When did human language actually begin? Just how primitive was man when speech started coming out of his mouth?
A review of genetic evidence suggests that our ability to use language may have existed at least 135,000 years ago — in a rudimentary form, rather than outright conversations.
However, the research suggests that more social conversation started appearing around 100,000 years ago.
Talking didn’t occur overnight on the evolutionary timeline.
Humans, as we know them today, have been around for roughly 230,000 years.
Over the years, estimates for the origin of language have been all over the map, based on fossils, tools and cultural artifacts.
This updated research takes a different route by looking closely at genetics.
The researchers started with a simple idea. If all human languages share a common origin, then language must have existed before early human populations spread across the globe.
- Was spoken language already in place before humans moved “out of Africa”?
- Or were humans nonspeaking as they migrated from Africa, branching out into additional nonspeaking groups, and then at some point, language began developing among those separate populations on different timelines?
According to linguist Shigeru Miyagawa of MIT, every group of humans on Earth has language, and all languages are related.
That means language had to be present before humans began splitting into regional populations.
Genomic data show that the first major geographic split among Homo sapiens likely happened around 135,000 years ago.
If that’s true, then humans must have already had the capacity for language by that time.
It’s in the Genes
The findings are based on a review of 15 major genetic studies published over the last 18 years.
Some of these studies analyzed the Y chromosome; others focused on mitochondrial DNA, and several looked at entire genomes. Together, they paint a consistent picture.
The genetic variation across modern populations points back to a time when humans were still one undivided group.
That moment appears to be around 135,000 years ago, before populations spread out and developed regional genetic differences.
A similar analysis done in 2017 relied on fewer genetic studies.
Since then, the amount and quality of genomic data has grown significantly, allowing researchers to narrow the timeline with more confidence.
With more studies pointing to the same window of time, the case for an early language capacity has become stronger.
Tower of Babel vs. Genetic Commonality
The current verdict in the science world is that all languages are related, despite how different one language can be from another.
Miyagawa, like many linguists, believes that all human languages are connected at a deep level.
He has spent years studying similarities between languages that seem very different on the surface, such as English, Japanese and certain Bantu languages.
Today, there are more than 7,000 known human languages, yet many researchers believe they trace back to a shared origin.
This supports the idea that language emerged once, rather than many times independently.
Some researchers argue that language could be millions of years old, based on the vocal abilities of other primates.
Miyagawa sees the issue differently. For him, the key question isn’t when our ancestors could make sounds, but when humans developed the mental ability to create true language.
No other animal communication system works this way — not even that of the most intelligent non-human animals such as dolphins, whales and lower primates.
This research suggests that people may have had the mental capacity for language before they actively used it to communicate.
It’s possible that early peoples first used language internally, as a cognitive tool, before turning it into a social communication system.
This makes one wonder just how much a baby is sounding out real words inside their head before they say their first word.
Are they going “Mama, Mama,” inside their mind before that milestone day when it pops out of their mouth?
Archeology Records
Miyagawa believes that this internal system likely became social relatively quickly.
To figure out when language was actually used, researchers look to the archaeological record.
Around 100,000 years ago, there is a noticeable surge in symbolic behavior.
Humans began making meaningful markings, using ochre for decoration, and engaging in activities that suggest abstract thinking.
These symbolic behaviors are unique to humans and closely tied to language.
Archaeological evidence shows that consistent symbolic thinking appears only in Homo sapiens.
Did language spark modern human behavior?
One idea supported by some of the researchers is that language acted as a trigger for modern human behavior.
Language may have accelerated learning, cooperation and innovation by allowing people to share ideas more effectively.
This could explain the burst of symbolic and cultural activity seen around 100,000 years ago.
But some scholars believe change happened more gradually, with tools, materials, social organization and language all evolving together.
The Future of Language Research
Miyagawa’s research acknowledges that there is still a lot to learn about how language emerged.
As more data becomes available, researchers may continue refining the timeline of when human language truly began.
Wouldn’t it be amazing to find out what the first words were?
Of course, this is an unrealistic goal; how could this ever be figured out?
But still, it’s fun to imagine what the first spoken word meant (not so much what it sounded like) to the individual speaking it, and just who in that group or tribe of humans determined what words meant what.
Maybe the first words meant “no,” “yes,” “mine” and “hey you!”
This then begs the question: When were the first names given to people?
