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Origins of human
language
Scientists do not agree on
when language was first
used by humans (or their
ancestors).
The world's languages have
been grouped into families
of languages that have
similarities. Some of the
major groupings are the
Indo-European languages,
the Afro-Asiatic
languages, and the
Sino-Tibetan languages.
One prominent artificial
language, called
Esperanto, was created by
L. L. Zamenhof. It was a
compilation of various
elements of different
languages, and it was
intended to be an
easy-to-learn language.
Other constructed
languages strive to be
more logical than natural
languages; a prominent
example of this is Lojban.
Other writers, such as J.
R. R. Tolkien, have
created fantasy languages,
for literary, linguistic,
or personal reasons. One
of Tolkien's languages is
called Quenya, which is a
form of Elvish. It
includes its own alphabet
and its phonology and
syntax are modelled after
Finnish. Linguist Mark
Okrand devised Klingon and
Vulcan for Star Trek,
which have since been
developed into full
languages.
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