Plus or minus thousands of years
It is impossible to answer the question about the time of the emergence of articulate sounding speech unambiguously. It is clear that this did not happen overnight, but as a result of a long process and the evolution of the protolanguage (or prelanguage). This process could not be completed before homo had a large brain with developed frontal lobes, strong respiratory muscles and anatomically suitable vocal tract, larynx and hypoglossal canal, which ensured the mobility of the tongue and a wide range of reproduced sounds. Physiologically, Heidelberg man (Homo heidelbergensis), our ancestor who lived 800 - 130 thousand years ago, approached the invention of normal sounding speech. He could probably even use “protogrammar.” However, language with complex syntax evolved only in our species, Homo sapiens, with its advanced brain. According to linguist Svetlana Anatolyevna Burlak, this happened at least 195 thousand years ago (plus or minus about 5 thousand years).
Heidelberg Man, reconstruction. (aminoapps.com)
Some anatomical prerequisites for speech developed earlier, in Homo erectus (2−1 million years ago) and even Homo sapiens (2.8−2.5 million years ago). And the most important thing is that not only anatomical prerequisites appeared at the same time. Man began to travel a lot, produce tools, explore new ecological niches, which means he exchanged information and improved his social skills - they improved along with brain growth. Homo communicated more and more in increasingly complex ways. To do this, our ancestors used primitive speech and proto-language, since homo was not yet mature for a full-fledged language (the fact that language arose precisely as a social tool has been said since the 19th century: L. Noiret, J. Furse, M. Tomasello, etc. . scientists). And here the question arises: how exactly did this proto-language appear?
In the 18th and 19th centuries, when inquisitive minds first began to ask this question, various ideas were proposed. The main theories are still alive, however, now they do not conflict so sharply, but rather complement each other: in the process of language evolution, man could use numerous mechanisms. The only thing that is not accepted by most scientists is the assumption that language came directly from the signaling systems of animals. It is clear that since language requires learning, thinking and the ability to arbitrarily assign meanings to signs and put them into original combinations in accordance with grammatical rules, it is a purely human unique invention.
So, theories.
A skillful man. (Science Source)
From Volapuk to Na'vi: 10 artificial languages
The legend of the Babylonian pandemonium haunts linguists - from time to time someone tries to come up with a universal language: concise, understandable and easy to learn. Artificial languages are also used in cinema and literature to make fictional worlds even more alive and realistic. “Theories and Practices” made a selection of the most interesting projects of this kind and found out how antonyms are formed in Solresol, how long words can be created in Volapuk and what the most famous quote from “Hamlet” sounds like in Klingon.
Universalglot
Universalglot is the very first artificial language, systematized and developed in the likeness of Latin by the French linguist Jeanne Pirro in 1868. This a posteriori language (it is based on the vocabulary of already existing languages) appeared 10 years earlier than Volapuk and 20 years earlier than Esperanto. It was appreciated only by a small group of people and did not gain much popularity, although Pirro developed it in some detail, creating about 7,000 base words and many verbal morphemes that allow words to be modified.
Alphabet: consists of 26 letters of the Latin and German alphabet.
Pronunciation: Similar to English, but the vowels are pronounced in a Spanish or Italian manner.
Vocabulary: the most famous and easiest words to remember and pronounce were selected from the Romance and Germanic languages. Most of the words are similar to French or German.
Features of grammar: nouns and adjectives are constant parts of speech. All feminine nouns end in in. Verbs change tenses and have passive forms.
Examples:
“In futur, I scriptrai evos semper in dit glot. I pregate evos responden ad me in dit self glot"
“In the future I will always write to you in this language. And I ask you to answer me in the same way.”
"Habe or vin?"
- “Do they have wine?”
Volapyuk
Volapük was invented in Germany by Catholic priest Johann Martin Schleyer in 1879. The creator of Volapuk believed that this language was suggested to him by God, who came to him during insomnia. The name comes from the English words world (vol in Volapuk) and speak (pük), and the language itself was based on Latin. Unlike the universalglot that preceded it, Volapuk was popular for quite a long time: more than 25 magazines were published on it and about 300 textbooks on its study were written. There is even a Wikipedia in Volapuk. However, apart from her, practically no one uses this language in the 21st century, but the word “Volapiuk” itself has entered the lexicon of some European languages as a synonym for something meaningless and unnatural.
Alphabet: Volapük has three alphabets: the main alphabet, which is close to Latin and consists of 27 characters, the phonetic alphabet, consisting of 64 letters, and the Latin extended alphabet with additional letters (umlauts) included in it, which is used to convey proper names. Three alphabets, which in theory were designed to help read and write, in fact only made understanding more difficult, since most words could be written in several ways (For example, “London” - London or [lǻndĕn]).
