Grunts to Grammar

[twinc]

very limited number of languages is attested from before the Bronze Age collapse and the rise of alphabetic writing: The Sumerian, Hurrian, Hattic and Elamite language isolates, Afro-Asiatic in the form the Egyptian and a number of ancient Semitic languages, and Indo-European (Anatolian languages, Mycenaean Greek and traces of Indo-Aryan[1]). There are a number of undeciphered Bronze Age records, possibly encoding a Minoan (Cretan hieroglyphs, Linear A), a Proto-Elamite and a “Harappan language” (Indus script).

Date Language Attestation Notes
c. 3100 BC Sumerian Jemdet Nasr see Sumerian cuneiform; “proto-literate” period from about 3500 BC (see Kish tablet)
c. 2700 BC Egyptian tomb of Seth-Peribsen (2nd Dynasty, Umm el-Qa’ab see Egyptian hieroglyphs; “proto-hieroglyphic” inscriptions from about 3300 BC (Naqada III; see Abydos, Egypt, Narmer Palette)
c. 2400 BC Eblaite
c. 2300 BC Akkadian
c. 2250 BC Elamite Awan dynasty peace treaty with Naram-Sin
c. 2000 BC Hurrian fragmentary, known only from a few glosses in Hittite texts
c. 1800 BC West Semitic / proto-Canaanite Middle Bronze Age alphabets
c. 1800 BC Luwian Luwian hieroglyphs
c. 1650 BC Hittite Various cuneiform texts and Palace Chronicles written during the reign of Hattusili I, from the archives at Hattusas see Hittite cuneiform, Hittite texts
c. 1500 BC Canaanite Proto-Canaanite alphabet
c. 15th-14th / 13th century BC Greek Linear B tablet archive from Bronze Age Knossos
c. 1400 BC Hattic
c. 1300 BC Ugaritic see Ugaritic script
c. 1400 BC - 1000 BC Old Chinese Oracle bone script and bronze inscriptions[2] Because of the logographic nature of the Chinese script, it is difficult to date the age of the oldest Chinese texts, and the Shi Jing may date to as early as 1000 BC, which would still correspond to the Chinese Bronze Age. Old Chinese is a reconstructed language, dependent on the reconstruction of Middle Chinese.

[edit] First millennium BC
With the appearance of alphabetic writing in the Early Iron Age, the number of attested languages increases. With the emergence of the Brahmic family of scripts, languages of India become attested from after about 300 BC.[3]

Phoenician - about 1000 BC
Aramaic - c. 950 BC
Hebrew - c. 950 BC: Gezer calendar
Phrygian - c. 800 BC
Moabite - c. 800 BC
Ammonite - c. 800 BC
Old South Arabian - c. 800 BC
Etruscan - c. 700 BC
Umbrian - c. 600 BC
North Picene - c. 600 BC
Lepontic - c. 600 BC
Tartessian - c. 600 BC
Lydian - c. 600 BC
Carian - c. 600 BC
Eteocypriot - c. 600 BC
Thracian c. 6th c.BC
Venetic c. 6th c.BC
Old Persian - 525 BC: Behistun inscription
Latin - c. 500 BC: Duenos Inscription[4]
South Picene - c. 500 BC
Messapian - c. 500 BC
Gaulish - c. 500 BC
Old North Arabian - c. 500 BC
Mixe-Zoque - c. 500 BC: Isthmian script (disputed)
Oscan - c. 400 BC
Iberian - c. 400 BC
Meroitic - c. 300 BC
Faliscan - c. 300 BC
Mayan languages - c. between 300 BC and 200 BC[5]
Volscian - c. 275 BC
Sanskrit, Prakrit - c. 260 BC: Edicts of Ashoka[6][7]
Tamil - c. 254 BC: Tamil[8]
Galatian - c. 200 BC
Celtiberian - c. 100 BC
Korean - adoption of Hanja c. 100 BC, evidence of proto-Idu c. 500 AD[9]
[edit] First millennium CE
This list is incomplete; you can help by expanding it.

superfluous as neither called for or required or relevant.The question was,and remains unanswered “were the ancient languages more sophiscated than the modern ones” viz did language evolve etc - twinc

 

[juliamajor]

superfluous as neither called for or required or relevant.The question was,and remains unanswered “were the ancient languages more sophiscated than the modern ones” viz did language evolve etc - twinc/QUOTEYour are increasingly rude .I gave you a list of the first known written language. Written language implies a sophistication beyond the rudimentary.
Sophistication of language and sophistication of civilization go hand in hand.One does not need a sophisticated language if the society is not sophisticated.Creation of vocabulary comes out of need…If your not dealing with crops, or politics ,religion or accounts -you have no need for those words-do you? the more scientifically geared we are the more words have to be created to express it.more and more words are put into dictionaries then taken out. Our interpersonal use of language may not seem as sophisticated or elegant as say the Victorian age or when letter writing was an art.But langauges primary function is communication .
Civilizations created langauage because there was a need for it.If your civilization devolves- so does the language.the two are tied together.When Minoan civilization started falling apart-so did it’s language.Same in the mayan. Written langauges became lost after the last scribe died.
High Civilization=-high rate of language and communication skills.

 

[twinc]

twinc;6001998:

superfluous as neither called for or required or relevant.The question was,and remains unanswered “were the ancient languages more sophiscated than the modern ones” viz did language evolve etc - twinc[/QUOTEYour are increasingly rude .I gave you a list of the first known written language. Written language implies a sophistication beyond the rudimentary.
Sophistication of language and sophistication of civilization go hand in hand.One does not need a sophisticated language if the society is not sophisticated.Creation of vocabulary comes out of need…If your not dealing with crops, or politics ,religion or accounts -you have no need for those words-do you? the more scientifically geared we are the more words have to be created to express it.more and more words are put into dictionaries then taken out. Our interpersonal use of language may not seem as sophisticated or elegant as say the Victorian age or when letter writing was an art.But langauges primary function is communication .
Civilizations created langauage because there was a need for it.If your civilization devolves- so does the language.the two are tied together.When Minoan civilization started falling apart-so did it’s language.Same in the mayan. Written langauges became lost after the last scribe died.
High Civilization=-high rate of language and communication skills.

so when did the last scribe die - the question still remains unanswered for reason or reasons unknown - so lets ask again,from the records and info we have is there any indication that ancient languages were simpler and less complicated than their modern counterparts viz is it simple to complex or vice versa - twinc

[/quote]

 

[jmcrae]

so when did the last scribe die - the question still remains unanswered for reason or reasons unknown - so lets ask again,from the records and info we have is there any indication that ancient languages were simpler and less complicated than their modern counterparts viz is it simple to complex or vice versa - twinc

Like everything else in life, there was no “evolution” - rather, an ebb and flow based on the needs and resources of the people involved. The notions of “evolution” and “progress” are false notions - as are the notions of “devolution” or “regression.” There were times in history where they were more sophisticated than we are right now, and times when they were less sophisticated, and it had nothing to do with building on what went before, but rather, it had to do with what people needed and wanted (and could get) at the time.