Around 135,000 Years Ago, Our Unique Ability For Language Emerged
Today, humans speak more than 7,000 languages. At least 135,000 years ago, our unique ability for language emerged.
Language may have entered social use around 100,000 years ago. Our species, Homo sapiens, is about 230,000 years old. There are various estimates as to when language originated based on different forms of evidence.
A new analysis has taken another approach. Since all human languages likely have a common origin, the question to ask is how far back in time regional groups started spreading around the world.
“The logic is very simple,” said Shigeru Miyagawa, a co-author of the study and a professor at MIT. “Every population branching across the globe has human language, and all languages are related.”
The new analysis looks at 15 genetic studies from the past 18 years. The data suggests that human language first diverged about 135,000 years ago, so the capacity for human language must’ve existed by then, or even before.
If language capacity developed later, there would be some modern human populations without language or a much different mode of communication, but neither is the case.
After Homo sapiens emerged, groups of people moved apart from each other, and over time, genetic variations developed among the regional subpopulations.
The amount of genetic variation lets the researchers determine when Homo sapiens was still one large, undivided group.
The analysis points to 135,000 years ago as the time of the first split. Some experts have proposed that language capacity arose a couple of million years ago, based on the physical characteristics of other primates. But this does not take into account when humans had the cognitive ability to develop language.
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“Human language is qualitatively different because there are two things, words and syntax, working together to create this very complex system,” Miyagawa said.
“No other animal has a parallel structure in their communication system. And that gives us the ability to generate very sophisticated thoughts and to communicate them to others.”
The archaeological record reveals that widespread symbolic activity appeared roughly 100,000 years ago, marking when human language was actually first used. Evidence shows markings on objects and the use of fire to produce ocher.
Such activities are only practiced by people, not other creatures. Language triggered symbolic thinking and modern human behavior, leading to the innovations seen 100,000 years ago.
Other scholars believe that the behavioral shifts accumulated more gradually, and language played a role but was not necessarily the main driving force.
There is still a lot to learn in this area of research, but at least some progress is being made toward piecing together a clearer picture of how and when language emerged.
The details of the study were published in the journal Frontiers in Psychology.
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