Pronunciation: Volapuk phonetics is elementary: there are no complex combinations of vowels and the sound r, which makes pronunciation easier for children and peoples who do not use the sound r in speech. The stress always falls on the last syllable.
Vocabulary: Many roots of words in Volapuk are borrowed from French and English, but the vocabulary of the language is independent and lacks a close semantic connection with living languages. Volapük words are often formed according to the principle of “stringing roots.” For example, the word klonalitakip (chandelier) consists of three components: klon (crown), lit (light) and kip (keep). Making fun of the word formation process in Volapük, people who spoke the language deliberately made up long words, like klonalitakipafablüdacifalöpasekretan (secretary of the chandelier factory directorate).
Features of grammar: Nouns can be declined in four cases. Verbs are formed by attaching a pronoun to the root of the corresponding noun. For example, the pronoun ob (s) - “I (we)”, when added to the root löf (“love”), forms the verb löfob (“love”).
Example:
“Binos prinsip sagatik, kel sagon, das stud nemödik a del binos gudikum, ka stud mödik süpo”
“It is wisely said that it is better to study a little every day than to study a lot in one day.”
Grammar Textbook on Amazon
Esperanto
The most popular of artificial languages was created in 1887 by Warsaw linguist and oculist Lazar Markovich Zamenhof. The main provisions of the language were collected in the Esperanto textbook Lingvo internacia. Antaŭparolo kaj plena lernolibro (“International language. Preface and complete textbook”). Zamenhof published a textbook under the pseudonym “Doctor Esperanto” (which means “Hopeful” in the language he created), which gave the name to the language.
The idea to create an international language came to Zamenhof due to the fact that in Bialystok, his hometown, people of different nationalities lived and they felt separated, not having a common language that everyone could understand. Esperanto was enthusiastically received by the public and developed actively for a long time: the Esperanto Academy appeared, and in 1905 the first World Congress dedicated to the new language took place. Esperanto has several "child" languages, such as Ido (which translates to "descendant" from Esperanto) and Novial.
Esperanto is still spoken by about 100,000 people around the world. Several radio stations broadcast in this language (including Vatican Radio), some musical groups sing and films are made. There is also a Google search in Esperanto.
Alphabet: was created on the basis of Latin and consists of 28 letters. There are letters with diacritics.
Pronunciation: Pronunciation of most sounds is easy without special preparation; individual sounds are pronounced in the Russian and Polish manner. The stress in all words falls on the penultimate syllable.
Vocabulary: The roots of words are mainly borrowed from Romance and Germanic languages (French, German, English), sometimes Slavic borrowings are found.
Features of grammar: In the first textbook published by Zamenhof, all the grammatical rules of Esperanto fit into 16 points. Each part of speech has its own ending: nouns end in o, adjectives end in a, verbs end in i, adverbs end in e. Verbs change according to tenses: each tense has its own ending (the past has is, the present has as, the future has os). Nouns change in only two cases - nominative and accusative, the remaining cases are expressed using prepositions. Plural numbers are indicated by ending j. There is no gender category in Esperanto.
Example:
Ĉu vi estas libera ĉi-vespere?
—Are you free this evening?
A selection of free Esperanto textbooks
Linkos
Linkos is a “space language” created by Utrecht University mathematics professor Hans Freudenthal to interact with extraterrestrial civilizations. Linkos, unlike most artificial languages, is not a posteriori, but a priori (that is, it is based on no existing languages). Due to the fact that this language is intended for communication with alien intelligent beings, it is as simple and unambiguous as possible. It is based on the idea of the universality of mathematics. Freudenthal has developed a series of lessons on Linkos, which in the shortest possible time help to master the main categories of the language: numbers, the concepts of “more”, “less”, “equal”, “true”, “false”, etc.
Alphabet and pronunciation: There is no alphabet. Words do not need voicing. They are designed to be read-only or transmitted in code form.
Vocabulary: Any word can be encoded if it can be explained mathematically. Since there are few such words, linkos mainly operates with categorical concepts.
Example:
Ha Inq Hb ?x 2x=5
— Ha says Hb: what is x if 2x=5?
