Before human beings spoke, we communicated with body/sign language and thought in pictures, much the way animals do. About 125,000 years ago, a genetic mutation occurred which allowed some humans to control the motions of their tongues. Then, slowly but surely, our body/sign language method of communicating was largely replaced with spoken words.
Before spoken language, we had to lift our arms to convey the concepts of lift, up, high, etc. After we got control of our tongues, we could simply mimic that motion with our tongues. Notice that in English we lift our tongues to say lift, elevator, ceiling, light, helium, etc. The connections to our Stone Age mode of communication are preserved within the English language.
In my book, Deciphering the English Code, the transition from Stone Age body/sign language to modern spoken words is depicted in a way that anyone can understand. New students of English will quickly acquire a grasp for nuts and bolts of the world’s most important language, and seasoned lovers of language will appreciate the new dimension that is added to comprehension when the history of a word is exposed.
“The Bible speaks of a pre-Babel language, common to all men. I believe the core of that first language still lives and its heartbeat can be detected within our English words.”
THE ENGLISH CODE 