Quest for missing link in language

Press, 13 April 1989, Page 13

Quest for missing link in language

By

ROBIN McKIE.

of the “Observer”

American linguists believe they are closing in on their profession’s ultimate goal — the reconstruction of the “mother tongue,” the language spoken by earliest humanity. The primordial utterings of the first human beings are about to be unveiled, they say. According to the theory, pioneered by Professor Vitaly Shevoroshkin of Michigan University, humanity was once united to the extent that only one language was spoken, probably about 100,000 years ago.

The human race was at that time just a straggling band of hominids, confined to a region of sub-Saharan Africa. Then we emerged, out of Africa, to take over the world, replacing Neanderthals and other rivals, spreading our language round the globe. As humanity fanned out, this mother tongue diffused into various dialects, which in turn evolved into new languages. This process was repeated over the millennia, leading to the development of modern mankind’s many different languages, a global babble that ranges from Aborigine to Eskimo, from Serbo-Croat to Basque. Most linguists still believe that modern languages are too distantly related to detect common components, arguing that there is insufficient data to uncover something as deeply submerged as a mother tongue. Professor Sheveroshkin and his supporters disagree. They say their latest research suggests that all the world’s known languages can be traced back to seven prototypes. One of these proto-languages was Nostratic, the original tongue from which the Indo-European languages including English, German, Russian and others, evolved. “Nostratic was probably spoken by people living in the near east — about 15,000 years ago,” says Professor Shevoroshkin. “And by very careful analysis, we have reconstructed several hundred words of Nostratic, such as ‘mi* for I or me; ‘tu’ for you or thou; ‘ku’ for who; and ‘kerd’ for hard.” Fewer details have been established about the other six proto-languages spoken at that time. But enough is known to convince Professor Shevoroshkin that common words can, in turn, be sought among all seven proto-languages. Indeed, he believes he has already made tantalising progress. Despite their disparate nature, Professor Shevoroshkin says he has uncovered a handful of primitive words that have common roots with all seven — and therefore all basic languages spoken today. These were words spoken by mankind’s earliest ancestors as they crouched round the fires of our ancestral African homelands, Professor Shevoroshkin believes. They include “huka” for eye; “teli” for tongue; “ngai” for I and “nyin” for you. It may not have the romance we might expect from Adam and Eve, but for early humanity it probably served quite adequately.