The evolution of language from song or why aren’t we all speaking Aramaic?

Question

I just read an interesting article on the evolution of language from song (mainly mating calls) it was fascinating and it got me to wondering… If evolution is not the way we came to exist at the way we are now, that why is Mel Gibson the only one speaking Christian Aramaic? I mean if this was the language that God choose for Adam and Eve why is it so obscure now? Especially Christian Aramaic? Most of our root words come from Latin why is there not more of an influence in our modern language from Aramaic? And as for that why did language evolve (and for Christians with a fear of the word evolve- I mean it in the broadest sense) and change at all in different countries? Why didn’t we stick with it?

Answer 1

I'm sure God sat Adam and Eve down and said "Now say, God" and they said "Gog" and he said "no no no no" "say god" ... yep, he taught them how to speak just like we teach our children.... sure sure sure.

We aren't all speaking Aramaic because it was a poor language that couldn't express everything that needed expressing.

Answer 2

The oldest narrative is perhaps the "bard". . .telling stories through singing/chanting. This is also what is meant by the "oral tradition" - passing along important information and ideas through song.

The roots of English are complex and, at times, obscure. . .it did not spring forth as a separate and distinguishable language of its own until the 1,400-1,500 CE (or AD) time period. . .as its core root is Anglo-Saxon (Germanic) and its saving grace, in terms of potential for complexity and change, is Norman French from the 1066 Invasion. As an oversimplified rule, we get a number of our verbs or grammatical change forms from our Saxon parent but a number of our nouns from our French parent (so Latin will not always be the origin of our words.) And indirectly from these two languages we, indeed, do have Middle Eastern influences (incl. Hebrew and Aramaic).

Did God choose for Adam and Eve to speak classical Hebrew (which is not exactly Aramaic)?

I would recommend that you read John McWhorer's fascinating book, "The Power of Babel: A Natural History of Language". It will address many of your questions.

Hope this helps!

Answer 3

Europeans speak in latin-influenced languages because most of Europe used to be ruled by an empire whose primary language was Latin (that empire's scholarly language was Greek, which is why Greek is also influential.)

European languages are not much influenced by Aramaic, because they do not descend from Aramaic speaking populations. In the middle east on the other hand, Aramaic is a lot like Latin is to us. It is the primary basis of the Syriac language, and has had a tremendous influence on Arabic and particularly modern Hebrew.

I know that there is a theory that language evolved from music, and there is certainly considerable evidence for a musical heritage in human prehistory. For instance, neanderthals carved a flute that has been dated to about 60,000 years ago.

However, there is a hint of evidence that human language may be much, much older - and that hint is Flores man, the "hobbits" of Indonesia.

For humans to have arrived on the Island of Flores, they would have had to make boats or rafts some 700,000 years ago. This clearly would require some sort of language. And the myths of the local populace include tales that may be of the "hobbit" - a creature they call the "Ebu Gogo" (grandmother who eats everything.)

According to the locals, the Ebu Gogo spoke to one another in a murmuring type of language, and could repeat the words spoken to them by the locals. This suggests that earlier versions of humanity may have already been well along the linguistic trajectory and used language like us - just an earlier form of it - and not music, to communicate.

Answer 4

All languages evolve. It is impossible to keep a language from changing. Latin was considered the language of the learned people. It was taught by the church, and mostly monks knew how to read and write during that period of time.

Our language is still evolving. Take a look at the difference between a book from the 1920's and a book from today. They are very different, showing changes already.