Videos: The History of Language

Language has different aspects to be analyzed. One aspect that really catches my attention is how language raised in the first communities of humans that lived in our world.  In this entry, we will be trying to learn more about the history of language, by watching two videos and answering some questions about them.


Video 1:

1. Why is it said that people in East Africa developed more than the rest?

This is said because investigations prove that people that lived in early Africa had a better language than other communities around the world.

2. What happened to the earlier languages on Earth?

Most of them disappeared and their traces were lost.

3. According to Dr Johanna Nichols, what were the first utterances made by Humans?

The first utterances were calls, as people needed to call each other for basic activities. These "calls" evolved and turned into words over time.

Video 2:

       

1. What is the biblical story of "the Tower of Babel"?

The story tells that people tried to build a very high tower that will reach the sky. In response to this, God changed their languages and spread them all over the world, and of course, they couldn't finish building the tower.

2. What does historical evidence tell us of this biblical event?
Historical evidence explains the evolution of different languages by saying that when people started to move to new places around the world, the language started to change and resulted in different languages over time, because each community changes their language. This is why we have a lot of languages in the world, and not only one.

3. What's the relationship between genes and language?
They have a very strong relationship. People with similar genes are more likely to speak the same language.

4. Why do languages constantly change?
Because language is learn by generations, and each one of this generations makes slight changes in their language. Over time, greater changes will be seen.