Proto-human language

Proto-human
Proto-human
Proto-sapiens, Proto-world
(widely rejected)
Reconstruction of	All extant and extinct human languages
Era	Paleolithic

The proto-human language, also known as proto-sapiens or proto-world, is the hypothetical direct genetic predecessor of all human languages.^[1]

The concept is speculative and not amenable to analysis in historical linguistics. It presupposes a monogenetic origin of language, i.e. the derivation of all natural languages from a single origin, presumably at some time in the Middle Paleolithic period. As the predecessor of all extant languages spoken by modern humans (Homo sapiens), proto-human language as hypothesised would not necessarily be ancestral to any hypothetical Neanderthal language.

^ Mcwhorter, John (4 September 2020). "How are the Various Proto-World Families Linked?". Archived from the original on 16 December 2021. Retrieved 16 December 2021. The Proto-World language, also known as the Proto-Human or Proto-Sapiens, is believed to be the single source of origin of all the world's languages.

[1] Mcwhorter, John (4 September 2020). "How are the Various Proto-World Families Linked?". Archived from the original on 16 December 2021. Retrieved 16 December 2021. The Proto-World language, also known as the Proto-Human or Proto-Sapiens, is believed to be the single source of origin of all the world's languages.

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