How did man discover language?

Answer 1

Language was not so much discovered as it was developed over time. Humans have a strong desire to communicate, as well as the need to do so for survival.

From guttural sounds and physical gestures to symbols and pictorials drawn in sand and on stone walls, we know communication has driven humanoids and humans to tell others what they know. In that sense, beginning with the first humanoids (biped mammals with human characteristics) to today's men and women, all have been teachers of language.

Out of the lack of specificity of guttural sounds came the need to consistently send the same message...sounds put together to convey a stampede, or that two people were committed and the partners were therefore unavailable to others. Should a "grrhumph" be misinterpreted for one or the other of these situations, the consequences could vary to result in the end of your life, or just a good old fashioned fight out of jealousy. Imagine a humanoid pounding his chest and screaming a fighting cry to indicate he would defend his tribe frim danger when his friend's message meant, "Stay away from Lois!".

The need to develop and teach others a code (string of specific sounds) to represent different situations was, as you can imagine, strong.

Over thousands of years, language has been refined, changed, and has evolved. It continues to do so today. Imagine 40 years ago the word "ain't" was not in the dictionary because it wasn't considered a word. Today we continue to change word meaning and, as an example, even add suffixes. Consider the word "cool". It meant cold to the touch, but it can now also mean, "awesome" or "nice". We are currently changing words by adding the suffix "-ity" to many words. "Physical", for example, is being chaged to "physicality". Consider: "He is a very physical person." is often now heard as, "He has great physicality.". And these are just basic examples.

Language is a constantly changing, evolving part of the human experience-regardless of whether it's English, Mandarin, or French. It us born out of the need to communicate more effectively and it will forever evolve as human need dictates.

Answer 2

The exact origins of language are still debated, but it is believed that early humans developed language as a means of communication, possibly through a combination of gestures, sounds, and grunts. Over time, this system of communication evolved and became more complex, leading to the development of different languages.