1.5 The myth of language: language origin

　 How did language arise? The inherent difficulty in answering the question lies in the fact there is no evidence which suggests language origin. Anthropologists believe that man has existed for millions of years. But the earliest deciphered written records are barely 6000 years. The archeological discoveries of writing systems provide no clue to the origin of language. Writing, as the visual representation of language, has a much shorter history. Our ancestors spoke long before they wrote. Among the thousands of languages in the world today, only a few hundreds of them have ａ　written form. Because of the problem of verification, scholars in the latter part of the 19th century, who were only interested in “hard science”, ignored or even banned discussions of language origin. In 1886, the Linguistic Society of Paris passed a resolution to ban any papers on the subject.

　 Wherever scientific knowledge is lacking there are religious interpretations. Many religions and mythologies contain stories of language origin. According to Christian beliefs, God gave Adam the power to name all things. Whatever Adam called everything God created, that was the name thereof. Interpreted in this way, language was God’s gift to mankind. Scientific interpretations hold that language is human invention. The Bow-wow theory sees primitive language as an imitation of natural sounds, such as the cries of animals, like quack, cuckoo. The Pooh-pooh theory argues that language arose from instinctive emotional cries, expressive of pain or joy. The Yo-he-ho theory envisages language arising from the noises made by a group of men engaged in joint labor or effort　---　lifting a huge hunted game, moving a rock, etc. The evolution theory, proposed by Darwin and favored by Engels, holds that language is a product of evolutionary development of the human species. Language originated in the process of labor. It is human invention, and dialectically, it, together with labor, makes us human.

　 The fundamental difference between a religious belief and a scientific theory is whether　it is verifiable. When a disciple believes in a religion he/she never questions its doctrines. A Christian, for example, would not try to prove whether God exists. Scientists, however, need to find evidence to support what they believe is true. More research is clearly needed in the attempt to resolve the mystery of language origin. Many biologists, psychologists, physiologists and neurologists have been working along the line of the evolution theory. The more that is known about the anatomy and functioning of the human brain, the clearer we may be about language origin.