When you have inherited the past, sometimes it's difficult to appreciate what our early ancestors gave us. To me, the miracle of language seems the most important. I have wondered what language Adam and Eve spoke or if theirs was telepathic communication.
Most, if not all, living creatures seem to have a way of communicating with their kind. I doubt that any can understand the other except in gestures and behavior. It would be interesting to know if a pigeon from Rome can understand a pigeon from Brooklyn. I'm betting they can. I believe other like creatures have a single language. Human vocal language began, I'm sure, with primitive sounds accompanied by gesturing. It seems to me that even before that, families had probably invented their own languages that others could not understand, much like children do. Until families formed groups, formalizing a common language was not necessary. As societies enlarged, a blending of languages naturally occurred.
The phenomenon of language is fascinating in that people all over the globe found it necessary to express themselves, but each developed different ways of doing it. The variety of languages used to express identical meanings tells us something about the common nature of man no matter where they are from. To me, observing the necessity for the members of a group to have a common language, I would conclude that a common, universal language would be a big step toward a more peaceful world. What would we have done without language and where would we be? Language is one of the things which keeps reminding us that we are, in some accidental way, different.
Most, if not all, living creatures seem to have a way of communicating with their kind. I doubt that any can understand the other except in gestures and behavior. It would be interesting to know if a pigeon from Rome can understand a pigeon from Brooklyn. I'm betting they can. I believe other like creatures have a single language. Human vocal language began, I'm sure, with primitive sounds accompanied by gesturing. It seems to me that even before that, families had probably invented their own languages that others could not understand, much like children do. Until families formed groups, formalizing a common language was not necessary. As societies enlarged, a blending of languages naturally occurred.
The phenomenon of language is fascinating in that people all over the globe found it necessary to express themselves, but each developed different ways of doing it. The variety of languages used to express identical meanings tells us something about the common nature of man no matter where they are from. To me, observing the necessity for the members of a group to have a common language, I would conclude that a common, universal language would be a big step toward a more peaceful world. What would we have done without language and where would we be? Language is one of the things which keeps reminding us that we are, in some accidental way, different.
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