The origins…

«Ouch!», «Mama?» The origins of language

Some of the oldest languages known include Sanskrit, Sumerian, Hebrew and Basque.

A study of macaque monkeys suggests that languages may have evolved to replace grooming as a better way of forging social ties amongst our ancestors.

Another theory is that our ancient predecessors imitated natural sounds: e.g. the bird that made a «caw caw» sound became a ‘cuckoo’in a similar way to today’s children calling things by the sound that they make: «Look, there’s a moo, baa, choo-choo!».

Human communication might have been sparked by involuntary sounds such as «ouch» or «eek» or by communal activities such as heaving or carrying heavy objects, coordinated by shouts of «yo-he-ho», etc.

Another theory proposes that language evolved from the communication between mother and baby, with the mother repeating the baby’s babbling and giving it a meaning. Indeed, in most languages «mama» or similar «ma»-sounds actually mean ‘mother’.