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- The history of languages is the study of how human communication developed and spread across the world over thousands of years.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n\n\n\n
<\/p>\n\n\n\n
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- Ancient languages like Latin and Sanskrit form the foundation of most modern languages in circulation currently.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n\n\n\n
<\/p>\n\n\n\n
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- Writing systems gave language permanence, enabling cultures to pass down knowledge that survived generations.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n\n\n\n
<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\n\n\n\nWhat is the History of Languages?<\/h2>\n\n\n\n
The history of languages studies how human communication has developed over time. It looks at:<\/p>\n\n\n\n
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- How sounds in words change,\u00a0<\/li>\n\n\n\n
- How grammar rules develop,\u00a0<\/li>\n\n\n\n
- How word meanings shift, and\u00a0<\/li>\n\n\n\n
- How languages borrow from each other.\u00a0<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n\n\n\n
Essentially, Languages aren\u2019t permanent structures. They are always being reproduced by speakers, and with each reproduction, there is a variation that compounds until new languages form.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Historical linguists take on this responsibility to investigate where languages came from and how they changed over time.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
How Human Speech First Began<\/h2>\n\n\n\n
Linguists and scientists at large don\u2019t have the answer to when or even how human speech first began. Nobody knows for sure, since we don\u2019t have a single documented case of when humans spoke.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
What we can confidently assert is that ancient humans made sounds with their mouths, but we can\u2019t classify this as language because vocalization isn\u2019t language.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
What researchers have done is look at the clues left behind and propose theories. After going back and forth on this for decades, two theories have dominated the conversation:<\/p>\n\n\n\n
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- The Continuity Theory:<\/strong> This theory<\/a> has more popular support and proposes that language evolved slowly over millions of years. It began with simple calls and gestures that became more complex as humans developed tools and engineering.
<\/li>\n\n\n\n- The Discontinuity Theory:<\/strong> This theory<\/a> proposes humans had a beneficial genetic mutation 100,000 years ago that gave them the capability to form and use language. The theory is highly disputed, even so, neurologists<\/a> have found areas in the brain associated with language.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n\n\n\n
Whatever theory researchers choose to explain human speech, it doesn\u2019t change the fact that human speech started through the following stages:<\/p>\n\n\n\n
- The Discontinuity Theory:<\/strong> This theory<\/a> proposes humans had a beneficial genetic mutation 100,000 years ago that gave them the capability to form and use language. The theory is highly disputed, even so, neurologists<\/a> have found areas in the brain associated with language.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n\n\n\n
- The Continuity Theory:<\/strong> This theory<\/a> has more popular support and proposes that language evolved slowly over millions of years. It began with simple calls and gestures that became more complex as humans developed tools and engineering.
- Writing systems gave language permanence, enabling cultures to pass down knowledge that survived generations.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n\n\n\n
- Ancient languages like Latin and Sanskrit form the foundation of most modern languages in circulation currently.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n\n\n\n
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