The Evolution of Language
The emergence of language
Language and Identity
Language is a powerful piece of social technology. It can transfer information about the past, present, and future, formalise ideas, trigger action, persuade, cajole, and deceive. Language gives us the ability to communicate our intelligence to others by talking, reading, and writing. The emergence of language signified an important turning point in the history of our species and its development stands as one of the most significant intellectual achievements we have ever made. The transformative changes in human history such as traveling across huge swaths of land, the establishment of settlements, creation of tools, trade, and social hierarchies and cultures, and so on would likely have been impossible, without the aid of language. Moreover, As the language used by humans is distinct from the forms of communication used by other animals, it helps to support the belief that intelligence is closely linked to human language. Although other species have at least some abilities to communicate, none of them have language.
Like animals and plants, the world’s languages have their own long “natural history,” which traces back to a single first language spoken in Africa. As human populations migrated to new places on the planet, each group’s version of the language went through distinct transformations, which resulted in the emergence of several languages where there was once only one. Eventually, this led to the existence of thousands of distinct languages. Languages change in ways that make old sounds into new sounds and words into grammar, and they branch out in different directions so that eventually there are languages as different as German and Japanese. At all times, any language is in a perpetual state of gradual change. It is gradually on its way to changing into a new one; the language that remains static is one on the verge of extinction.
Today, there are more than 7000 languages spoken around the world. It is a universal feature for all human societies and no language is “better” than any other: each can effectively communicate the full range of human experience. This remarkable universality suggests that our species has had language since the emergence of Homo Sapiens in Africa between 200,000 and 160,000 years ago.
Human languages offer a unique opportunity for the examination of cultural evolution. However, we know incredibly little about the emergence and early evolution of language in our lineage. Modern humans seem to be at least 200,000 years old. The split between modern humans and the Neandertal/Denisovan lineage can be dated around 500,000 years ago, and the even more ancient Homo erectus dates to about 1.8 million years ago. There is circumstantial evidence that modern-like language could have been around half a million years ago and that the Neandertal/Denisovan lineage would have been using some form of language.
When it comes to the origin of language, every mythology has its own story. And holy scriptures of different religions also offer different explanations. Charles Darwin’s groundbreaking publication On the origin of species (1859) marked a complete shift in how we think about human origins and introduced a new science-based approach to solving this problem. The evolutionary perspective consists of several assumptions about the development and emergence of language, the way in which it developed and the dominant form it took initially.
On one hand, language is supposed to be a result of a gradual change from the animal communication system to modern human language. On the other, there are authors who view the emergence of modern language as a sudden change which occurred very recently in human evolution. This abrupt change is often associated with anatomically modern humans and the appearance of symbolism and “modern behaviour” in the upper Palaeolithic period.
In his 1871 book, The Descent of Man, Darwin put forth the notion that language originated through the imitation and modification of various sounds from nature and special human vocalizations. He suggested that this development was further facilitated by gestures and was favoured by natural (sexual) selection. Many agree with Darwin's concept and highlight the benefits of spoken language as evidence for the vocalized beginnings of language. At the same time, comparative research on primates serves as the foundation for the gestural theory of language origins. The gestural theory basically states that human language was developed from gestures that were a primitive form of communication, as opposed to the vocal signals that might have been adopted by non-human primates.
The first and basic step in studying language in pre-history is to define the term Language itself. Many scientific disciplines study language and each of them defines it based on their specific requirements. Nevertheless, the common denominator across all of them is the fact that language is universal and uniquely a human phenomenon.
The term language is defined as a system of communication by sound. However, this definition also insufficiently describes some of the most important features of human language, since apart from the communicative function, human language has a symbolic one – that is, human language is also a complex system of symbols.
In contrast to animal communication, human language is an open system. Contemporary human language comprises a specific set of signs (symbols), allowing for an infinite number of combinations. It enables us to convey information about the past, future, even abstract concepts, and much more. While our vocabulary may have limitations, each of us can, with some effort, craft a completely new sentence, one that has never been uttered before. In contrast, animal communication primarily relies on a limited repertoire, often genetically inherited rather than culturally acquired. It serves specific functions in response to particular situations, such as warnings or mating rituals. Animal communicative signals lack meaning or a symbolic aspect but fulfil practical roles.
