Tomorrow's Sights and Sounds

THE CHRONICLE of LANGUAGE

There is a widely accepted theory that the very first structured human verbal language emerged roughly 150,000 years ago in East Africa. From grunts and groans, signs and symbols man developed a way to communicate with one another. The sound, which became known as a word, was much more easily used than hieroglyphics or pictures. As the use of words grew a language emerged and as humans spread around the world more than 6,000 major languages and thousands of different dialects developed. Other experts tell us that the genesis was only 35,000 years ago. But, on the other hand we are discovering today, in the 21st Century, tribes of Indians living in the upper Amazon River who communicate with a totally different language and strange dialects.

As the world becomes smaller, by modern technology and instant communications, many of these languages are gradually losing their individuality and are being merged into a common use. At the same time we find that even in our own society a new language developing through the use of iPods' and cell phones that have produced a new hybrid called texting. Words change their form, to speed up communications. New words are created that mean different things. In some cases they may even be considered a "coded Message."

Some experts predict that with a gradual change over the next couple of centuries the world will return to a single tongue. We will have to wait and see.

It was about 3500 B. C. that some bright individual decided it was time to record the words of his language. It started with some mechanical device like a pointed stick, he pressed some symbols he had invented into mud, clay or on papyrus. He found he could even use fabric or soft stone. He learned that he could make words that described events and recorded history. An example is, 1 Chronicles and 2nd Chronicles found in the Old Testament of the Bible. The two books deal mainly with the chronology and genecology of the Jewish people.

But, the idea of using words placed on paper or stone caught on quickly and soon many of the language talkers became language writers. Each language generated its own rules and symbols. The process was complicated, so that only about 200 of the languages ever became written and fewer were widely printed and/or published. The Bible was recorded using mainly the Latin, Greek and Hebrew languages.

Boiled down, the basic unit of any language is the word. And on that note we offer Yesterday’s Sights and Sounds.