原始人類語言（Proto-Human language、Proto-Sapiens、Proto-World），又名原世界語，是一個假設於世界上存在的語言，並且是所有語言的最近共同祖先原始語，也是一個古老的原始語。
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原始人類語言假設現今所有的現代語言，包括現代的語系和已消亡語言，皆起源於單一的一種語言。這種語言，被認為是人類的祖先當仍在東非時所使用的語言。儘管有無數的嘗試，但是語言學家得出一些結論——復原該語言的方法是可疑的，並且如果真有原世界語的話，原世界語也不太可能被復原。從近年對尼安德特人化石的研究，認為他們很可能亦有語言的能力，「原始人類語言」是否包含尼安德特人的語言亦變成了爭議之一。假若尼安德特人亦有其語言，有可能表明原先的單一語言假設的錯誤，但亦可能暗示人類的語言跟尼安德特人的語言還有一個更早期的祖先。
根據人類的發展歷史，語言學家推斷原始人類語言通行於約20萬到5萬年前。到了一萬年前語言已經很通行了，8000年前人類開始撰寫文字之後，各式各樣的語言被記錄了下來。
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魯蘭原始人類語言重建
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| 語言 | 誰？ | 什麼？ | 二 | 水 | 一/手指 | 手臂-1 | 手臂-2 | 彎膝/膝蓋 | 頭髮 | 陰道/外陰 | 味道/鼻子 |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 科依桑語系 | !kū | ma | /kam | k´´ā | //kɔnu | //kū | ≠hā | //gom | /ʼū | !kwai | č'ū |
| 尼羅-撒哈拉語系 | na | de | ball | nki | tok | kani | boko | kutu | sum | buti | čona |
| 尼日爾-剛果語系 | nani | ni | bala | engi | dike | kono | boko | boŋgo | butu | ||
| 亞非語系 | k(w) | ma | bwVr | ak'wa | tak | ganA | bunqe | somm | put | suna | |
| 南高加索語系 | min | ma | yor | rts'q'a | ert | t'ot' | qe | muql | toma | putʼ | sun |
| 達羅毗荼語系 | yāv | yā | iraṇṭu | nīru | birelu | kaŋ | kay | meṇḍa | pūṭa | počču | čuṇṭu |
| 歐亞語系 | kwi | mi | pālā | akwā | tik | konV | bhāghu(s) | bük(ä) | punče | p'ut'V | snā |
| 得內-高加索語系 | kwi | ma | gnyis | ʔoχwa | tok | kan | boq | pjut | tshām | putʼi | suŋ |
| 南方大語系 | o-ko-e | m-anu | ʔ(m)bar | namaw | ntoʔ | xeen | baγa | buku | śyām | betik | iǰuŋ |
| 印度-太平洋語系 | mina | boula | okho | dik | akan | ben | buku | utu | sɨnna | ||
| 澳洲原住民語言 | ŋaani | minha | bula | gugu | kuman | mala | pajing | buŋku | puda | mura | |
| 亞美林德總語系 | kune | mana | p'āl | akwā | dɨ'i | kano | boko | buka | summe | butie | čuna |
- 來源：(Ruhlen 1994b：103)。符號V表示「元音，其原始確切的字符是未知的」(同上105頁)。點擊在最上面一行的符號可以改變字母順序的形式。
基於參考文獻(Ruhlen 1994b：105)，列出原始人類語言的詞根：
- ku = 'who'
- ma = 'what'
- pal = 'two'
- akwa = 'water'
- tik = 'finger'
- kanV = 'arm'
- boko = 'arm'
- buŋku = 'knee'
- sum = 'hair'
- putV = 'vulva'
- čuna = 'nose, smell'
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參考文獻
- Bengtson, John D. and Merritt Ruhlen. 1994. "Global etymologies." In Ruhlen 1994a, pp. 277–336.
- Bengtson, John D. 2007. "On fossil dinosaurs and fossil words." （頁面存檔備份，存於網際網路檔案館） (Also: HTML version.)
- Campbell, Lyle, and William J. Poser. 2008. Language Classification: History and Method. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.
- Edgar, Blake. 2008 "Letter from South Africa." （頁面存檔備份，存於網際網路檔案館） Archaeology 61.2, March–April 2008.
- Gell-Mann, Murray and Merritt Ruhlen. 2003. "The origin and evolution of syntax." (Also: HTML version.)
- Givón, Talmy. 1979. On Understanding Grammar. New York: Academic Press.
- Greenberg, Joseph. 1963. "Some universals of grammar with particular reference to the order of meaningful elements." In Universals of Language, edited by Joseph Greenberg, Cambridge: MIT Press, pp. 58–90. (In second edition of Universals of Language, 1966: pp. 73–113.)
- Greenberg, Joseph H. 1966. The Languages of Africa, revised edition. Bloomington: Indiana University Press. (Published simultaneously at The Hague by Mouton & Co.)
- Greenberg, Joseph H. 1971. "The Indo-Pacific hypothesis." Reprinted in Joseph H. Greenberg, Genetic Linguistics: Essays on Theory and Method, edited by William Croft, Oxford: Oxford University Press, 2005.
- Greenberg, Joseph H. 1987. Language in the Americas. Stanford: Stanford University Press.
- Greenberg, Joseph H. 2000-2002. Indo-European and Its Closest Relatives: The Eurasiatic Language Family. Volume 1: Grammar. Volume 2: Lexicon. Stanford: Stanford University Press.
- Klein, Richard G. and Blake Edgar. 2002. The Dawn of Human Culture. New York: John Wiley and Sons.
- McDougall, Ian, Francis H. Brown, and John G. Fleagle. 2005. "Stratigraphic placement and age of modern humans from Kibish, Ethiopia."（頁面存檔備份，存於網際網路檔案館） Nature 433.7027, 733–736.
- Ruhlen, Merritt. 1994a. On the Origin of Languages: Studies in Linguistic Taxonomy, Stanford: Stanford University Press.
- Ruhlen, Merritt. 1994b. The Origin of Language: Tracing the Evolution of the Mother Tongue. New York: John Wiley and Sons.
- Saussure, Ferdinand de. 1986. Course in General Linguistics, translated by Roy Harris. Chicago: Open Court. (English translation of 1972 edition of Cours de linguistique générale, originally published in 1916.)
- Trombetti, Alfredo. 1905. L'unità d'origine del linguaggio. Bologna: Luigi Beltrami.
- Trombetti, Alfredo. 1922-1923. Elementi di glottologia, 2 volumes. Bologna: Zanichelli.
- Wells, Spencer. 2007. Deep Ancestry: Inside the Genographic Project. Washington, D.C.: National Geographic.
- White, Tim D., B. Asfaw, D. DeGusta, H. Gilbert, G.D. Richards, G. Suwa, and F.C. Howell. 2003. "Pleistocene Homo sapiens from Middle Awash, Ethiopia." （頁面存檔備份，存於網際網路檔案館） Nature 423:742–747.
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外部連結
- Genetic Distance and Language Affinities （頁面存檔備份，存於網際網路檔案館）
- Babaev, Kirill. 2008. "Critics of the Nostratic theory", in Nostratica: Resources on Distant Language Relationship.
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