I must get in a word endwise! Early language was a series of grunts But an American? I didn't think that U. But I got my comeuppance in in Germany Since then I have had an inferiority complex. Ars langae, vita brevis. I've always wondered if they were called words before they were written. Much further up this page there was talk of Neanderthals using 'ook ook' as a word.
Well surely that's rather childish. Assuming Neanderthals existed I just can't be bothered taking sides and assuming that it IS true that their brain capacity was larger then ours as has been presented by science before then we must assume that they are worth more recognition then two repeated syllables. There are an infinite amount of possible combinations in spoken words and syllables. It is just as likely then, is it not, that they called fire 'petrifying light of man'.
They may have just had different meanings for the words. Personally I believe that language has existed as long as any animal has. Even an animal creating a noise to protect their habitat has a 'meaning' to their sounds right? So as long as there has been sound from animals, there has been language. However I'm 15 and failing English, so what do I know?
Thanks for joining the discussion, Stephen. I subscribe to the theory that Neanderthals existed, and they disappeared for as yet unknown reason.
Maybe warfare with "us", maybe a plague of some sort. Maybe intermarriage with "us" -- with their genes so strongly recessive that the remnants quickly dwindled out. I'll advance a theory that Sheldon may like. It has recently been demonstrated that the old saw about blind people hearing better than the sighted is true and has a biological basis. Brain scans are proving that the dividing line in the brain between the area reserved for processing images vs.
The brain doesn't like to waste space, and the area for visual processes atrophies while the aural processing area grows into the newly available brain real estate.
Isn't it possible that speech grew gradually more important with each generation and that, even if mankind hasn't evolved an iota, the speech area of each infant now grows bigger and more capable these days than in prehistoric time because of the demand we put on it? It is also well known that young children learn foreign languages much more easily than adults. Isn't it possible that it's because their brain has not filled and "burned in" as much, leaving more room for those foreign language areas to easily grow?
And Stephen, you are obviously a smart guy. If you're failing English, maybe you can see if your school or another local school has a summer course in "Philosophy of Language".
It might make English fascinating instead of a drudge -- I know it worked for me. I've always wondered who invented words. But, however, no one knows.. I've asked my parents and other people the answer was always 'I Don't Know'. So one day I had the idea to google it. The problem was I didn't find anything that I didn't know before. Hi, Lindsay. How about this hypothesis then: Some languages are so completely different from others that it proves they do not have a common origin; that is, multiple people invented words.
I had the exact same question, but if people find the answer, it may take us centuries back in time! I think that you guys are right. I am only young but have read through some of this and your theories are very interesting. Maybe the sounds and things did make the words? I don't know but these all sound correct. Hi, Hoping this would contribute to the question. My answer is based in the Bible and it runs this manner: In the beginning was the Word.
And the Word was with God. This is my opinion, heed it to an extent. All things are, and forever will be sealed as long as we bicker, no one can say for sure whether anyone's right; hell even the world we perceive may be different than the world that is, and all we know is as long as we see things in our own degree of intellect, we'll never truly evolve or learn, I believe we are born with the knowledge that we "learn", that we never really learn anything new.
Ideas to ponder, this is my own lecture to you adults, I'm only sixteen years old, and I'm already a philosophy student at Washington State University; I graduated from high school almost one year ago, and I am still unlocking the thoughts of the past.
Thank you for your time, I really do enjoy these kinds of subjects. Hi, Daniel. Thanks for the thinking points. My understanding is that Plato agreed with you that "the world we perceive may be different than the world that is".
He said something roughly to this effect you'll probably learn the story correctly in your studies : We are all born chained spread-eagle inside a cave, face to the wall, our backs to the opening to the outside world, believing that the shadows that we see playing across the wall are the whole of reality. When do you think words so to speak were invented? Hi, Molly. Homo Sapiens humans first existed about , years ago. All other forms of humanoids were extinct by at least 30, years ago.
The best guess of a lot of people is that words were invented by Home Sapiens, and it was sometime in that period. You are probably too young to understand much of it, but pandora. Some of these things we don't really know and may never know, so it's a matter of guessing. My own guess is that, because some languages are so completely different than others, the real development of language occurred after the great migration, which started about 80, years ago.
But guesses are only guesses Good: That was the most intelligent and loving blog sequence I have ever seen. Because of the honesty of that which was said and more importantly for that which wasn't said. Proof that in life folks are what it IS all about. Bad A bad entry-even though it is what I think : If only as adults we could all treat each other with such love.
But then there are people politicians who use words to manipulate ignorant people to enslave the free independent thinkers to implement their crony capitalism, socialism, and communism. It constrains everyone's individuality by enslaving each individual's time and focus. We is slaves immaculate! As all new ideas and value comes from a single individual, there is a Pandora hope.
Meaning : Jealousy, imagined as a monster that attacks people. Meaning : Feeling of revulsion, horror or fear. Meaning : Nonsensical, gibberish or meaningless language. Meaning : A dull or boring person. Tolkien in The Fellowship of the Ring. What do invented words tell us about languages?
Photo by Nong Vang on Unsplash. There is a science and concerted effort involved behind these creations. This goes to show that writers did not always pull words out from thin air. Photo by Valentin Antonini on Unsplash. New languages work on similar grammar and language structures.
It also pushes us to conclude how grammar works in a language — as long as we are able to spot a pattern. It works in similar ways when we learn languages effectively, through knowledge of basic words, pattern rules and recognising words and sounds with their meanings. This goes against freer movements of words that happen in real languages. The result? Adults appeared better at learning the invented languages as they could rely on prior knowledge and experiences with languages , despite having the rules go against how real languages work.
In this way, new languages can provide a gateway towards understanding how we learn languages. Can we translate new words? Photo by Annie Spratt on Unsplash. Often, there are words specific to a culture which are untranslatable elsewhere, and translators find themselves in a similar dilemma when it comes to translating new words. Some translators leave the words as they are, the way untranslatable words are usually translated. In other cases where its original word has a grammatical error e.
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