It is often said that "necessity is the mother of all inventions". Then, the pertinent question remains “What necessitated the development of Language?” or the question that is even more baffling is “Why did only humans do so and not any other creature?”
In this regard, it must be mentioned that we, humans, do not have any typical so called ‘organs of speech’ (other than the Larynx), rather, we use organs of respiratory system and digestive system to articulate different sounds. So, it is not at all hard to imagine that when humans were in the early stages of their evolution they did not have any special organ for language. Thus, they were very much like the other animals around. Then, what on earth propelled the development of an oral communication system which is now called a LANGUAGE?
These questions had been baffling me for years until I got acquainted with Anthropology. It was now that I could relate the evolution of Language as a part of Hominid evolution. The social and geological factors that played their part in the later part of the evolution of the homosapien sapiens , must have had some impact on the evolution of Language as well.
For example, I can now try to answer one of my questions, “Why did we develop so many different languages rather than one universal language?” The answer may be that there was a stage in the evolution of human society and civilization when the humans began settling down. This act obviously meant rivalry and clashes between different clans or groups for the prime land. It was this competition that necessitated the development of different codes of communication. This indigenous code would have been their mark of identity that could not be faked by the outsiders; this practice might have given birth to names. I think, going by this hypothesis, we can now justify the existence of so many different languages rather than one universal language.
Similarly, the geographical factors also played their part. While some linguistic groups constantly fought and mingled, some remained isolated even till modern ages untill the development of modern means of communication.
In addition, I believe that the Darwin’s concept of “Survival of the fittest” is applicable in case of Languages too. Just as the weak genes perished so did the weak languages- the languages that did not have powerful speech community behind them. Here we can raise the question "Why did Sanskrit - the language of the elites and the kings- perish?" The answer may be that this marvellous language, unfortunately, remained restricted to the elites and royals only. Consequently, it lacked the mass behind it to stand the test of time.
In short, all I want to say is that we must start exploring the origin, evolution and development of Language parallel to the evolution of the humans and their society. The story of Language must be as complex and interesting as the History of humans themselves. Let us explore it.
Please enlighten me on this subject if anyone knows anything more.
Thanks
Yes its a very interesting question to be addressed. The dichotomy between human speaking language and others do not sums up the fascination of answering questions like- where did language come from and why do humans speak language and others do not. You can read this article "Language faculty: What is it, Who has it and How did it evolve?" by Marc D Hauser, Noam Chomsky & W Tecumseh, 2002. They have argued recursion to be the single distinctive feature of human capacity for language. They are of the opinion that computational process is responsible for the generative and hierarchical properties of narrow syntax is lacking in non-human primates. Just go through it.... very informative reading.
ReplyDeleteअभिव्यक्ति की शक्ति या वाक् (अर्थात् भाषा) की प्राप्ति एक ही बात नहीं है। अभिव्यक्ति-शक्ति तो पशु और मनुष्य को समान रूप से ही प्राप्त है। सामान्यत: तो मानुषी वाक् का प्रयोग भी व्यवहार में पशुस्तर पर ही होता है ”तां विश्वरूपा: पशवो वदन्ति“ किन्तु विचार के स्तर पर स्थिति बदल जाती है। वाक् द्वारा जिस दिन हमें चिन्तन की चेतना या अवलोकन करने की शक्ति प्राप्त होती है, उसी दिन हमारा द्रष्टा की भूमिका में प्रवेश हो जाता है। क्योंकि वाक् रूपी तृतीया दृष्टि के प्राप्त होने पर सभी कुछ निर्वचनीय हो जाता है।
ReplyDeleteतात्पर्य यह कि जैसे-जैसे मनुष्य समय सापेक्ष विकास शिखर पर चढ़ता चला गया, और जैसे-जैसे अवबोधन व चिन्तन क्षमता में विकास होता गया, वैसे-वैसे ही उसे अभिव्यक्त करने हेतु एक माध्यम की आवश्यकता पड़ने लगी, उसी आवश्यकता ने भाषा रूपी अस्त्र को आविष्कृत करने में सहायता की। चूंकि, भाषा एक सरस, सलिला प्रवाहमान नदी की तरह होती है तो समय के साथ-साथ उसमें संशोधन, परिवर्धन भी होते रहते है। जो भाषा (यथा- हिन्दी, अंग्रेजी को ही लें) जिस रूप में आज से तीन-चार सौ साल पहले थी, आज बिल्कुल भिन्न रूप में प्रस्तुत है।
[[हालांकि, जो विषय तुमने उठाया है, वह इतना सरल नहीं है कि उसे दो-चार वाक्य में कह दिया जाए। यह शोध का विषय है, इस पर शोध हुए भी है, हो भी रहे हैं, और आगे भी होंगे। कतिपय विद्वानों ने इस विषय का आश्रय लेकर बड़ी-बड़ी ग्रन्थाकार पुस्तकें भी लिखीं हैं।]]
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