Protolanguage

Part of speech: noun

Definitions

1. A speculative initial communication system is considered a precursor to evolved languages that possibly facilitated early human interaction
2. This idea refers to an assumed primitive linguistic framework that may have existed prior to the development of distinct language systems in humanity
3. A theoretical early form of communication is posited as a precursor to modern language, suggesting a basic structure crucial for human social interaction

Etymology: The prefix "proto-" comes from Ancient Greek "prôtos", meaning "first", and it is the same element found in "protagonist" (the first actor in a play) and "prototype" (the first form of something). Attached to "language", it marks a hypothetical or reconstructed ancestor from which later languages descended. The "language" half traces back through Latin "lingua", meaning "tongue", which passed into Old French as "language" and then into Middle English as "langage". A protolanguage is not a language anyone spoke in a recorded sense. Linguists build one by comparing related languages, such as English, Hindi and Greek, and working backward through their shared sound patterns and vocabulary. The result is a reconstruction, marked with an asterisk in scholarly writing, rather than a text or a recording. The compound itself is a plain English formation: "proto-" joined to "language" to name the earliest form of a family of tongues.

Synonyms: ancestor language