Language in Humans: Didn't We Create It?

I am struggling with the notion that language is expressed through us. I say this because I have learned in my sociology classes that we created language to attempt to describe and make sense of the world around us. We create culture and societal understanding of certain words or phrases or stories. I can wrap my head around the idea that mythology is expressed through us, though I'm trying to put my fingers on the distinction there. I can see that mythology is something that is being reinvented and. Retold, perhaps in different words and perhaps with a different twist but overall the same concept. People are the same way with culture. Yet I want to believe that there is still room for ingenuity and creativity. How else, than, do we explain advancements in technology? I know this is not a binary concept; I recognize this tendency to view life as blackandwhite is one of my biggest handicaps. Here is where I am getting stuck. A story told 500 years ago versus one told today. They both have the same premise, same ideas, same themes.  One is in a "modern" setting (had to do it...) and the other isn't. How do the stories differ? Do they differ at all? Does context mean anything? Does it matter that one took place in a much less technologically advanced society? On one hand, I feel as if it shouldn't. Yet advancements change the entire nature of the story! (Nature is not the correct word here. I cannot think of a more accurate one at this time. Ah, the limitations of language!)         A story that involves a family may look very different 500 years ago compared to today. Many people had multigenerational homes and mortality rates were drastically different so raising children was very different! Parents today are much more involved now than they used to be because there used to be a much larger likelihood that a child wouldn't live long. So is a story about a parent and child different because the typical nature of that relationship is different or is it still the same?

It is hard to let go of my opposition to the idea that language was created through us because it goes against everything I have learned. Also, accepting the idea often goes hand in hand with a very powerless feeling for me. If language and mythology are expressed through me, what role do I play? Do I have a choice or am I merely a puppet in the world's continued portrayal of the same stories? What control do I really have over how I act and what I add to society? Do I add anything at all or am I merely a replica of persons or ideas past?