Basically what i am asking is how were people suddenly able to understand each other and form words for things? Also how did they then take those words and create letters and writing in a way that other people could understand?
Another question I have is when did languages actually develop and how do we even know?
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Language is an innate ability we have evolved. Many animals have vocalisations for communication, and language is just that, only it has developed to be especially complex. It was never ‘invented’ per se, it developed organically, probably from before we were human.
I think it is important to note the difference between spoken language and writing.
The concept of writing was invented, much the same way the concept of the wheel or the telephone was invented. And writing systems had to be actively devised and deliberately taught – whereas with spoken language babies just naturally acquire the language they’re surrounded by.
No human community lacks language, but throughout human history probably most have lacked writing.
I think there is a lot of misapprehension about this. You see people claim they ‘pronounce a word as it is written’ to argue that their way of speaking is somehow more valid. It betrays a flawed understanding of how human languages work – they are primarily spoken, and writing came along latterly to transcribe speech and record it.
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