The well-known American linguist Noam Chomsky is fond of asserting that if the proverbial Martian were to land on earth and study the world’s languages, he would conclude that humans basically speak the same language—though with some minor variations. The point Chomsky is trying to make is that at some fundamental level all human languages are really the same, despite their obvious differences. In fact, linguists have discovered over the years that all human languages seem to share certain characteristics. These shared characteristics are referred to as linguistic universals. Among such universals are these: in terms of grammar, all languages have nouns, pronouns, and verbs; in terms of phonology (the sounds of language), all languages use vowels and consonants.
It should be pointed out, however, that these commonalities among languages may exist at a somewhat abstract level. For example, while it is true that all languages have verbs—words that indicate actions or states—it is not true that the verbs in every language have the same form. For example, in English, verbs have tense (she goes, she went, she has gone), person (I try, he tries), and voice (he said, it was said). Verbs in French are even more complex in form, as they also exhibit agreement in gender (il est arrive—“he arrived”; elle est arrivee—“she arrived”) and number (je suis alle—I arrived; nous sommes alles—“we arrived”). On the other hand, verbs in Mandarin Chinese are quite simple—there are no tenses or agreement, only a distinction between completed and uncompleted actions (wo kan—“I see”; wo kan le—“I saw”)—and the forms of verbs never change.
A number of reasons have been given for these linguistic universals. One is that contact between languages has caused them to develop some similarities. However, perhaps the most obvious explanation is that all languages are ultimately descended from a common language; thus, it would not be surprising that languages exhibit such common features given this shared ancestry.
It would seem that the latter explanation is strong evidence for the claim that human language evolved from one simple proto-language. Indeed, biology would appear to provide an analogy for this. In neo-Darwinian theory, the fact that many species exhibit similar (homologous) features has been cited as evidence of a common ancestry for those species. However, as some have pointed out, the existence of homologous structures in different species does not necessarily prove common ancestry. Logically speaking, it could be that different species share certain characteristics because the Creator chose to employ certain common features when creating them, like an automotive designer employing certain common features when designing different car models. Homologous structures only “prove” common ancestry, and thus, neo-Darwinian evolution, if neo-Darwinian evolution is actually true. In other words, those citing homologous structures as proof of common ancestry are engaging in circular reasoning.
I would argue that in a similar way, linguistic universals could be evidence that human language ultimately derives from the Creator. It might be the case that He designed the human capacity for language in such a manner that all languages humans could speak would exhibit these common features, perhaps due to certain innate qualities of the human mind He created. The existence of linguistic universals would only be proof for a Darwinian-style evolution of human language if neo-Darwinism was true. Again, there is the problem of circular reasoning.
In short, the reality of linguistic universals does not—on its own--provide conclusive evidence for a Darwinian-style evolution of language. Of course, neither does the existence of linguistic universals prove that human language ultimately derives from God. What is needed is more logically compelling evidence for either of the two possible explanations for the origin of human language. Some of that evidence I have tried to present in earlier posts on this topic, and I hope to continue to discuss such evidence in future postings.
Image: The Building of the Tower of Babel by unknown 11th century painters, from commons.wikimedia.org