The origins of English

The origins of language

  • emerged ca. 145,000 years ago
  • capacity for language is uniquely human and given by the brain structure
  • form and structure of the first language is unknown
  • based on what we know about language change today, it is plausible that the multitude of contemporary languages have indeed developed from one origin

[1]

  1. GRAMLEY STEPHAN. The history of English: an introduction. New York: Routledge, 2012, xxv, 414 p.