原始人类语言(Proto-Human language、Proto-Sapiens、Proto-World),又名原世界语,是一个假设于世界上存在的语言,并且是所有语言的最近共同祖先原始语,也是一个古老的原始语。
原始人类语言假设现今所有的现代语言,包括现代的语系和已消亡语言,皆起源于单一的一种语言。这种语言,被认为是人类的祖先当仍在东非时所使用的语言。尽管有无数的尝试,但是语言学家得出一些结论——复原该语言的方法是可疑的,并且如果真有原世界语的话,原世界语也不太可能被复原。从近年对尼安德特人化石的研究,认为他们很可能亦有语言的能力,“原始人类语言”是否包含尼安德特人的语言亦变成了争议之一。假若尼安德特人亦有其语言,有可能表明原先的单一语言假设的错误,但亦可能暗示人类的语言跟尼安德特人的语言还有一个更早期的祖先。
根据人类的发展历史,语言学家推断原始人类语言通行于约20万到5万年前。到了一万年前语言已经很通行了,8000年前人类开始撰写文字之后,各式各样的语言被记录了下来。
More information 语言, 谁? ...
语言 |
谁? |
什么? |
二 |
水 |
一/手指 |
手臂-1 |
手臂-2 |
弯膝/膝盖 |
头发 |
阴道/外阴 |
味道/鼻子
|
科依桑语系 |
!kū |
ma |
/kam |
k´´ā |
//kɔnu |
//kū |
≠hā |
//gom |
/ʼū |
!kwai |
č'ū
|
尼罗-撒哈拉语系 |
na |
de |
ball |
nki |
tok |
kani |
boko |
kutu |
sum |
buti |
čona
|
尼日尔-刚果语系 |
nani |
ni |
bala |
engi |
dike |
kono |
boko |
boŋgo |
|
butu |
|
亚非语系 |
k(w) |
ma |
bwVr |
ak'wa |
tak |
ganA |
|
bunqe |
somm |
put |
suna
|
南高加索语系 |
min |
ma |
yor |
rts'q'a |
ert |
t'ot' |
qe |
muql |
toma |
putʼ |
sun
|
达罗毗荼语系 |
yāv |
yā |
iraṇṭu |
nīru |
birelu |
kaŋ |
kay |
meṇḍa |
pūṭa |
počču |
čuṇṭu
|
欧亚语系 |
kwi |
mi |
pālā |
akwā |
tik |
konV |
bhāghu(s) |
bük(ä) |
punče |
p'ut'V |
snā
|
得内-高加索语系 |
kwi |
ma |
gnyis |
ʔoχwa |
tok |
kan |
boq |
pjut |
tshām |
putʼi |
suŋ
|
南方大语系 |
o-ko-e |
m-anu |
ʔ(m)bar |
namaw |
ntoʔ |
xeen |
baγa |
buku |
śyām |
betik |
iǰuŋ
|
印度-太平洋语系 |
|
mina |
boula |
okho |
dik |
akan |
ben |
buku |
utu |
|
sɨnna
|
澳洲原住民语言 |
ŋaani |
minha |
bula |
gugu |
kuman |
mala |
pajing |
buŋku |
|
puda |
mura
|
亚美林德总语系 |
kune |
mana |
p'āl |
akwā |
dɨ'i |
kano |
boko |
buka |
summe |
butie |
čuna
|
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- 来源:(Ruhlen 1994b:103)。符号V表示“元音,其原始确切的字符是未知的”(同上105页)。点击在最上面一行的符号可以改变字母顺序的形式。
基于参考文献(Ruhlen 1994b:105),列出原始人类语言的词根:
- ku = 'who'
- ma = 'what'
- pal = 'two'
- akwa = 'water'
- tik = 'finger'
- kanV = 'arm'
- boko = 'arm'
- buŋku = 'knee'
- sum = 'hair'
- putV = 'vulva'
- čuna = 'nose, smell'
- 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." (页面存档备份,存于互联网档案馆) (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." (页面存档备份,存于互联网档案馆) 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."(页面存档备份,存于互联网档案馆) 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." (页面存档备份,存于互联网档案馆) Nature 423:742–747.