How Did Language Help Make Us Human

Language assisted in making us truly ‘human’ in a variety of different ways, however it is through the main factors of the extent of the efficiency of our unique method of communication, enabling the ability to share unlimited knowledge with one another and finally, the role it played in accommodating humans with the ability to adapt to foreign environments. It is through these three key features that language is distinctly outlined as being a main influence on the characteristics of typical human beings today.

Firstly, language helped in defining us as humans due to the efficient and complex method of communication that early humans came to develop. The difference between ourselves and other species found in today’s society, is evident through the fact that we use symbolic language by means of communication, a collection of symbols and grammar in order for precise and effective methods of understanding. In fact, acclaimed archaeologist ‘John Hoffecker’ states ‘the formation of the super-brain was a consequence of a rare ability to share complex thoughts among individual brains’ now recognized as a factor of the aftermath of obtaining a symbolic language. To be put into modern context, this use of symbolic language can be easily seen to a lesser extent in relation to the honeybee; Research from ‘TS-Si’ shows that ‘the honeybee may be the best example of an organism that has mastered the trick of communicating complex information — including maps of food locations and information on potential nest sites from one brain to another — using their intricate “waggle dance”’, the equivalent to that of the human communication of markings (written) and sounds (spoken), which together form human symbolic language. It is through the distinct, efficient and advanced method of symbolic language that overall, helped in making us human, clearly marking us as individuals in the animal kingdom, obtaining the most complex language system known to the world.

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