In Search of the First Language

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Channel: UMass Amherst Linguistics Department

Views: 271,241

Rating: 4.6485238 out of 5

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Id: wgM65_E387Q

Length: 62min 33sec (3753 seconds)

Published: Thu Mar 09 2017

Reddit Comments

[u/foxyfoucault]

Enter standard answer to a headline as a question: no.

[u/Alimbiquated]

Most of the big Northern Hemisphere language groups around today originated in the river systems that opened up after the last Ice Age. So they were clearly distinct by then, with little hope of being connected up. But language is probably a lot older.

What are they actually trying to accomplish? It's hard to say

• Languages merge as well as splitting. That makes it impossible to define a unique route back to the origin. So as a classification scheme, this project doesn't make much sense.
• So much information has been lost that there is little hope of reconstructing the original languages. All successful reconstructions make heavy use of old written texts.

[u/illusionofpower]

Most likely grunting, like we see in apes. That is until our voice box evolved to form speech.

[u/Boku-no_Pico]

No

[u/RedditKarmaFarmer]

Hilarious re-enactment of what a Neanderthal may have sounded like.

P.s. If you are interested in language, The Unfolding of Language by Guy Deutscher a great pop-sci book, and introduction to modern theory.

[u/Cyanopicacooki]

Nostratic and Proto-Nostratic

I worked within a University linguistics department, and they are always seeking so-called universals, but most folk I spoke to think we'll only every find hypotheses.

[u/aidsmary]

Euskara is an interesting point of study. It is the language of the Basques. Also basque people have the highest concentration of Neanderthal DNA and RH - blood. basque language

[u/hungry4danish]

NOVA is such a fucking good program.

[u/RaftelIsMyCity]

!Remind me in 2 hours