Was there ever a Proto-World language?

Question

Do you think that there was a language that is the origin of all modern languages? Do you think we'll ever be able to reconstruct it like we did with PIE?

Answer 1

Actually, I HAVE come across some  interesting material by some rather unorthodox authors who are proposing that there WAS a proto-language.  

It is a little while since I finished that book and there was so much information in it that I don't recall exactly what they had to say about the language.

However, I would heartily recommend the entire book to you if you are really interested.

It is called "URIEL'S MACHINE" by Knight and Lomas (Christopher Knight and Robert Lomas, I believe).

If you like that one, I am currently reading another on the same theme - "FINGERPRINTS OF THE GODS" by Graham Hancock.  But it is specifically "URIEL'S MACHINE" that has the info about the proto-language in it.

I don't know if they are still in print or not, but you can find them both at Amazon.com, and probably cheaper than at a bookstore.

Answer 2

Even PIE is really a guess. Most likely there were several early languages plus regional dialects.

Given distance, time and environments, any language that was carried out of Africa probably morphed into other ones very rapidly.

Answer 3

I remember reading about the proto-language hypothesis as some scientist believe that clicks (as Bushmen speak) and other sounds that are still in use today may be a remnant of the proto-language. Also, scientist have deduced that certain words, due to their similarity among various "unrelated" languages and language groups, have a common ancestor. Read "Power of Babel" by McWhorter to learn more.

Answer 4

No. Language is not really that old and it developed like anything else, one little group here had some sounds they used; another little group over there had other sounds they used for much the same things.

I suppose language began with arm and hand waving with accompanying grunts. These grunts developed into more complex and varied sounds as the prehuman larynx was allowed to expand physically when our ancestors began walking upright.

Language, per se, probably did not develop until civilization began to form around 10 to 13 thousand years ago in a couple of areas around the world.