The Language and its Origin

Great Universal Writers

Topic 1

What is Langauge?
Language is, above any other definition, the main

connection between people and the world,

between one person and the others, and between
a person and his or herself.
It is also a system (named linguistic system),

through which meaning and sense can be

conveyed in order to stablish communication
among members of a social community.

Of course, in order for

people of the same
community to understand
each other, they have to
share a common (mutual)
linguistic system. This is
normally known as a
language, also named
idiom or tongue. Ex:
English language, Spanish
language, Italian language,
etc.

How did Language came to be?

Although you might take language and the ability

to speak as a given fact, humans had to develop

it as a proper means of communication before it
existed as we know it today.
Philosophers, anthropologists and linguists, such

as Friederich Engels and Johann Gottfried think

that language first attempts were made by
imitating the sounds of animals or by making
specific sounds to show an emotional state:
anger, happiness, sadness, etc.

 Eventually, some sounds came to represent specific

meanings, and the development of such

phenomenon gave origin to language.

Mythological Explanations
However, way before scientific and historical

theories were able to explain how language

originated, people of different cultures around the
world told stories that narrated how supernatural
events and the intervention of deities were
responsible for bestowing the ability of speech
upon the humankind.

 One of the most important of these narrations for

the occidental culture is the biblical passage of

the Tower of Babel. The Bible doesnt explain how
language appeared in the first place, since Adam
and Eve, the very first humans according to the
Bible, already knew how to speak when the were
created.
However, some time after Creation, men tried to
build a Tower so high it could reach Gods domain
in the Heavens, which was an affront upon Gods
will, so he punished humanity by making people
talk in different tongues, since up until that point
in time, all men spoke one single language.

This painting by Abel Grimmer (1570-1619)

depicts
the building of the Tower of Babel.