Loglan
Loglan is a logical language, a language developed by Dr. James Cook Brown as an experimental language to test the Sapphire-Whorf hypothesis of linguistic relativity (language determines thinking and the way of knowing reality). The first book on its study, Loglan 1: A Logical Language, was published in 1975. The language is completely logical, easy to learn, and free of the inaccuracies of natural languages. The first students of Loglan were observed as linguistic scientists tried to understand how language affects thinking. It was also planned to make Loglan a language for communicating with artificial intelligence. In 1987, the Loglan Institute split, and at the same time the language split into Loglan and Lojban. Now there are several hundred people left in the world who can understand Loglan.
Alphabet: Latin alphabet without modifications with four diphthongs.
Pronunciation: similar to Latin.
Vocabulary: all words are created specifically for this language. There are almost no borrowed roots. All capital consonants end in “ai” (Bai, Cai, Dai), all lowercase consonants end in “ei” (bei, cei, dei), capital vowels end in “-ma” (Ama, Ema, Ima), all lowercase vowels end in "fi" (afi, efi, ifi)
Features of grammar: Loglan has only three parts of speech: names, words and predicates. Names are written with a capital letter and ending with a consonant. Predicates act as almost all parts of speech, do not change and are constructed according to a certain pattern (they must have a specific number of vowels and consonants). Words help create all connections between words (both grammatical, punctuation and semantic). So, in Loglan there is no majority of punctuation marks: instead of them, little words are used - kie and kiu (instead of parentheses), li and lu (instead of quotation marks). Words are also used to convey emotional coloring to the text: they can express confidence, joy, desire, etc.
Examples:
Ice mi tsodi lo puntu
- I hate pain.
Le bukcu ga he treci?
- Interesting book?
Bei mutce treci.
- The book is very interesting
Loglan Wikibook
Solresol
Solresol is an artificial language invented by the Frenchman Jean François Sudre in 1817, based on the name of the seven notes of the diatonic scale. To study it, it is not necessary to read musical notation. The language project was recognized by the Paris Academy of Sciences and received the approval of Victor Hugo, Alphonse Lamartine, Humboldt - however, interest in Solresol was, although vigorous, short-lived. A separate advantage of the language is that words and sentences in the Solresol language can be written both in letters (and vowels can be omitted for brevity), and in musical notation, the first seven numbers, the first seven letters of the alphabet, the colors of the rainbow and shorthand signs.
Alphabet: Instead of the alphabet, solresol uses the names of the seven notes: do, re, mi, fa, sol, la, si.
Pronunciation: You can pronounce words by reading their names out loud or singing the corresponding notes.
Vocabulary: All solresol words consist of the names of notes. There are about 3,000 words in the language (one-syllable, two-syllable, three-syllable and four-syllable). Words are combined according to semantic categories: all that begin with “sol” refer to sciences and art (soldoremi - theater, sollasila - mathematics), those starting with “solsol” - to medicine and anatomy (solsoldomi - nerve), words related to categories of time begin with “dor”: (doredo - hour, dorefa - week, dorela - year). Antonyms are formed by inverting the word: domire - unlimited, remido - limited. There are no synonyms in Solresol.
Features of grammar: Parts of speech in Solresol are determined by stress. In a noun it falls on the first syllable: milarefa - criticism, in an adjective on the penultimate one: milarefA - critical, in the verb there is no stress, and in an adverb the stress falls on the last syllable. Nouns officially have three genders (masculine, feminine, neuter), but actually two: feminine and non-feminine. In feminine words in oral speech, the last vowel sound is highlighted - it is either emphasized or a small horizontal line is placed above it.
Examples:
Miremi Resisolsi
- beloved friend
I love you
- dore milyasi domi
Textbook in English
Ithkuil
Ithkuil is a language created in 1987 by American linguist John Quijada and, in his own words, “was in no way intended to function as a natural language.” Linguists call Ithkuil a superlanguage that can speed up thought processes: by pronouncing a minimum number of sounds, you can convey the maximum amount of information, since words in Ithkuil are built on the principle of “semantic compression” and are designed to increase the efficiency of communication.
Alphabet: The alphabet is based on Latin using diacritics (45 consonants and 13 vowels), but words are written using ikhtail - an archetypal script that changes depending on the morphological role of the symbol in the word. In writing, there are many symbols with double meaning. Also, the text can be written both from left to right and from right to left. Ideally, the text on the ifkuil should be read as a “vertical snake”, starting from the upper left corner.
Pronunciation: Difficult to pronounce language with complex phonology. Most of the letters individually are similar to Latin ones and are pronounced in the usual way, but in combination with others they turn out to be difficult to pronounce.
Features of the Grammar: The creator of the language himself says that the grammar is constructed according to “a matrix of grammatical concepts and structures designed for compactness, cross-functionality and reusability.” There are no rules in language as such, but there are certain principles for the compatibility of morphemes.
