas that lacked standardised written representation, while previously established symbols were also adapted to this purpose. For example, “Luka” (a name now seen as “Luke”) could be represented through the use of the head (“Lu”) and the mouth (“Ka”) symbols, because of their pronunciation. This advancement was also made possible by the ordering of the characters, which were read left to right, at some point in its development.

The benefits of written language were clear in Mesopotamian society, which was full of ancient science and culture. The use of language was central to this advancement because it allowed scientific observations and culturally significant practises like religious rites and mythology to be accurately recorded and preserved. Written language, which had once been used exclusively to manage transactions and taxation, could now be used to record the movements of celestial bodies and to compose letters to friends. Scribes and their apprentices (the male children of rich citizens) also learnt and taught material from written script, showing writing’s importance in education. All of these applications of writing have been central to our development as humans, both culturally and scientifically.

The Sumerians were the first to create written language, and in doing so promoted the development of their society’s culture and scientific understanding.

Typical Sumerian cuneiform letter:


The development of some Sumerian symbols (from pictorial to cuneiform forms):


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http://oi.uchicago.edu/OI/MUS/ED/TRC/MESO/writing.html

http://www.historian.net/hxwrite.htm

http://www.funsci.com/fun3_en/writing/writing.htm

http://www.mesopotamia.co.uk/menu.html

All images from http://www.mesopotamia.co.uk/menu.html

What are some features of child language?

When a child is first born it is capable of very little in the way of speech. So how is it that by the age of 18 months a child has a vocabulary of roughly 50 words?

The path to language acquisition starts relatively early with children beginning to babble and make up their own forms of language between the ages of five and seven months. Even before they are ‘talking’ they can often recognise their mother’s voice and research has shown that babies cry in the some tone as the language of their mother tongue.

Interestingly, babies who are brought up by deaf parents who sign develop signing at the same rate as their babbling. Even before babies have language in the form of speaking they are pointing and using hand gestures to be understood. Children begin to use their hands as expressive language even before they babble as it is easier for them to control their hands than the muscles needed for speech. This form of expressive language can be understood by most, even in adult language (travelling in foreign country and needing directions).

Many people argue that the earlier a child starts to speak, the more intelligent they are. This is untrue. Every child develops at a different rate in every area of their life. Reports say that Albert Einstein didn’t begin to speak until the age of three or four. Yet even with later speech development he is one of the world’s greatest genius’.

In the opinion of many linguists there are many reasons as to why children develop language at such a rapid rate. One of these reasons is that as a child is learning a language, it is also discovering the world; everything is new to them. Many believe that this blank slate makes language acquisition infinitely easier than learning a language later in life. As well as this, children are never without the opportunity to develop their language.

Child language will always be a research topic, and realistically all of the answers desired will never be known.

Bibliography:

Love the Lingo

http://childdevelopmentinfo.com/child-development/language_development.shtml

http://iteslj.org/Articles/McGlothlin-ChildLearn.html

http://www.pnas.org/content/98/23/12874.full

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=V-UE1bMX43U&feature=related

When did humans develop language?

Approximately 4100-3800 BCE symbols began to be used that were calved into clay to represent and record the ownership of land, grain or cattle. Here the English language began to develop. The earliest examples of this written language were found at Uruk in Mesopotamia.

Acrophony was developed in 3100 BC, this was considered to be a “One Sign-One Sound” type of written language. After this the earliest language development the Proto-Canaanite/Proto-Sinaitic was formed around 1700 BC. This was found at the torquoise mines in Serabit-al-Khadim in the Sinai. Less than 30 signs were used.

The Old Germanic language developed in 450-1100 AD. Germanic tribes invaded England to form what we now call Old English. Though many words from the Old English is still used in modern english, many english speakers would have trouble understanding old english.

Middle English 1100-1500: In 1066 AD William the Conqueror, the Duke of Normandy, invaded and conquered England. The conquers, the Normans brought with them a form of early French. This then became the language of the Royal Court. For a while there were two forms of the language which divided the upper and lower classes within France. In the 14^th century English was more common but with more French words within the language. This language is even more like the modern day English but it would still be difficult for modern day English speakers to understand.

Early Modern English 1500-1800: Towards the end of Middle English, the Great Vowel Shift began. Vowels were pronounced shorter.

1800- Present Day: Modern English has had its language develop from the Industrial evolution and new technology such as exogaming which is used to explain gaming that you have to exercise while gaming. Australian English has adopted many words from other countries due to the Brtish empire that expanded across the world.

BIBLIOGRAPHY

http://oi.uchicago.edu/OI/MUS/ED/TRC/MESO/writing.html

https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi_JPVES8nbkPTsRxnBH6dKC-QZXqkY2gQbqC0lwzX-7yul-QjaL_UjOiok6w_PApYx-WgoVCF6eh_g6Vp9N6upfuviQqKfPmpPTtIHR43q81K8dZ2LePgcL82CSJToQ419_jOpX2AIxtY/s1600/egypt150.gif

http://www.historian.net/hxwrite.htm

http://www.englishclub.com/english-language-history.htm

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fATACyObd1w

Which language mode came first?

