Caveman Dilemma

A caveman just wants sex, has no language and sees a cavewoman coming up from the river.  What does he do?

Once, way far back in time when humans were something new to the scene and language didn't exist yet, there were no words.  What was there?

Consonant noises, hissing, howling, blowing raspberries, and all the varied shouts, howls and wails were the beginning. But, how did one particular sound become the accepted noise that was the word for, say, rock.  Why didn't flug become the word for a rock?

It's thought that babies make noises and then realize that the sound they are making is pretty close to the word we use for something.  Muh, muh, muh, muh is repeated as mamamama.  Baby notices that "mama" seems special to the adult, and the longer string of similar sounds is not.  Baby learns mama is a good sound to keep in its head and then that mama is the one with food and kisses.  Pretty simple.  Older kids learn words faster if other kids are interested in the object that's attached to the word.  A ball is interesting and something all the kids want to get their hands on, so the word ball is crucial to learn.

So, my thought is the first word caveman wanted to form was whatever sound attracted a female.   If she dropped her rocks on the ground and came closer, he was a happy caveman.  The more sounds he made that she liked quickly became memorized sounds and he got his family started.  So much the better if the sounds were attached to things she really liked, whatever they might have been.

You could argue that men are still using this technique today, and I think I'd agree with you, but it sure has gotten complicated - so many words and so many fine shades of meaning.  All Grug wanted in the first place was sex and he got a whole language.