Emergence of Language

The term language can be defined as the form that humans use to communicate. This communication can be oral, written or by the use of signs. The language in any of its forms will help us to inform the people around us what we feel, what we desire, and question/understand the world around us. We communicate effectively with our words, gestures, and tone of voice in a multitude of situation.

All social animals communicate with each other, from bees and ants to whales and apes, but only humans have developed a language which is more than a set of prearranged signals. There are many theories about the origin of language. The Bible is the first example of the endeavors to uncover the origin of human language. According to it, Adam received the ability to speak from God and "whatsoever Adam called every living creature, that was the name thereof" (Genesis 2:19). In most major religions seems to be the Almighty who blesses mankind with means of communication.

Apart from the divine source theories, there are several hypotheses which attempted to explain the emergence of speech on the basis of sound imitation, or unintentional sound production. Although they seem more persuasive, they fail to answer many questions and therefore are mere speculations.

According to the human evolutions there are studies of ear bones that Neanderthal humans from 500,000 – 350, 000 years BC may have evolved, because they were physiologically capable of producing sounds similar to modern humans, meaning the beginning of the human spoken language, There is still considerable debate as to whether language developed gradually over thousands of years or whether it appeared suddenly.

Nowadays there are around to 4000 – 6000 languages spoken around the world but certainly the most puzzling is the origins of human language will perhaps remain forever obscure, because there are not theories which probe totally when and how the human language emerged.