I think the order of language modes is as follows: Sign, Speech and Written. To me this order makes sense as sign seems to be the most obvious and basic whereas the other two seem a bit more complex and could require more work.
Take prehistoric humans (cavemen) as an example, what mode of language do you think they most likely would have used first? I think they would have used signing first because it seems obvious in most cases and simple compared to the other two, for example, if the cavemen were hunting in a group and in order to remain silent but still keep the ability to lead they could of used signing like the present day military who use signing for various reasons such as: It is too loud to hear words, stealth is necessary, etc. This does not mean that they did not develop a language to talk though which I think they did.  Human babies use signing early on for example they may want something to drink and if they recognise a bottle = a drink then they could point to the bottle and they even may use some sort of sound as well (speech).
Speech to me seems more complex than signing and that is why I would say it comes second and from my general observations of human babies it seems to me that they use signing first for example they would recognise their mother and they also recognise warmth so in order to get close to their mum they reach out with their hands and arms, mother = warmth. Eventually human babies develop a larger vocabulary and learn how to use it but even though they have learned how to speak they still use signing as does everyone and as their speech improves so does their signing, maybe after continuous development of their signing and speech they might ask themselves what it might look like on paper?
A child starts to draw and from my experience of watching my little sister develop her language skills she started to make her own written language of the English language but as she grew older and she had more experience with the English language she discovered how to recognise various letters and even started to recognise words shortly after from the English language.
According to these websites: http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/uknews/1566748/Cavemen-may-have-used-language.html and http://crystalesp.blogspot.com.au/2007/10/cavemen-language.html  , Scientists have recently discovered a gene that is found in modern day humans and this gene is called FOXP2. The FOXP2 gene is a gene that is needed for the development of speaking as it controls the muscles to form words with the larynx. On this website http://books.google.com.au/books/about/Language_in_hand.html?id=ME_64lsKO3kC&redir_esc=y the editorial review of the book “Language in hand” explains that the author explained why signing came before speech and did this by “He then supports his proposed order of linguistic development from four approaches: exploring the unique ability of visible signs to resemble what they represent, comparing human anatomy involved in gesture and speech to the anatomy of chimpanzees and other primates, examining signed languages still in use today among both hearing and hearing-impaired communities, and observing linguistic development in children.” According to page 95 the caveman’s skull structure had less room for a vocal cavity and that as the Humans today have a more erect head this allows for a larger vocal cavity and this supports that signing may have come before speech as the cavemen would of used some sort of sound but signing probably would have been more dominant because it is more flexible. On this website http://www.lingforum.com/forum/viewtopic.php?p=3395&sid=9dfc8f60b1c8800723e3b0732eb67cc2 a debate between users about what comes first out of speech and written and is generally accepted by the majority that speech came first. According to one user if you go back to the middle of the Palaeolithic they had “a culture rich in symbolism and ritual” and she argues that in order to have ritual and symbolism an idea must first be shared among the community. However another user who thinks that Written came before Speech argues with that language is the organised set of mental representations and if this is true then it is not silly to think that written came before speech and that according to scientists that babies start developing language first by recognising visual patterns as stated earlier that for example, a bottle = a drink but then this is not written. So in conclusion and in my opinion I think the order of language modes is: Sign, Speech and then Written.

How Do Humans Learn Language?

‘How do humans learn language?’

Babies start learning language at very early stage. The first sign of vocalisation is when they are 1 month old when they will make humming sound ‘ahh & oh’. At 2 months they will respond to cues and coo. Then at 6 to 8 months a baby will babble and makes vowel noises and imitate the sounds they hear such as ‘da, ma, ba, gaga and yaya’. Around the age of 11 to 14 months old they will start to say their very first words. By age 2 they will have starting building their own dictionary and say more than 10 different words. This will vary from child to child because the stages they learn will be different and it will depend on the amount of exposure they have to language.  

Initial baby talk is made up of single syllables, sometimes repeated twice e.g. ‘da da’. By 9 months they are using basic words like ‘no and bye-bye’ and starting to say a wider range of consonant sounds and tone of voice. By 18 months they can say 10 simple words and repeat words or sounds said to them they often leave off endings or beginnings of words like ‘noo-noo’ for noodles. By about 2 years of age they can string together a couple or words like ‘me milk’.

http://www.earlychildhoodeducation.co.uk/how-babies-learn-through-crawling.html

http://answers.yahoo.com/question/index?qid=20080707142743AAxDJ5B

http://mezo.hubpages.com/hub/when-do-babies-talk

http://www.webmd.com/parenting/baby-talk-your-babys-first-words

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What is the oldest surviving language?

What is the oldest surviving language?

It is impossible to be sure what the oldest surviving language is. Spoken language could have developed thousands of years before a written language in some cultures so we would have no record of when it was created. As far as we can tell Tamil is the oldest surviving language (By “surviving” I mean still spoken by people and not only used by scholars or scientists like Latin) and it has evolved from Proto-Dravidian. Tamil in its earliest forms has been dated back to between 500BC and 200BC. It originates from an area in India called Tamil Nadu but inscriptions have been found in Egypt, Sri Lanka and Thailand.

Tamil has had three different forms. Old Tamil the earliest form of Tamil, middle Tamil which was achieved by the 8^th century and modern Tamil which has been spoken for the last 400 years. Changes between the three forms include the development of a present tense, the addition of more Sanskrit words and the removal of several words. Despite this modern Tamil is still very similar to old Tamil.

Today Tamil is still spoken by about 8 million people in regions of India, Sri Lanka, Malaysia, Singapore and Mauritius and in 2001 1863 newspapers were printed in Tamil. I think that qualifies Tamil as a surviving language and the fact that it is  over 2000 years old seems like good enough evidence for it being the oldest.