For all their frailty and idiocy, humans were rather useful in their language.
It was amazing really just how many modes of communication they could come up with. Like kanji for example. Each character was designated its own specific meaning. In combination with other kanji, the possibilities were endless. The kanji for Heaven (天) and Mood/Spirit (気) made Weather (天気). The same went for the radicals that made up each individual kanji. The radical for Woman (女) and that of Child (子) made the kanji Love (好). The radicals for Blade (刀) and Heart (心) in combination spelled the kanji Shinobi (忍). Only an advanced cultural civilization could combine social constructs in that way for speech and script to take up such significance. A baffling thing to consider taking into account how stupid humans tended to be otherwise.
The ability to communicate is not strictly limited to human beings. The low keening wail of a wolf grieving the death of one if its pack is mistaken by none of its prey. They flock to safety, fearing the wrath of the predator through conditioning and instinct. A wolf wails. A wolf is present. A wolf will kill as a predator.
And I am its prey.
That sound has no significance to an animal. It does not signify the mourning of a passing soul as a human would beautifully paint it. Nor does it mean the yearning for a bond with the moon. It only ever means one thing.
Get the fuck out of dodge if you want to live.
Perhaps that's where it began for humans. Survival. Just as animals warned each other of incoming danger with their barks and cries, the dawn of human beings began with "Look out!" "Run!" "Help!" It began with a warning. A verbal expression of fear.
To think that the enormous chasm between humans and all others began there, with something as base as fear, fear so intense the animal kingdom was shaken to the core and swiftly split. Swiftly indeed; the rate of human advancement was quite daunting, moving from sticks to bone spears to piercing blades. From caves to huts to stone fortresses. But regardless of all things built by humans it all stemmed from one origin.
Fear.
Mukashi, mukashi. Once upon a time. The beginning of human fairytales of old. That was the time of youkai. And when humans knew the true meaning of fear. Speechless or not.
The demon holding a whip. 畏