Human language, on the other hand, is constructed in a way to enable the unlimited yet accurate transmission of information, which is often referred to as ‘digital infinity’. This unique combination of an infinite range of messages and a highly reliable method for conveying those messages is almost unparalleled in nature. The only other example that comes close is the genetic code itself. It is easy to see why human language is unlimited. If we were to attempt to find the longest English sentence, we would ultimately fail. This is because the syntactic system of language provides us with mechanisms to expand sentences in an unlimited manner, such as by adding subordinate clauses, adverbial phrases, prepositional phrases, and so on.
Another unusual aspect of human language is the flexibility of its lexicon. New words can be introduced, and the meanings of words can change over time.
It is the combination of these two features that truly distinguishes human language as an extraordinarily potent tool for the boundless transmission of cultural information.
In summary, the structure of language allows high-fidelity, limitless, and flexible communication.
As mentioned before, the emergence of language is an important evolutionary event, and arguably the defining characteristic feature of our species, but how exactly did it evolve? Questions surrounding the origins and evolution of language have seen a huge explosion of interest in the scientific community, across a very wide range of disciplines since the early nineties.
Traditionally, linguists and philosophers have recognized two primary purposes of language. Firstly, it serves as a means of communicating with others, as human beings cannot exist in isolation. Secondly, it aids in representing the world within our own minds by helping us categorize things using the words our language provides us with.
In Plato's Cratylus, Socrates argues that words are intended for distinguishing things from one another and for teaching each other about those things. Distinguishing between things is what meant by representation, while teaching each other about things is communication, and, interestingly, this communication itself involves representation. Socrates suggests that communication is a somewhat inferior and common function, whereas representation is a connection with the Ideal Forms of things.
For over 2,300 years since Plato's time, the viewpoint on the purposes of language has remained relatively consistent. Communication has often been taken for granted, with the emphasis placed on understanding language as a system of representation. However, there have been exceptions to this perspective. Philosophers such as Ludwig Wittgenstein, initially explored the analysis of language as a system of representation but eventually concluded that representation and communication are inseparable.
The leading discourses on language have likewise been limited to considering language as a vehicle of representation or communication. When it comes to representation, the idea of continuity of mental structure and function shared between humans and animals traces back to Aristotle, but is considered to have been disrupted by René Descartes, who advocated for the uniqueness of human cognition.
When trying to understand different aspects and properties of language and its evolutionary development, it is necessary to at least briefly discuss the possible reasons why this new form of communication might have had selective advantages over nonverbal communication. Though the different functions of language have been much debated. The two functions of special relevance to the discussion of language evolution are:
Firstly, (a) the role of language to coordinate joint action, including acts of transmission of knowledge and
Secondly, (b) the role of language in indicating social relationships.
In his 1996 book Grooming, Gossip and the Evolution of Language, the British psychologist Robin Dunbar located the origin of language in the needs of higher primates,,, to establish social alliances in order to cope with challenges in their environment – including challenges from particularly powerful individuals within their own species. Dunbar argues that the essential functions of language for evolutionary purposes were phatic in nature, that is without the communication of any meaningful information. In this context, "gossip" represented language with purely social content exchanged for social purposes. This is equivalent to the grooming behaviour that higher primates engage in.
Grooming is considered to be the primary mechanism and a crucial component in forming and maintaining social bonds among primate groups. Although we cannot be sure exactly how it works, we do know that its frequency increases proportionally with the size of the group: larger groups seem to require individuals to spend more time nurturing their relationships.
Language made it possible to increase group size without losing either the time needed to gather and hunt food or the social cohesion needed to counter pressures of all sorts. As language can be directed at several people simultaneously, it allowed for an increase in the rate at which they could groom or nurture social bonds, as people began believing in shared myths which gradually resulted in the emergence of specific communities and social orders.
