人类很早就对语言的起源产生兴趣。西方“历史之父”希罗多德在其名著《历史》中记载了他从孟斐斯(古埃及首都)的祭司那里听来的一件事:埃及法老普撒美提科斯(约在公元前六六四年继位)曾把普通人的两个新生儿交给一个牧羊人,命令将婴儿隔绝起来,不许任何人在他们面前说一句话,然后看他们在咿呀学语的时期过 Humans have long been interested in the origins of languages. Herodotus, the “father of history” in the West, chronicles in one of his famous “histories” what he heard from priests in Memphis: the Egyptian pharaoh Psitimethicos Succeeding in the previous sixty-four years) handed over two ordinary newborns to a shepherd, ordered the baby to be cut off, and no one was allowed to say a word in front of them, and then watched them spend their babbling time