Sažetak | The content of this paper will explore various ideas in the scope of linguistics in order to shed light on the evolution of language in general. The main focus of this paper is to argue for the role of language as a tool in human evolutionary history and to describe its evolution. Firstly, there will be an explanation and exploration of language and the notions connected to it: definition(s), ideas, and its role. Definitions by de Saussure, McWhorter, Sadowski and others will be cited. Secondly, the idea of the evolution of language will be further explored, especially its history, which will be explained by citing various scholarly articles in the areas of anthropology, linguistics and history. Two main theories on when language emerged will be given, citing various sources that provide sound arguments that justify the assumptions given. Due to the complex nature of the topic at hand, various scientific fields and their knowledge base need to be utilized in order to arrive at a satisfactory conclusion. Thirdly, the status of language as a tool, which is the central thesis being argued for in this paper, will be explored to its depth. Language can be thought of as an evolutionary tool that is to be used by humans as individuals and as groups in order to increase their chances of survival and to increase group cohesion, so sociology and its ideas will also inevitably have to be utilized. In the end, the potential glimpse into the future of language will be explored. |