Editing Language (section)

==Origin==
{{main|Origin of language|Origin of speech}}
{{See also|Proto-Human language}}
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| image1    = Pieter Bruegel the Elder - The Tower of Babel (Vienna) - Google Art Project - edited.jpg
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| caption1  = ''[[The Tower of Babel (Bruegel)|The Tower of Babel]]'' by [[Pieter Bruegel the Elder]]. Oil on board, 1563.<br />Humans have speculated about the origins of language throughout history. The [[Christian mythology|Biblical myth]] of the [[Tower of Babel]] is one such account; other cultures have different stories of how language arose.<ref name="Haugen"/>
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Theories about the origin of language differ in regard to their basic assumptions about what language is.<ref>Shanahan, D. (2011). Language, feeling, and the brain: The evocative vector. Transaction Publishers.</ref> Some theories are based on the idea that language is so complex that one cannot imagine it simply appearing from nothing in its final form, but that it must have evolved from earlier pre-linguistic systems among our pre-human ancestors. These theories can be called continuity-based theories. The opposite viewpoint is that language is such a unique human trait that it cannot be compared to anything found among non-humans and that it must therefore have appeared suddenly in the transition from pre-hominids to early man. These theories can be defined as discontinuity-based. Similarly, theories based on the generative view of language pioneered by [[Noam Chomsky]] see language mostly as an innate faculty that is largely genetically encoded, whereas functionalist theories see it as a system that is largely cultural, learned through social interaction.<ref name="Ulbaek 1998">{{harvcoltxt|Ulbaek|1998}}</ref>

Continuity-based theories are held by a majority of scholars, but they vary in how they envision this development. Those who see language as being mostly innate, such as psychologist [[Steven Pinker]], hold the precedents to be [[animal cognition]],<ref name="Language Instinct" /> whereas those who see language as a socially learned tool of communication, such as psychologist [[Michael Tomasello]], see it as having developed from [[animal communication]] in primates: either gestural or vocal communication to assist in cooperation.<ref name="Tomasello 2008">{{harvcoltxt|Tomasello|2008}}</ref> Other continuity-based models see language as having developed from [[music]], a view already espoused by [[Jean-Jacques Rousseau|Rousseau]], [[Johann Gottfried Herder|Herder]], [[Wilhelm von Humboldt|Humboldt]], and [[Charles Darwin]]. A prominent proponent of this view is archaeologist [[Steven Mithen]].{{sfn|Fitch|2010|pp=466–507}} [[Stephen R. Anderson|Stephen Anderson]] states that the age of spoken languages is estimated at 60,000 to 100,000 years<ref>{{harvcoltxt|Anderson|2012|p=107}}</ref> and that: <blockquote>Researchers on the evolutionary origin of language generally find it plausible to suggest that language was invented only once, and that all modern spoken languages are thus in some way related, even if that relation can no longer be recovered&nbsp;... because of limitations on the methods available for reconstruction.<ref>{{harvcoltxt|Anderson|2012|p=104}}</ref></blockquote>

Because language emerged in the early [[prehistory]] of man, before the existence of any written records, its early development has left no historical traces, and it is believed that no comparable processes can be observed today. Theories that stress continuity often look at animals to see if, for example, primates display any traits that can be seen as analogous to what pre-human language must have been like. Early human fossils can be inspected for traces of physical adaptation to language use or pre-linguistic forms of symbolic behaviour. Among the signs in human fossils that may suggest linguistic abilities are: the size of the brain relative to body mass, the presence of a [[larynx]] capable of advanced sound production and the nature of tools and other manufactured artifacts.{{sfn|Fitch|2010|pp=250–292}}

It was mostly undisputed that pre-human [[australopithecine]]s did not have communication systems significantly different from those found in [[great ape]]s in general. However, a 2017 study on ''[[Origin of language#Ardipithecus ramidus|Ardipithecus ramidus]]'' challenges this belief.<ref>{{cite journal |doi=10.1016/j.jchb.2017.03.001 |pmid=28363458 |title=Ardipithecus ramidus and the evolution of language and singing: An early origin for hominin vocal capability |journal=HOMO |volume=68 |issue=2 |pages=101–121 |year=2017 |last1=Clark |first1=Gary |last2=Henneberg |first2=Maciej }}</ref> Scholarly opinions vary as to the developments since the appearance of the genus ''[[Homo]]'' some 2.5 million years ago. Some scholars assume the development of primitive language-like systems (proto-language) as early as ''[[Homo habilis]]'' (2.3 million years ago) while others place the development of primitive symbolic communication only with ''[[Homo erectus]]'' (1.8 million years ago) or ''[[Homo heidelbergensis]]'' (0.6 million years ago), and the development of language proper with [[Anatomically modern humans|anatomically modern ''Homo sapiens'']] with the [[behavioral modernity|Upper Paleolithic revolution]] less than 100,000 years ago.{{sfn|Foley|1997|pp=70–74}}{{sfn|Fitch|2010|pp=292–293}}

Chomsky is one prominent proponent of a discontinuity-based theory of human language origins.<ref name="Ulbaek 1998" /> He suggests that for scholars interested in the nature of language, "talk about the evolution of the language capacity is beside the point."{{sfn|Chomsky|1972|p=86}} Chomsky proposes that perhaps "some random mutation took place [...] and it reorganized the brain, implanting a language organ in an otherwise primate brain."{{sfn|Chomsky|2000|p=4}} Though cautioning against taking this story literally, Chomsky insists that "it may be closer to reality than many other fairy tales that are told about evolutionary processes, including language."{{sfn|Chomsky|2000|p=4}}

In March 2024, researchers reported that the beginnings of human language began about 1.6 million years ago.<ref name="IND-20240325">{{cite news |last=Keys |first=David |title=The 1.6 million-year-old discovery that changes what we know about human evolution - New research suggests language is eight times older than previously thought |url=https://www.independent.co.uk/news/science/archaeology/human-evolution-language-origin-archaeology-b2517744.html |date=25 March 2024 |work=[[The Independent]] |url-status=live |archive-url=https://archive.today/20240325041616/https://www.independent.co.uk/news/science/archaeology/human-evolution-language-origin-archaeology-b2517744.html |archive-date=25 March 2024 |access-date=25 March 2024 }}</ref>