Routledge Dictionary of Language and Linguistics
There are various hypotheses or assumptions about the origin of language, none of which can be verified through linguistic theory. Relatively certain knowledge about language goes back approx. 5,000 to 6,000 years, but the development of humankind stretches over an assumed period of a million years. Thus, all hypotheses on language origin such as, among others, (a) the ‘onomatopoeic’ theory (imitation of animal sounds, 
onomatopoeia), (b) the ‘interjective’ theory (origin of language in the expression of emotions), or (c) the ‘synergastic’ theory (origin of language through co-operation in work) remain completely speculative and confirm J. Herder’s paradoxical formulation: ‘Humans are only human through language, but in order to invent language, they would already have to be human’ (Gesammelte Schriften, VII, 47).
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Bibliography
Hewes, G.W. 1974. Abridged bibliography on the origin of language. In Language origins. R.W. Wescott (ed.), 239–86. Silver Spring, MD.
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