When did Language Start?

When did Language Start?

15,000 B.C. – Lesaux, France Cavedrawings. Historians date them to be from around 15,000 B.C.

6,000 B.C. – Proto-Indo-European language develops. Sixty Romance, Slavic, Celtic, Indo-Iranian, Germanic and Hellenic languages are all thought to have evolved from this one language. They are the first languages for about a third of all people.

5,000 B.C. –The first writing appears in Sumer. It evolves into the wedge-shaped writing style called cuneiform. Cuneiform was originally used to record things like trade.

3,400 B.C. – The Egyptians are using hieroglyphics and hieratic writing. Hieratic writing is a quick, cursive style of hieroglyphics.

3,000 B.C. – The Proto-Indo-European language is spreading out to Europe and Asia where other groups of languages will eventually evolve.

2,000 B.C. – The Greek language appears around this time. In Egypt, an early alphabetic writing was invented by Semitic laborers.

1,600 B.C. – The Phoenicians develop a phonetic alphabet.

1,200 B.C. – Chinese writing develops and is very complex. Writing is found on oracle bones. These are found in 1899 and explain much about Chinese culture.

800 B.C. – Egyptians use demotic writing. It’s a developed version of hieratic writing, much more like handwriting. Looking at it, you can hardly tell that it had evolved all the way from hieroglyphics.

500 B.C. – Classical Chinese is written on bamboo strips, cloth, and wooden tables.

 400 B.C. – The first real grammar is used in India in a document on the structure of the Sanskrit language.

 400 B.C. – The Qin script is made the main writing of China by the first emperor of the Qin dynasty. Previously, many different dialects of Chinese were used.

200 B.C. – The Tolkappiyam is written to explain the grammar of the Tamil language. It introduces ideas of separating words into verbs and nouns and talks about the alphabet having vowels and consonants.

200 B.C. – The Roman Empire conquers all of Italy, almost all of Europe, and some of Africa and Asia. This directly results in the development of the Romance languages – Spanish, French, Italian, Portuguese, and Romanian.

179 B.C. – The Rosetta stone is written and has three languages written on it – Greek, Demotic, and Hieroglyphics. It has the same paragraph written in all three languages and was later used to decode Egyptian hieroglyphics.

1370 A.D. – The Bible is translated into English. This made it possible for the common people to be able to read it.

1456 A.D. – The first printing press is invented in Germany by Johann Gutenberg. This makes books much more available increasing literacy.

1755 A.D.  – The Dictionary of the English Language is written by Samuel Johnson. It gives standardized spelling to the English Language.

1799 A.D. – The Rosetta stone is found in Egypt by the French. By using the Greek on it, they are able to translate the hieroglyphics and demotic writing on it.

1880 A.D. – Dr. Ludovic Lazarus Zamenhof develops Esperanto, a universal language that he hopes will create harmony between people from different countries.

1916 A. D. – Ferdinand de Saussure, a French linguist, writes A Course in General Linguistics. He theorizes that language is a socially organized structure of meanings and rules.

1936 A.D. – The British philosopher A. J. Ayer writes Language, Truth, and Logic. He states that language is shared knowledge and confirmed through experience.

2000 A.D. – Languages from around the world start disappearing at an alarming rate. Some experts estimate as rapidly as one every 2 weeks.

Sources:

“Ancient Greek Language.” Encyclopædia Britannica 2009.  Accessed 13 Feb. 2009. <http://www.britannica.com/‌EBchecked/‌topic/‌23289/‌Ancient-Greek-language>.

“Esperanto”.  Britannica Concise Encyclopedia .  Accessed 13 Feb. 2009. <http://www.answers.com/topic/esperanto>

Galambos, Imre. “Origins of Chinese Writing.” Logoi.com. 2000.  .  Accessed 13 Feb. 2009. <http://www.logoi.com/‌notes/‌chinese_origins.html>.

GREY, D S. “Pre-History Timeline.” Language in Use. 2008. Cambridge, UK.  31 Jan. 2009 <http://www.putlearningfirst.com/‌language/‌01origin/‌prehist.html>.

“Language.” Wikipedia. 29 Jan. 2009. Wikimedia Foundation. Accessed 13 Feb. 2009. <http://en.wikipedia.org/‌wiki/‌Language>.

Microsoft® Student 2007 [DVD]. . CD-ROM. Redmond, WA: Microsoft Corporation, 2006. .  Accessed 13 Feb. 2009.

Schwab, Robert. “History of the English Language.” BobSchwab.com. 2003. Hanyang University.  .  Accessed 13 Feb. 2009.  <http://www.bobschwab.com/‌p_p__pre-old_emglish_files/‌frame.htm>.

“The Written Language: Different Types of Writing.” The Ancient Egypt Site. .  Accessed 13 Feb. 2009.   <http://www.ancient-egypt.org/‌index.html>.

Language Timeline

Language Timeline

Celts 500BC-43BC

Early inhabitants of these islands	The Celts are the earliest inhabitants of the British Isles to leave a mark on our language.
Celtic words	In fact, very few Celtic words have lived on in the English language. But many of our place names have Celtic origins, such as London, Dover and Kent, & the rivers Thames & Wye.

Romans 43BC-c.450AD

Romans invade and rule British Isles for over 400 years	Only around 200 Latin loanwords are inherited from the Romans - although by the 6th century the Church will have brought many more.
Roman words	Many of the words passed on from this era are those coined by Roman merchants and soldiers. These include win (wine), candel (candle), belt(belt) and weall (wall).

