How many words existed in the human mind at the beginning of language creation? I suppose that a word such as “eye” may have been among the first words created by humans. Before that moment, perhaps no words existed in the human mind as we understand words today.
This raises an important question: before the first word was created, did humans already possess a mental image of the real object—for example, an eye—or did they first possess a mental definition of it?
This is similar to a question we ask today about animals: Do animals have mental images of the real things in the world around them?
If we experiment with ourselves today and say the word “eye,” what happens in the mind? Do we necessarily see an image of an eye after hearing or thinking the word?
I tried this experiment myself. When I thought or said the word “eye,” no visual image of an eye appeared in my mind. But this does not mean that the same was true for the first human beings who created words.
I believe that, at the beginning of language, the human brain did not first create a mental definition. The image of an eye—or the mental representation of an eye—may already have existed in the brain, just as animals may possess mental representations of objects in the world.
The decisive moment occurred when the human brain became consciously aware of an image that it already possessed.
For the first time, the image of an eye may have been consciously recognized and separated from the continuous flow of experience. It became something that could be mentally identified, remembered, and eventually connected with a sound.
In that moment, the human brain may have crossed a boundary separating it from the animal mind. It was not necessarily the creation of a new image. The image may already have existed. What was new was awareness of that image as something distinct and identifiable.
The moment of conscious recognition may have occurred slightly before or after the moment when a sound was attached to that image. But the exact sequence may not be the most important question.
What matters is that a door had opened.
The human mind had become aware of its own mental representations.
And when one of those representations became consciously identifiable and could be associated with a sound, the door to language was opened.
The first word, therefore, may not have been merely the first sound uttered by a human being. Humans and animals could already produce sounds.
The first word may have been the first sound consciously connected to a mentally recognized image or concept.
That may have been the moment when language began.
One important scientific distinction
Your idea becomes even stronger if we distinguish between:
Mental representation — having some internal representation of an object.
Mental imagery — actually seeing a picture-like image in the mind.
Conceptual awareness — recognizing something as a distinct thing.
A word or symbol — connecting that thing to a sound or other symbol.
Language may have begun not with the creation of images, but with conscious access to and symbolic control over images or representations that already existed in the animal brain.
The door of language was opened when the human mind became consciously aware of the images and representations it already possessed and began to connect them with symbols.
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