I am aware of the fact that humans did understand each other a little bit before the invention of language, but how did they explain complex words? Was the creation of languages like a buildup of words so they start with very simple words and gradually build up so that the rest of the tribe or country or whatever would understand the meaning of the new word easier? Or was it like one big language created at once and everyone just kind of figured out the meaning of the words over time?
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We don’t really know. There are a LOT of theories as to how the earliest languages evolved. Some say that it came from using sounds to represent non-linguistic communication (such as pointing, etc), some that it must have been a mutation that allowed the intelligence needed to develop language to suddenly appear. Some say that it has to have some sort of genetic encoding, while others believe it’s a cultural development.
Beyond that, [there’s a lot of speculation and theories](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Origin_of_language) as to how and exactly when the first language or languages developed. It would be hard to go through them all, but you can get a sense from that article.
Best I could come up with as a theory is that it was simply trial and error and gesture. I think of 2 troglodytes just chilling and one points at a rock and grumbles out “blork” or something, repeatedly. The other would be like “rawp?” And point at it himself. They’d maybe play with the sounds and pronunciation, or fight over it or something until they both eventually came to agree to use the same verbal expression to refer to the agreed upon object. Boom. Word. I’m no anthropologist, but I liked picturing this idea.
There’s no way we can be sure, but still, a solid speculation would be, that their minds connected words/grunts to specific nouns/verbs/adjectives, the same way we do now, but in a super primitive way.
Back then, people used the words/sounds they needed for communication, they didn’t need to have correct grammar, pronunciation or complex words. One word sentences would probably suffice, even today. Everyone in the tribe would learn the language by living in it.
The problem would be communicating with other foreign tribes, since there’s a high chance of hostility and a high chance of a completely different dialect or language all together.
There was once a thing called “Watergate”, and there’ve been all kinds of “-gates” since then. Did anyone decide that “-gate” means “major political scandal” now? No. It even has nothing to do with the basic meaning of “gate” as in entrance structure. But — if a time traveler from 2030 shows up and tells you that “Bumblegate” is the #1 news topic of 2030, you’ll immediately know that it’s *likely* a political scandal that *maybe* involves… bumblebees? someone bumbling something? someone named Bumble? That would be anyone’s guess — but you could be quite sure of the “-gate” part even though there’s literally no reason this little word, which had already meant something else entirely, came to mean this very specific thing when added to another word.
Or think of “sequel” leading to “prequel”, “threequel”, and “sidequel”. Note how none of those words needs to be explained because there’s literally nothing to explain.
Think of this happening for many generations with every word or part of a word that you could re-use to say something quicker. Also note that most of the world’s languages are more “synthetic” than English. In other words, they rely more heavily on things like “happenING”, “RE-use”, “quickER”, “world’S”, or “EnglISH”. They’re real heavy-lifters, those building blocks of words; I could make up a word like, “the *undigupablest* document in this whole archive”, and without knowing how you know, you’ll know pretty clearly that “un-dig-up-abl(e)-est” means “least possible to dig up”. That’s generally how you avoid the need for explanations.
Well, first consider how do you explain words to babies? Sure, some simple nouns and verbs can be explained by pointing to an example. But how do explain what the meaning of the word “of”? Or “the” or “and”? You just use the words and they figure it out from context.
And language developed gradually over a long period of time. Animals today can communicate with sounds that mean simple things like “Danger!” or “Come mate with me!”. Some species have more complex calls that are more specific. I’ve read that dolphins even have unique names for individuals. Human language probably developed from something like that, that gradually got more sophisticated over thousands and thousands of years.
[Relevant wiki article](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Origin_of_language)
Just a thought but it might help to consider how we learn language even today. Young children, who actually grasp new languages faster than adults, don’t really learn a new language by having someone explain each word to them. They grasp context from refular use and often associate outcomes with sounds.
If a particular sound, over time was a popular enough representation for something consequential, it stuck. A bit like a new meme just becomes a part of conventional expression without someone actually having to explain its syntax and usage before it gets adopted.
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