Syed Ibrahim Rizvi
Despite the great diversity in shape, size, and appearance of animals, it is amazing that all higher animals have the same physiology and biochemistry.
In common terms, a human is so different from a donkey, and a lion is so different from a zebra or a giraffe.
Yet, a close analysis shows that there is so much in common between these different life forms.
All animals have the same organs like a heart, two kidneys, two lungs, and a liver. The constitution of the blood is also the same.
Then why is there so much difference between most animals and a human being? The difference lies in the brain.
The human brain is unique among all living organisms. The one-kilogram three-hundred-gram organ that sits on our shoulders is filled with almost eighty-six billion neurons where each neuron makes a connection with ten thousand other neurons.
This highly complex structure gives us, humans, the ability to think, analyze, organize our thoughts, feel emotions, and plan.
Besides these attributes, the most important thing that this brain does is to make possible communication between fellow humans through a verbal route.
This is through a system that is based on understanding and articulation based on a medium that we call a language.
Indeed, it is the evolution of the human ability to communicate through the medium of a language that makes us Human!
Throughout human evolution, there has been a significant increase in brain size, with the most dramatic expansion occurring around 2 million years ago, leading to modern humans having considerably larger brains compared to their early ancestors, allowing for more complex cognitive abilities to develop and adapt to environmental challenges.
The evolution of the ability to convey information to others started several million years back when ancestors of the human species started using gestures to communicate.
Even in the present times, when humans are fully adept at communicating with verbal language, we frequently use gestures to communicate.
It is universal that to show our appreciation we clap. Clap is nothing but hitting our both hands in a synchronized manner to make a noise.
We use our shoulders and hands in a characteristic manner that universally conveys the meaning of helplessness.
Humans use their eyebrows constantly to emphasize emotions such as amazement. The use of these gestures, now characterized as ‘behavioral fossils’ started millions of years back in our evolution when language had not evolved.
Our hominid (apes) ancestors continued to use gestures for lacs of years and then something new happened.
The larynx or the sound box which is usually present at the starting of the windpipe or the trachea starts to descend.
When the larynx descended into the neck, it became possible to control the sound which came out from it more efficiently. Humans have a larynx which is situated much below where it is present in most animals.
Therefore, most animals can make sounds (the barking of a dog, the braying of a donkey, or the roar of a lion) but they are not able to control or modulate them.
Humans are the only animals who can control their sound. Some more changes in the brain occurred and humans got the ability to make specific sounds which was the beginning of verbal communication.
Although humans had started a primitive way of language the story as to how different specific languages evolved is highly interesting.
Scientists believe that different languages originated from the area which is now in Western Russia and Ukraine.
Almost 7000 to 6000 years ago this area was home to an ethnic population which were known as the Yamnaya tribe.
The Yamnaya people were strong and well-built. These people were the first to start domesticating horses.
Once they had domesticated horses, the Yamnaya tribe could travel fast through the grasslands of central Europe and traveled up to India through Iran.
Being strong people, they left the imprint of their language throughout their journey. The language they propagated is known as the Proto-Indo-European language which is now considered the mother language of English, French, German, Latin, Hindi, Italian, Persian, and many others.
However, the oldest language documented in history is Akkadian and Sumerian with their origins in Egypt dating back to 4600 years.
These languages are now extinct. The oldest languages still spoken include Arabic, Latin, Sanskrit, Chinese, and Tamil.
The exact time of origin of these languages is debatable but most linguistic experts agree that most languages are less than 5000 years old.
Interestingly, the food habits of humans have shaped the structure of the language which evolved.
When humans were hunter-gatherers, they depended largely on hard food and meat which required biting and cutting.
Thus, early humans had a jaw in which the lower jaw protruded thereby making the two jaws aligned and creating a structure in which biting was easy.
As humans started eating soft food and cereals, the lower jaw started receding and today we find that our two jaws do not sit on top of the other rather our lower jaw is inside the upper jaw.
The structure of the jaw had a great influence on the sounds humans could make. A larger lower jaw hindered making the sound of ‘f ‘ and ‘ v ‘. Thus very old languages lack the sound of ‘f ‘ and ‘ v ‘.
A very interesting explanation exists to explain why some languages are written left to right and some vice versa.
The geographical region where a language took birth dictated how that language was written.
Arabic and Hebrew started in desert areas where people would write by using chisels on rocks. This style required the use of a hammer and chisel.
Since most people are right-handed it made sense that the hammer was held in the right hand. With the hammer in the right and the chisel in the left hand, it was natural to start from the right side and go to the left side.
In other languages which originated where people had access to parchment or leather skins writing was done using some kind of primitive coloring material that acted as ink.
Thus, it was more convenient to write from left to right otherwise there was a fear of ssmudgingof the ink.
There were also places in different Geographical regions where people used dried leaves as paper to write.
Dried leaves would get torn if large vertical or horizontal lines were drawn. Thus, strokes needed to be roundish in shape and short. This gave rise to languages of South India for example Tamil and Telugu.
As language became more and more evolved, it was easier for mankind to express their thoughts and document them for others, creating a treasure that we classify as Literature.
However, preserving early manmade manuscripts was a difficult task and it was not possible to make several copies of the same document.
Therefore, early literature relied heavily on the ability of language to create pieces of written record which had some rhyme in it making it easier to learn by heart. No wonder all ancient scriptures and books are written in poetic form.
So fortunate we are that we are living in times when language is so much evolved. For almost ninety-six percent of our existence on this earth, as a species defined as Homo sapiens, we did not have the luxury of conveying our thoughts to others in such a fluent and succinct form.
(The author is Professor of Biochemistry at University of Allahabad)