Vocabulary: There are about 3600 semantic roots in Ithkuil. Word formation occurs according to the principles of semantic similarity and grouping. New words are formed thanks to a huge number of morphemes (suffixes, prefixes, interfixes, grammatical categories).
Examples:
elaţ eqëiţôrf eoļļacôbé
- "Brevity is the soul of wit"
Literal translation: (prototypical) utterance (produced by a prototypical) talented person - compact (i.e. - metaphorically reminiscent of the idea of tightly coupled matter).
xwaléix oípřai“lîň olfái”lobîň
- "Deep blue Sea". Literal translation: “A large body of still water, considered as having new properties, which manifests itself in a “blue manner” and at the same time has a more than normal level of depth.”
Textbook in English
Quenya and other Elvish languages
Elvish languages are dialects coined by the writer and linguist J.R.R. Tolkien in 1910–1920. The elves in his works communicate in these languages. There are many elven languages: Quenderin, Quenya, Eldarin, Avarin, Sindarin, Ilkorin, Lemberin, Nandorin, Telerin, etc. Their multiplicity is due to the numerous “divisions” of the elven people due to frequent wars and migrations. Each Elvish language has both an external history (that is, the story of its creation by Tolkien) and an internal history (the story of its origins in the Elvish world). Elvish languages are popular among fans of Tolkien's work, with several magazines published in Quenya and Sindarin (the two most popular languages).
Alphabet: The Quenya alphabet has 22 consonants and 5 vowels. There are two writing systems for writing words in Elvish languages: Tengwar and Kirt (similar to runic writing). Latin transliteration is also used.
Pronunciation: The pronunciation and stress system of Quenya is similar to Latin.
Features of grammar: Nouns in Quenya are declined in 9 cases, with one of the cases called “Elfinitive”. Verbs change according to tenses (present, present perfect, past, past perfect, future and future perfect). Numbers are interesting - there is not only singular and plural, but also dual and multiple (for countless objects). To form names, suffixes are used that have certain meanings, for example -wen - “maiden”, -(i)on - “son”, -tar - “ruler, king”.
Vocabulary: Quenya is based on Finnish, Latin and Greek. The prototype for Sindarin was the Welsh language. Most of the words in one way or another relate to the life of elven settlements, to military operations, to magic and to the everyday life of elves.
Example (Quenya):
Harië malta úva carë nér anwavë alya
— It’s not gold that makes a person truly rich
Textbook "Quenya for Beginners"
Klingon language
Klingon is a language developed in the 1980s specifically for the alien race of the Star Trek series by linguist Marc Okrand. It is thought out from start to finish: it has its own grammar, stable syntax, writing, and is also actively supported by the Klingon Language Institute, which publishes books and magazines in Klington (including the works of Shakespeare and the Bible translated into Klingon). There is not only a Klingon Wikipedia and a Klingon Google search engine, but also rock bands that sing only in Klingon. In The Hague in 2010, the opera "'u'" was published in this fictitious dialect ("'u'" means "Universe").
Pronunciation and Alphabet: A phonetically complex language that uses glottal stops to create an alien-sounding effect. Several writing systems have been developed that have features of Tibetan writing with an abundance of sharp corners in the outline of characters. The Latin alphabet is also used.
Vocabulary: Formed on the basis of Sanskrit and North American Indian languages. The syntax is mainly devoted to space and conquest, war, weapons and numerous variations of curses (in Klingon culture, cursing is a kind of art). The language has a lot of movie buzz built into it: the word for "couple" in Klingon is chang'eng (a reference to the twins Chang and Eng).
Grammar Features: Klingon uses affixes to change the meaning of a word. A variety of suffixes are used to convey animateness and inanimateness, plurality, gender and other distinctive features of objects. Verbs also have special suffixes that characterize the action. The word order can be either direct or reverse. Speed in information transfer is a decisive factor.
Examples:
tlhIngan Hol Dajatlh'a'?
— Do you speak Klingon?
Heghlu'meH QaQ jajvam.
- Today is a good day to die.
taH pagh taHbe: DaH mu'tlheghvam vIqelnIS
— To be or not to be: that is the question
Klingon Language Institute website
Na'vi
Na'vi is a language developed between 2005 and 2009 by linguist Paul Frommer for the James Cameron film Avatar. Na'vi is spoken by the blue-skinned inhabitants of the planet Pandora. From their language the word Na'vi is translated as "people".
Pronunciation and vocabulary: Papuan, Australian and Polynesian languages were used as prototypes for the Na'vi. There are about 1000 words in the language. The vocabulary is mostly everyday.
