Author: Abigail Manzella-Marchetti

Before there was news, there was gossip; and honestly, not much has changed. Everyone claims they’re not the gossiping type — right before saying, ‘Don’t tell anyone I told you this but…’

Long before the written word, humans huddled around firelight, their faces half-hidden in shadow, voices low, leaning in to catch every whispered detail. The underlying tensions of communal life, instances of betrayal, and transgressions against the tribe’s unspoken rules revealed; these were the stories that mattered. It was not idle chatter. It was survival. Language, we often think, evolved to share knowledge about the world, for instance where the prey was, which plants were safe to eat, and how to build a shelter. But a growing body of research suggests a more intimate origin, that ‘speech was born from the need to speak of each other’. Gossip, that seemingly trivial exchange, may have been the very spark that transformed grunts and gestures into the complex web of human speech. From whispered news around prehistoric fire circles to the small talk that threads through our modern lives, the urge to share stories about one another has shaped not just what we say, but who we are. In exploring the rise of language, it turns out, the mundane, our chit-chat, our casual curiosity about each other — was anything but. It was the glue that bound early humans together, the scaffold of ideas, and the heartbeat of human identity. The transcending nature of humanity means that we are consistently evolving and improving; language is not motionless but rather trickles and changes down through our history. The continuous link. The curiosity that binds us together, originated out of our necessity to survive. A whispered comment “They say he ignored the warning signs before the storm” could instantly shift the balance of trust. This simple sentence elicits many a kind of response; one of a reckless nature, a lack of judgement; by not reporting these signs this demonstrates a disregard of the tribe and the consequences. Suddenly questions of loyalty come into play. These exchanges were far from chatter; they were tools of survival. Anthropologist Robin Dunbar argues that as human groups expanded, traditional methods of bonding, like physical grooming among primates, became impractical. In their place, language emerged, with gossip serving as a powerful substitute. Talking about each other’s actions and intentions allowed early humans to monitor behaviour and maintain cohesion in groups of a large nature for example the curation of a village, built on the foundation of community. Think of gossip as a kind of community radar, constantly sweeping for hints of the landscape, those of loyalty or rather betrayal.

The evolution of human language continues to represent one of the most elusive questions in anthropology. Countless species communicate through calls and rhythms yet only humans developed a system of complex, symbolic language. Animals convey meaning through these signals, but only we have developed the unique ability to encode these instinctive forms of communication. We are capable of expressing abstract thought and even delving into self-realisation, a tool that allows us to use this language as the building blocks of discovery. A compelling theory proposes that language initially to manage the growing complexities of social life. Robin Dunbar connects this to the cognitive limit on stable social relationships using ‘Dunbar’s number’ suggesting that gossip was the evolutionary innovation that allowed humans to maintain larger groups. Far from idle chatter, gossip transmitted reputational information and enabled cooperation across communities too large for direct interactions alone. In this sense, gossip was foundational: it bonded individuals, strengthened group identity, and provided the social scaffolding essential for survival. In these earliest stages, humans were largely listeners. Without written records, the survival of knowledge, culture, and social norms depended entirely on the ability to remember and recount stories. Listening was not passive; it was an active, vital skill, ensuring that lessons and histories could be passed down across generations. Gradually, the mechanisms of gossip and storytelling evolved into the more flexible and nuanced capacity for full speech. Initially rooted in reputational exchange, language expanded to handle the subtler demands of everyday social cohesion, giving rise to what we now recognise as “small talk”, seemingly trivial chatter regarding the weather, mutual friends, and culture. Though superficial on the surface, small talk continues the same essential function as gossip, maintaining bonds, signalling trustworthiness, and smoothing interactions within communities. Ultimately, speech itself gave rise to the written word, transforming human communication once again. Writing allowed stories and knowledge to be preserved independently of memory, freeing humans from the limitations of oral transmission. The continuity is striking from listening to gossip, from storytelling to small talk, and from speech to writing, each stage reflects the same underlying drive, our desire to connect, cooperate, and share information across history.

Through cinema, books and history, humans have assigned meaning and reminiscence to words. Reading my narrations of the beginning of language, you can see how all that exists here began as a mere sentence with little backbone, slowly evolving into something richer and more alive. A classic literary example of gossip evolving into language appears in Geoffrey Chaucer’s The Canterbury Tales. In the Wife of Bath’s Prologue, for example, everyday gossip and rumour about marriage, sex, and power become central to how the Wife establishes her identity and authority. Beginning as casual chatter, this became structured into narrative and argument, carrying rhetorical force, shaping her role in the storytelling arc. Chaucer captures how gossip, traditionally dismissed as idle women’s talk, instead morphs into a recognised form of speech that constructs meaning, negotiates social power, driving the literary frame. In this way, private murmurings evolve into public discourse, and gossip becomes a proto form of language that bridges oral culture and literary art.

In cinema, gossip often operates as a force of language evolution, shaping how stories are presented, in Kurosawa’s Rashomon (1950), conflicting accounts and rumours subvert truth, demonstrating how gossip blurs the boundaries of language and reality. Similarly, the interplay between gossip and tabloid culture emerges in films like Sunset Boulevard (1950), where whispers of fading stardom structure the narrative, and Fellini’s La Dolce Vita (1960), where paparazzi and idle chatter become part of the spectacle. In these works, gossip is not mere background noise but a dynamic medium through which cinema explores the instability of narrative, the circulation of reputation, and the evolution of cultural discourse.

Think of it this way, every voice note and text you send is part of a story that began tens of thousands of years ago. Long before smartphones, communication was our original survival tech. It was the first real social network, powered not by algorithms but by human instinct. Fast-forward a few millennia, and that same impulse drives everything from campfire tales to viral media trends. Communication didn’t just shape history; it is history, unfolding in real time as we speak, post, or listen. And maybe that’s the real beauty of it, even in a world buzzing with notifications, the act of reaching out — of saying I hear you or I get it — is what keeps us human. The story hasn’t changed much since the beginning. We’re still telling it, one message at a time. After all, it’s not gossip, it’s a public service; and honestly, they may have been onto something.

Abigail Manzella-Marchetti is a scientific researcher specialising in Paediatric clinical trials. She is a recent graduate from the University of Exeter, where she studied Anthropology and Culture, developing a fascination with language, philosophy, and reflecting on cultural curiosity. With a passion for culture and language she aims to explore the shared human experience.