Language in its role as a replacement for physical contact allowed for a faster and more efficient establishment of relations within larger groups. However, while this function,,, likely played a significant role in the development of certain stages or aspects of language and speech, it is likely only one piece of the puzzle. Most likely, at least in the first developmental stages, speech and language appeared as a more efficient alternative that served as the primary and fundamental function of communication. The increasingly complex social structure of modern humans favoured this type of communication, especially as our ancestors went into an increasingly complex cultural development including making tools, organized hunting, appearance of non-utilitarian objects, the construction dwellings, the development of symbolic thinking, artistic expression, and similar advancements.
Language and identity
Our understanding of language cannot be complete without the consideration of identity. So let’s move to discuss how language constitutes human identity.
Identity, in its simplest terms, refers to who you are as an individual, encompassing your unique characteristics, qualities, and attributes. It signifies your individuality and represents the state of being a distinct person. In the social sciences, identity is characterized by how individuals label themselves as part of a specific group. In psychology, it refers to an individual's self-esteem or self-image, reflecting how they perceive themselves.
Language plays an important role in shaping identity through the following process. First, language abstracts the world of experience into words, which enables us to rise above the immediate and immersive nature of experience. In other words, language allows us to move beyond simply being absorbed in the ongoing flow of experience. Instead, it enables us to construct an understanding of ourselves. This perspective aligns with a tradition dating back to the 18th century which located the origins of the human mind in the transition from natural signs, where something like smoke signifies fire or screaming signifies pain, to the use of artificial signs of language. These artificial signs compelled people to analyse human experience rather than merely absorbing it as a unified whole.
Culture too plays a defining role in shaping a person’s identity. The shared values, traditions and histories characteristic of a particular culture have a very strong influence on an individual's behaviours and thoughts. Cultural identity, in this context, includes everything related to an individual's sense of self, their sense of belonging, their belief systems, and their feelings of self-worth. It represents the collective accumulation of ways of life passed down through generations within a human community.
The role of language in the formation of identity, particularly cultural identity, is significant. Language is inherent to the expression of culture and stands as a fundamental component of cultural identity. It serves as the medium through which we pass down our innermost selves from one generation to the next. Language plays a central role in transmitting and articulating our culture and its underlying values. It is a complex interplay between our internal understanding of identity and the external interpretations of it.
Words and language hold the power to define and mould the human experience. Language, in the sense of what a person says or writes, considered from the point of view of both form and content, is central to individual identity. This 'language' acts as a text, not only conveying what the individual says but also representing the individual as a whole. Moreover, it serves as a medium through which others can decipher and interpret the person's identity in intricate and multifaceted ways.
It is through language that we can convey our cultural identity, share our values, and maintain a connection with our cultural heritage across generations. Language shapes the way we think about, understand, and communicate who we are individually and as members of the many intersecting groups that define us. It is one of the fundamental devices that all humans share and through which they distinguish themselves from other animals. At the same time human language presents a vast diversity within and across communities. Individuals use differences in language to signal their belonging to a given community or communities as well as to distinguish themselves from others.
Both the form and content of linguistic production are shaped by the needs of the identity of the speakers and writers. Additionally, the comprehension and interpretation of language is also shaped and frequently driven by the perception of identity. Even the very identities of the languages we use have been shaped in this way. Therefore, any study of language needs to take identity into consideration if it is to be meaningful because identity is itself at the very heart of what language is about, how it operates, why and how it came into existence and evolved as it did, how it is learned and how it is used.
Conclusion
Language is a powerful piece of social technology, and how it has shaped our history, culture, and identity. By allowing us to communicate complex ideas, share our experiences, and form intricate social bonds. It is the remarkable and unique aspect of our species, setting us apart from all other forms of life on Earth.
Language has been a driving force behind our ability to coordinate joint action and indicate social relationships, both of which have been crucial in our survival and cultural development.
Language is not just a system of communication by sound; it is a complex system of symbols that enables us to convey an infinite range of messages.
The connection between language and identity is undeniable, how Language shapes and reflects our individual and cultural identities, playing a central role in how we perceive ourselves and how others perceive us. It is a medium through which we pass down our cultural heritage and maintain a connection with our past and future generations.