Page 3 - The Language Magazine (Cindy)
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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, for exemple: 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'.
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