I think that is consistent with what Nava and I posted. The goal is to foster contemplation, not to shut up in and of itself (on the contrary, as noted above).
Ah, gotcha. I get what you are saying. So, yeah, it would be cheating if monks were sitting around and just having idle conversations all day via sign language.
I’m going to guess that language is about as essential a piece of human development as toolmaking. In fact, it is used to pass on knowledge and allow individuals to collaborate in hunting. Any subgroup that did not have that would be at a severe disadvantage compared to rivals; and likely would have been driven to extinction.
Every human population has a spoken language and every spoken language has a fully realized system of grammar. There is no such thing as a primitive or undeveloped language.
Have you spoken with a teenager lately? 
Pidgin languages are considered underdeveloped (while creoles are reasonably developed).
OTOH, Pidgins are 2nd languages. Once they become a first language they should have developed into a creole by then.
And even if there’s no such thing as a primitive language now, there presumably was once, back in the murky depths of prehistory.
Feral children do not, in isolation, create languages:
That said, I don’t think that we aware of any case of two infants becoming isolated together, so the question of whether they would develop a language together is unanswered. That a child, without another person to communicate with, would not create a rudimentary language does not seem that mysterious.
While the answer would be intriguing, I’m fine with this one going untested for as long as possible.
Fascinating!
Correct on the pidgin; not correct on the creole (they’re as “developed” as any other language).
??? So you corrected my “error” by merely restating what I said. :dubious:
Did anyone ask the Sentinelese?
They yelled something back but our brave reporters didn’t get close enough to try and ask about grammar specifics. Since they did yell, it is understood that they have at least the local equivalent of “stay the fuck out!”
The difference is between “as developed as any other language” and “reasonably developed”. The former is not simply a restatement of the latter.
America is full of places whose names translate to things like, “Who are you people?” and “Why are you pointing at that mountain?”
I’m reasonably sure it is. 