Origin of Languages - by Brand Wagon

When we talk About advertising and Branding and Marketing and whatever else in our field, the first and the most basic form is that of the use of a language. What we speak is the most common, widely used and important way of Advertising. Brand Wagon wishes to flip you back to the oldest pages of history, when a Language was newly born.

HEBREW BIBLE:

The Hebrew Bible attributes the origin of language per se to humans, with Adam being asked to name the creatures that God had created.

One of the most well known examples in the West is the Tower of Babel passage from Genesis in the Bible or Torah. The passage, common to the Abrahamic faiths with the exception of Islam, tells of God punishing humanity for arrogance and disobedience by means of the confusion of tongues.

HINDU MYTHOLOGY

A Hindu myth tells of how not only differences in language, but also diversity in culture, or customs came into being, by the punishment of a proud tree, by the creator-god Brahma.

AMERICAS

In common with the mythology of many other civilizations and cultures which tell of a Great Flood, certain Native American tribes tell of a deluge which came over the Earth. After the water subsides, various explanations are given for the new diversity in speech.

MESOAMERICA

The Aztecs' story maintains that only a man, Coxcox, and a woman, Xochiquetzal, survive, having floated on a piece of bark. They found themselves on land and begot many children who were at first born unable to speak, but subsequently, upon the arrival of a dove were endowed with language, although each one was given a different speech such that they could not understand one another.

AFRICA

The Wa-Sania, a Bantu people of East African origin have a tale that in the beginning, the peoples of the earth knew only one language, but during a severe famine, a madness struck the people, causing them to wander in all directions, jabbering strange words, and this is how different languages came about.

AUSTRALIA

In South Australia, a people of Encounter Bay tell a story of how diversity in language came about from cannibalism:In remote time an old woman, named Wurruri lived towards the east and generally walked with a large stick in her hand, to scatter the fires around which others were sleeping, Wurruri at length died. Greatly delighted at this circumstance, they sent messengers in all directions to give notice of her death; men, women and children came, not to lament, but to show their joy. The Raminjerar were the first who fell upon the corpse and began eating the flesh, and immediately began to speak intelligibly. The other tribes to the eastward arriving later, ate the contents of the intestines, which caused them to speak a language slightly different. The northern tribes came last and devoured the intestines and all that remained, and immediately spoke a language differing still more from that of the Raminjerar.

EUROPE

In Ancient Greece there was a myth which told that for ages men had lived without law under the rule of Zeus and speaking one language. The god Hermes brought diversity in speech and along with it separation into nations and discord ensued. Zeus then resigned his position, yielding it to the first king of men,Phoroneus.

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