Origin Oflanguage

Humanity’s curiosity about itself led to curiosity about language. Many of early theories on the origin of language resulted from an interest in human origins and human nature. Because languageappeared so uniquely human, it was believed that if we knew how, when, and where language arose, perhaps we would know how, when and where the human species arose.

Curiosity connected with an inquiryinto the original nature of man, and that primitive state in which he was, before language was invented.

Speculations on language origin have provided valuable insights into the nature anddevelopment of language.

God’s Gift to Humanity?
According to Judeo-Christian beliefs, God gave Adam the power to name all things. Similar beliefs are found throughout the world. According to the Egyptians,the creator of speech was the god Thoth. Babylonians believed the language giver was the god Nabu, and the Hindus attributed our unique language ability to a goddess; Brahma was the creator of theuniverse, but language was given to us by his wife, Sarasvati.

The belief in the divine origin of language has continued through the ages. It led to important linguistic study, because their languagehad already changed greatly since the hymns of the Vedas had been written. The first linguistic known to us is Panini, who in the fourth century wrote a detailed grammar of Sanskrit in which thephonological rules revealed the earlier pronunciation for use in religious worship. Until recently, only Latin could be used in the Catholic Mass.

Suessmilch, did not view primitive language as “lessdeveloped” or “imperfect”. He suggested just the opposite – that all languages are “perfect” and thus the reflection of God’s perfection. He also pointed out that all languages have grammars that arehighly regular, for the otherwise children would be unable to learn them.

There is no way to prove or disprove the divine origin of language, just as no one can argue scientifically for or against...