HISTORY OF LANGUAGE
Words on the brain: from 1 million years ago?
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.
Our speech...
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HISTORY OF LANGUAGE
Words on the brain: from 1 million years ago?
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.
Our speech even differs in a physical way from the communication of other animals.
It
comes from a cortical speech centre which does not respond instinctively, but organizes
sound and meaning on a rational basis.
This section of the brain is unique to humans.
When and how the special talent of language developed is impossible to say.
But it is
generally assumed that its evolution must have been a long process.
Our ancestors were probably speaking a million years ago, but with a slower delivery, a
smaller vocabulary and above all a simpler grammar than we are accustomed to.
Origins of language
The origins of human language will perhaps remain for ever obscure.
By contrast the
origin of individual languages has been the subject of very prec
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