| In ancient times most cultures and
civilizations made some reference to the origin of their languages. However,
they did not study language by observation or experimentation--at least as far
as we can judge from records that have survived to this day. Most comments on
the origins of languages come to us in folk-tales or religious writings, but the
Greek historian Herodotus tells us one experiment. An Egyptian king named Psammetichos wished to find out which was the world's oldest language. To gain this information he decided to isolate two newborn babies until they began to speak. Because they were kept from adults, they would have no patterns to imitate. The king made the assumption that the children would speak what was a natural language--which would be the oldest. After some months the children were heard to make a sound which was recorded as "bekos". This was found to be very similar to the Phrygian word for "bread". Therefore Phrygian (a language once spoken in Asia Minor) was considered to be the first language of mankind. At least by King Psammetichos, and, we may assume, by his court. |