The origin of language
Biologists refer to the modern human as homo sapiens, Latin for ‘wise man’, but the possession of language is such an important part of the definition of the modern human that homo loquens ‘talking man’ would be an equally appropriate name.
Since humans are the only creatures on Earth that possess language, this system of communication must by necessity be younger than the split between the human lineage and that of our closest modern non-human relative, the chimpanzee. This split is generally assumed to have taken place 5 to 7 million years ago. The oldest creatures in the human lineage are called hominids, while the first individuals belonging to our own genus, Homo, appeared about 1.9 million years ago. Few researchers – if any at all – believe language to be close to 2 million years old, but before we discuss in more detail the upper limit or the maximum age of language, let us take a closer look at the lower limit or the minimum age of language.