Editing Origin of language (section)

=== In religion and mythology ===
{{Main|Mythical origins of language}}
{{See also|Divine language|Adamic language}}
[[File:Pieter Bruegel the Elder - The Tower of Babel (Vienna) - Google Art Project.jpg|thumb|''[[The Tower of Babel (Bruegel)|The Tower of Babel]]'' by [[Pieter Bruegel the Elder]] (1563)]]
The search for the origin of language has a long history in [[mythology]]. Most mythologies do not credit humans with the invention of language but speak of a [[divine language]] predating human language. Mystical languages used to communicate with animals or spirits, such as the [[language of the birds]], are also common, and were of particular interest during the [[Renaissance]].

[[Vāc]] is the [[Hinduism|Hindu]] goddess of speech, or "speech personified". As [[Brahman]]'s "sacred utterance", she has a cosmological role as the "Mother of the [[Veda]]s". The [[Aztecs]]' story maintains that only a man, [[Coxcox]], and a woman, [[Xochiquetzal]], survived a flood, having floated on a piece of bark. They found themselves on land and had many children who were at first born unable to speak, but subsequently, upon the arrival of a [[dove]], were endowed with language, although each one was given a different speech such that they could not understand one another.<ref>Turner, P. and Russell-Coulter, C. (2001) ''Dictionary of Ancient Deities'' (Oxford: OUP)</ref>

In the [[Old Testament]], the [[Book of Genesis]] (chapter 11) says that God prevented the [[Tower of Babel]] from being completed through a [[miracle]] that made its construction workers start speaking different languages. After this, they migrated to other regions, grouped together according to which of the newly created languages they spoke, explaining the origins of languages and nations outside of the [[Fertile Crescent]].<ref>{{Cite book |last=Pennock |first=Robert T. |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=aC1OccYnX0sC&q=Tower+of+Babel:+The+Evidence+Against+the+New+Creationism |title=Tower of Babel: The Evidence against the New Creationism |publisher=Bradford |year=2000 |isbn=978-0-262-66165-2}}</ref>