语言、文字起源述略

A Brief Introduction to the Origin of Language and Its Written Form

关于语言的起源,众说纷纭。一般认为,从二三百万年前南方古猿时期语言的萌芽,到50万年前的"半语言"状态,直到25万年前智人时期的分音节的"概念语言"的产生,人类语言的产生经历了极其漫长的历史时期。成熟的人类语言大概产生于5—10万年前,而文字产生则更晚,大约产生于5000—6000年前。

Opinions on the origin of language vary among different people. It is generally believed that human language has gone through a long historical period from the start of australopithecine language 2 to 3 million years ago to the state of the ＂semi-language＂ 500 thousand years ago, and then to the appearance of the syllabic ＂concept language＂ 250 thousand years ago when the Homo sapiens appeared on the earth. Yet, chances are that mature human language appeared 50-100 thousand years ago, while its written form, even later, about 5,000-6,000 years ago from today.