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Reference.org
Origin of language
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<p>The origin of language, its relationship with <a href="/facts/Human_evolution/DNzlDyKe">human evolution</a>, and its consequences have been subjects of study for centuries. Scholars wishing to study the origins of language draw inferences from evidence such as the <a href="/facts/Human_evolution/DNzlDyKe">fossil record</a>, <a href="/facts/Archaeological_record/CNHr7zAE">archaeological evidence</a>, and contemporary language diversity. They may also study <a href="/facts/Language_acquisition/bwdh0CVG">language acquisition</a> as well as comparisons between human <a href="/facts/Language/IRcTok2q">language</a> and systems of <a href="/facts/Animal_communication/nHBjVw3c">animal communication</a> . Many argue for the close relation between the origins of language and the origins of <a href="/facts/Behavioral_modernity/YIo3m4oL">modern human behavior</a>, but there is little agreement about the facts and implications of this connection. </p><p>The shortage of direct, <a href="/facts/Empirical_evidence/JUaYSGJc">empirical evidence</a> has caused many scholars to regard the entire topic as unsuitable for serious study; in 1866, the <a href="/facts/Linguistic_Society_of_Paris/fkmGllwT">Linguistic Society of Paris</a> banned any existing or future debates on the subject, a prohibition which remained influential across much of the <a href="/facts/Western_world/UQl4e7du">Western world</a> until the late twentieth century. Various hypotheses have been developed on the emergence of language. While <a href="/facts/Charles_Darwin/uwDLGItY">Charles Darwin</a>'s <a href="/facts/Theory_of_evolution/TuWap5IK">theory of evolution</a> by <a href="/facts/Natural_selection/JXTte6en">natural selection</a> had provoked a surge of speculation on the origin of language over a century and a half ago, the speculations had not resulted in a scientific consensus by 1996. Despite this, academic interest had returned to the topic by the early 1990s. <a href="/facts/Linguist/oQuamvf2">Linguists</a>, <a href="/facts/Archaeologist/K3Q5P38R">archaeologists</a>, <a href="/facts/Psychologist/J4l4QdX2">psychologists</a>, and <a href="/facts/Anthropologist/CboLlQq5">anthropologists</a> have renewed the investigation into the origin of language with modern methods. </p>