Re: Language based on interjections

Quoting Peter Bleackley <Peter.Bleackley@...>:

> According to Tolkien, ðe first word ðe elves uttered upon ðeir awakening
> was ðe interjection "Ele!" "Behold!", at ðe stars hissight. From ðis came
> boþ ðeir word for star, and ðeir kindred hisname, "Eldar", or "star-folk".
> Ðus meþinks it interesting topostulate a language hwose basic roots were
> all interjections. Nouns could be derived from ðese by many genders, each
> of hwich had its own declension. Verbs likewise could be derived from nouns
> by a number of verbal classes, each wið its own conjugation. Hwat þink ye,
> good folk?
Not "it hisown conjugation"?

> Ðis idea is partly based on Zhyler hisnoun system, but wið ðe roots taken
> from a less sensible speechpart.
Some theories of language genesis* hold that speech developed out of monkey-
style warning calls for various kinds of predator. Even saw some crackpot who
claimed to've reconstructed the proto-speech call for "eagle" by comparing
words for birds, clouds, the sky and other celestial things in languages over
the world. Which, apart from everything else, begs the question if there's
ever been a kind of eagle big enough to threaten an adult hominid? Perhaps the
call served to warn overly inquisitive children and also provides the ultimate
etymology for "never talk to strangers!"?

Might be an intersting exercise, nonetheless.

* Was tempted to write "linguogenesis", but that sounds too much like a part
of embryonal development.

                                                              Andreas

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