Features of grammar: There are no concepts of gender in Na'Vi; words denoting men or women can be distinguished using the suffixes an - masculine and e - feminine. The division into “he” and “she” is also optional. Numbers are indicated not by endings, but by prefixes. Adjectives are not declined. Verbs change according to tenses (and it is not the endings of the verbs that change, but infixes are added), but not according to persons. Due to the fact that the Na'vi have four fingers on their hands, they use the octal number system. The order of words in a sentence is free.
Examples:
Oeyä tukrul txe'lanit tivakuk
- Let my spear pierce the heart
Kaltxì. Ngaru lu fpom srak?
- "Hi how are you doing?" (literally: “Hi, are you okay?”)
Tsun oe ngahu nìNa“vi pivängkxo a fì”u oeru prrte' lu
. - “I can communicate with you in Na’vi, and that’s nice for me.”
Fìskxawngìri tsap'alute sengi oe
. - “I'm sorry about that idiot.”
A Guide to Na'vi Grammar
Onomatopoeic theory, also known as onomatopoeic theory
This theory was put forward by the German thinker Johann Gottfried Herder in 1772. Herder believed that the first words arose as a result of special intellectual efforts of man. People imitated the sounds made by animals, as well as the noise of the environment - water, rain or wind... This prelinguistic vocalization of sounds became a step towards the emergence of a protolanguage, and then language. The onomatopoeic theory quickly found many supporters, as it rationally explained where the first words could come from.
Interjective theory, also known as expressive theory
It was followed by several researchers in the 19th century. She suggests that the first words are the development of an innate ability for emotional vocalization, the same as in animals. Pain, fun, fear, anger and other feelings are expressed, among other things, by sound signals. This is what a child of a person who has not yet learned to speak does: he sighs, laughs or screams for various reasons with a certain intonation. Whether such signals could have become the foundation of a protolanguage is a debatable question, since this is an innate ability, whereas a person learns language.
The interjection hypothesis is also similar to the assumption that the emergence of language was facilitated by gestures and pantomimes inherited by man from the animal past. They are used by both hominids and children, and in the communication of adults, gestures are of great importance. In turn, the “labor hypothesis” connects the emergence of a lexical protolanguage with gestures: since the need arose to make and use stone tools, that is, to occupy hands, it was no longer possible to actively gesture and words were needed.
Tools of homo sapiens. (msu.ru)
What peoples live in the Philippines?
The best way to understand the language spoken in a state is to study the peoples living there. The indigenous population of the islands are Malays.
You may be interested in:Language of the Philippines: official and local dialects
This people is of Southeast Asian origin. Each region of the Philippines speaks its own distinct dialect. But the basis is Tagalog.
Spanish had a huge influence on the development of the language in the Philippines. For many years this place was a colony of Spain. And the very name of these islands was given in honor of King Philip II.
In addition to the Malays, Spaniards, Americans, Chinese, Negritos, Visayans, Moros, Ilocanos, and mestizos live here. Each province speaks its own dialect, and in some cases another language.
Music theory
J. Barnett, Jacques-Jacques Rousseau and Charles Darwin believed that “the first language of men was music.” There are also supporters of this theory among modern researchers (archaeologist S. Mitten, for example). They believe that it was musical sounds that became the first similarity to words and a communication system. Darwin compared human proto-language to the singing of birds and pointed to the importance of natural selection - everything is exactly the same as in birds that learn to sing, and the best singers reproduce more successfully. Intellectual growth during selection allowed the musical protolanguage to evolve in the direction of a lexical language. At the same time, Darwin did not reject other mechanisms for the appearance of words - signal words, he believed, could appear as a result of onomatopoeia and as a result of imitation of emotional exclamations.
***
One way or another, the early homos developed a protolanguage—gestural, musical, or lexical, or perhaps all of them at once. Gradually, selection and cultural evolution contributed to the formation of a lexical protolanguage. Of course, at first there was no complex syntax; this is a feature of an already full-fledged language. People communicated using simple imitations of sounds and simple syllables, then using their simplest combinations. Later (most likely not earlier than Homo heidelbergensis) real words appeared, which were arbitrarily assigned different meanings and in a completely random order. At this stage, communication was still difficult. For example, the word “food” still needs to be interpreted correctly - does the speaker want to eat or offer food, report food supplies or intention to go hunting? Only the appearance of syntax in Homo sapiens greatly simplified everything. It turned out that word A can be associated not only with word B, but also with words L, F and others in any order. This is how an analytical language was formed, inherited by the community.