Anglo Saxons 449AD

Germanic tribes - Angles, Saxons and Jutes - begin to arrive	Anglo Saxon dialects form the basis of the language we now call Old English. About 400 Anglo Saxon texts survive from this era, including many beautiful poems - these tell tales of wild battles and heroic journeys.
Anglo Saxon words	Approximately one third of Anglo-Saxon vocabulary survives into modern English, including many of our most basic, everyday words: earth, house, food, sing, night and sleep. By the 7th century Latin speakers refer to this country as Anglia - the land of the Angles - a name that will later develop intoEngland.

St Augustine 597 AD

Christian missionaries arrive from the Continent	Christian missionaries, led by St. Augustine, move through the land, converting the Anglo-Saxons from their Pagan beliefs to a Catholic Christian faith. Throughout Europe, the language of the Church is Latin, and the missionaries inject hundreds of new Latin words into the English language. English is spoken differently in different counties, but four main dialects exist and resemble the English we know today. These dialects are Northumbrian, Mercian, West Saxon and Kentish.
Latin words	Many of the new words derived from Latin refer to religion, such as altar, mass, school, andmonk, but others are more domestic and mundane such as fork, spade, spider, tower, androse.

Vikings 789AD

The year 789 sees the first Danish invasion of Britain	For a hundred years the Vikings control most of Eastern England, before being pushed back into the North East of the country by King Alfred the Great. They remain in power in the North East until the late 900s, in an area then known as Danelaw. During this time King Alfred uses the English language to develop a sense of national identity amongst the English.
Norse words	These raiders and settlers bring almost 2000 new words into the English vocabulary. Words derived from Norse include anger, awkward, cake, die, egg, freckle, muggy, reindeer, silver, skirt andsmile. Many Northern English dialect words still bear traces of Scandinavian languages, as do many place names such as Whitby and Grimsby.

Normans 1066

The Normans invade	The Normans transform England, both culturally and linguistically. For over 300 years French is the language spoken by the most powerful people - royalty, aristocrats and high-powered officials - some of whom can't speak English at all. French is used in political documents, in administration, and in literature. Latin is still the language of the church and of scholars, but most of the general population speak English in their everday lives.
French words	Thousands of French words become embedded in the English vocabulary, most of which are words of power, such as crown, castle, court, parliament, army, mansion, gown, beauty, banquet, art, poet, romance, chess, colour, duke, servant, peasant, traitor  and governor.

100 Years War 1337-1450s

100 Years War fought between England and France	Following the 100 Years War, many people regard French as the language of the enemy. The status of English rises. The universities of Oxford & Cambridge are established. Literacy increases but books are still copied by hand and are therefore extremely expensive.
New Latin words	Many thousands of Latin words come into the language, most of which are connected to religion, medicine, law or literature. These words include scripture, collect, immortal, history, library, solar, recipe and genius.

Renaissance 1476-1650

A time of great cultural and intellectual development	In 1476, Caxton introduces the printing press to England. He prints all kinds of texts: mythic tales, popular stories, poems, phrasebooks, devotional pieces & grammars. In the following 150 years around 20,000 books are printed. Books become cheaper and are therefore increasingly popular. Literacy rates rise. Printers have to make a choice about which words, grammar and spellings to use. The choices they make help to set and spread a standard language. They base their decisions on the dialects of the South East - the most socially and economically influencial region. But these rules are not set in stone, and people continue to speak in different accents and dialects, and to write with different spellings. Over the next 200 years wonderful discoveries and innovations are made in the fields of art, theatre and science. There is a fresh interest amongst scholars in classical languages, while intrepid explorers and opportunistic traders travel to the New World.
New words	With these fresh findings come new words from across the globe, including atmosphere, explain, enthusiasm, skeleton and utopian (from Latin);bizarre, chocolate, explore, moustache andvogue (from French); carnival, macaroni andviolin (from Italian) harem, jar, magazine andsherbet from Arabic); and coffee, yoghurt andkiosk (from Turkish); tomato, potato and tobacco(from Spanish)

1700s

An age of dictionaries, grammars and rules and regulations	Human knowledge continues to stretch into new areas, with discoveries in the fields of medicine, astrology, botany & engineering. Many scholars believe that the English language is chaotic, and in desperate need of some firm rules. Books teaching 'correct' grammar, pronunciation & spelling are increasingly popular. Samuel Johnson publishes his famous dictionary in 1755.
Derided words	Words hated by Johnson, and omited from his dictionary, include bang, budge, fuss, gambler, shabby, and touchy.

Industrial Revolution 1760-1800s

Transformation of the western world	In an age of inventions and contraptions, of science & industry, of expanding cities & smog-gurgling factories the language must swell to accommodate new ideas.
New words	Newly coined words include biology, taxonomy, caffeine, cityscape, centigrade, watt, bacterium, chromosome  and claustrophobia. In the world of burgeoning capitalism, money can suddenlyslump, inflate, boom and cause depressions.Victorian writers pen over 60,000 novels.

1900s - Present Day

English of today	A century of world wars, technological  transformation, and globalisation. The language continues to grow, expanding to incorporate new jargons, slangs, technologies, toys, foods and gadgets.
Familiar words	It is in this century that we get doodlebugs, gasmasks, gobstoppers, mini skirts and modsand rockers; we enjoy dim sum, cappuccino, chicken tikka masala and pizzerias; we talk ofchavs, mingers and weirdos; and we are addicted to tellies, websites, cybercafes and compact discs.

References:

The Cambridge Encyclopedia of the English Language by David Crystal

Words in Time by Geoffrey Hughes