Ursprach
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[edit] Definition
Ursprach is a general term used to refer to languages in which there are no differences between word and thing, no ambiguity, no guile, and no possibility of lying; those that are the recorded or hypothetical ancestors of other languages. Ursprach is a prominent element of gnostic language theories, which hold that contemporary languages bear traces of original speech in precisely those points where they break down, i.e. points of ambiguity, extremity, or absurdity.
[edit] Religion and Mythology
The term Ursprach is German for the speech of Ur. In a Biblical context, Ursprach is used as a reference to an original, universal language spoken by all peoples in ancient Ur, the first permanent city in Babylonia (modern day Iraq). It is believed that Ursprach is the language that Adam used to communicate with God. However, at the event of Babel, God is said to have prevented humans from attaining god-like powers by means of the confusion of tongues.
[edit] History
Regardless of the theories that define its existence, whether religious or mythological, many researchers speculate that every human language in existence — the four thousand spoken today and the thousands more which have gone extinct — descended from this single ancestral language. It is also believed that Ursprach had a simple grammar and a vocabulary of a few hundred words, many of them repeated vowel-constant pairs, just like baby talk "ga-ga, goo-goo, ma-ma."
[edit] See also
Origin of Language
Mythical Origins of Language
Confusion of Tongues
[edit] References
Ursprache - The Lost Language of Paradise. [1]
The American Heritage Dictionary of the English Language. [2]
