The Evolution Of Language

Press, Volume CV, Issue 30983, 12 February 1966, Page 4

The Evolution Of Language

The Wonderful Story of Language. By Franklin Folmson. Odhams. 192 pp.

This interesting and fully illustrated book should appeal to any intelligent child. It deals with the evolution of language; what it is. how it began, how it changes, and opens with an account of the manner in which animals communicate. The work carried out by two Americans with a chimpanzee is of particular interest here. The chimpanzee was able to learn a very limited vocabulary of “mama," “papa,” and “cup” but was better able to pick out from a set of pictures the one which showed something that it wanted, thus pointing out that brain and eye coordination was developed to a greater extent than ear and mouth. There is a section dealing with the relationship between brain development and speech development which will appeal to children, as will the well-illustrated

section dealing with sign language and how we communicate ideas through posture and expressions. The neolithic age brought two discoveries of prime importance to mankind; the discovery of agriculture and animal husbandry 1 . This took place in what is called the fertile crescent, the region arching from present day Israel down to the top of the Persian Gulf, and it was here that the first written records were kept. Metals were worked, marble was sculptured, irrigation was developed, specialisation began and city states arose, all of which contributed to the need for a standard form of speech and writing. This period is one of the key periods in Man’s history, and the information given in this book could be read to advantage by many an adult. The Sumerian cuneiform writing is well illustrated and explained as is the development to heiroglyphic, hieractic and demotic. This section concludes with a coverage of the development of characters

from the Greek to the Roman alphabet, and subsequently to the modern alphabet which we use today. The historical aspects of language are not neglected and children will be interested to learn how man was able to translate the ancient languages. There is i information on Campollion’s work with the Rosetta stone and the studies which Ventris made in Etruscan, whilst comparative philology provides an interesting study in the lost “core” language termed Indo-European.

As national boundaries became established, so national forms of speech and writing became formalised, leading, in turn, to a certain degree of highly specialised international language as found in various forms of science. The contribution of the printing press to the spread of language is mentioned and there is a very good section which could provide a good deal of useful information dealing with Die learning of foreign languages. The book concludes with a fun section of word games, and an index, i