Editing Proto-Human language (section)

{{short description|Proposed common ancestor to all human languages}}
{{Infobox proto-language
| name = Proto-Human
| altname = Proto-Sapiens, Proto-World
| acceptance = hypothetical; widely rejected
| era = [[Paleolithic]]
| familycolor = superfamily
| target = All extant and extinct human languages
}}
The '''Proto-Human language''', also known as '''Proto-Sapiens''', '''Proto-World''', or '''the Urlanguage''' is the hypothetical direct [[Genetic relationship (linguistics)|genetic]] predecessor of all human languages.<ref>{{Cite web | url = https://www.thegreatcoursesdaily.com/how-are-the-various-proto-world-families-linked/ | last1 = McWhorter | first1 = John | title = How are the Various Proto-World Families Linked? | date = 2020-09-04 | quote = The Proto-World language, also known as the Proto-Human or Proto-Sapiens, is believed to be the single source of origin of all the world’s languages. | access-date = 2021-12-16 | archive-date = 2021-12-16 | archive-url = https://web.archive.org/web/20211216140546/https://www.thegreatcoursesdaily.com/how-are-the-various-proto-world-families-linked/ | url-status = dead }}</ref> 

The concept is speculative and not amenable to analysis in [[historical linguistics]]. It [[Tacit assumption|presupposes]] a ''monogenetic'' [[origin of language]], that is, the derivation of all [[natural language]]s from a single origin, presumably at some time in the [[Middle Paleolithic]] period. As the predecessor of all ''extant'' languages spoken by [[modern humans]] (''[[Homo sapiens]]''), Proto-Human as hypothesized would not necessarily be ancestral to any hypothetical [[Neanderthal language]].{{fact|date=May 2025}}