The Originsof Language

THE ORIGINS

OF

LANGUAGE

1/ INTRODUCTION

Divine sources

2/ Theories about

origin

3/ Physical adaption

4/ Tool making

source

Conlusion

CONTENTS :

The

Divine

Source

Divine SourceBiblical Source

In the book of Genesis, God created Adam and

“whatsoever Adam called every living creature,

that was the name thereof.”

Hindu Tradition

Language came from Sarasvati, wife of Brahma,

creator of the universe.

Basic assumption of Divine Source

Theory

If human infants were allowed to grow up

without hearing any language around them,

then they would spontaneously begin using

the original God-given language.

Story of an Egyptian Pharaoh

The Greek writer Herodotus reported the story of an Egyptian pharaoh named

Psammetichus (or Psamtik) who tried the experiment with two newborn babies more

than 2,500 years ago. After two years of isolation except for the company of goats and a

mute shepherd, the children were reported to have spontaneously uttered, not an

Egyptian word, but something that was identified as the Phrygian word bekos,meaning

bread.” The pharaoh concluded that Phrygian, an older language spoken in part of what

Is modern Turkey, must be the original language. That seems very unlikely. The children

may not have picked up this “word” from any human source, but as several commenta-

tors have pointed out, they must have heard what the goats were saying. (First remove

the -kos ending, which was added in the Greek version of the story, then pronounce be-

as you would the English word bed without -d at the end. Can you hear a goat?)

King James’ experiment

King James the Fourth of Scotland carried out

a similar experiment around the year 1500

and the children were reported to have

spontaneously started speaking Hebrew,

confirming the King’s belief that Hebrew had

indeed been the language of the Garden of

Eden.

The natural

sound source

Some Theories

Natural evolutionInvention/imitation hypotheses:“ding-dong” hypothesis“pooh-pooh” hypothesis“bow-wow” hypothesis“ta-ta” hypothesis

Necessity Theories of

Language Invention

• Warning hypothesis•“yo-he-ho” hypothesis• Lying hypothesis

Natural Evolution Hypothesis

Humans evolved a Language Acquisition Device . The simple vocalizations and gestures inherited from our primitive ancestors quickly gave way to a creative system of language – perhaps in a single generation or two due to a genetic mutation that produced advantageous results.

One theory suggests this perhaps gave Homo sapiens an advantage over Homo neatherthal is, whose vocalizations were limited by a less developed vocal tract. Studies of Neanderthal skulls indicate that they were only able to produce fricative sounds, like /f/ and /v/.

“Homo loquens” – the speaking human!

Invention Hypotheses (Ding Dong)

“Ding-Dong” – humans named objects, actions and

phenomena after a recognizable sound associated

with it. The first human words were a type of ICON,

a sign whose form is an exact image of its meaning:

Boom = explosion (English)

Tun-tun = heart (Chinook Indian)

Ai-ai = knife (Basque, literally “ouch-ouch”)

2. The natural sound source

Invention Hypotheses (Pooh – Pooh)

“pooh-pooh” Hypothesis: humans’ first words were derived

from spontaneous expressions of dislike, hunger, pain, or

pleasure.

Ha-ha-ha, wah-wah

Problems: Very small part of any language.

Differ from language to language:

English ouch; Russian oi; Cherokee eee, Basque ai

Made with intake of breath, which is the opposite of normal

talking.

Invention Hypotheses

Renditions of animal sounds differ considerably from language to language, even though the animal makes essentially the same sound:

Dog: bow-wow; Chinese wu-wu; Jap. wan-wan; Russian gaf-gafor tyaff-tyaff

Cat: meow; Russian myaoo; Chinese mao; Japanese nya-nya

Rooster: cocka-doodle-do; Japanese kokekoko; Greek kikuriku, kikikiriki

PROBLEM: Where do names for natural noiseless concepts come from: rock, sun, sky, love????

The basic assumption(Bow-wow)

The primitive sounds have been imitations of the natural sounds which

early men and women heard around them.

When an object flew by , making a caw-caw sound, the early human tried

to imitate the sound and used it to refer to the thing associated with the

sound.

Similarly by hearing coo-coo sound the early man might have identified

the bird with sound.

The fact that all modern languages have some words with pronunciations

that seem to echo naturally occurring sounds could be used to support this

theory.

The words like cuckoo, splash, bang , boom, rattle, buzz, hiss, screech

and forms such as bow-wow.

Bow-Wow theory of language

This view of language origin has

been called the “ Bow-wow

theory.

This theory is only acceptable in regard to

onomatopoeic words. While we know that

not all the words are onomatopoeic.

This theory does not explain the origin of

abstract word in language.

The function of language is not just to

name the words.

Natural Cries of emotion

Another theory suggests that the

original sounds of language may

have come from natural cries of

emotion such as pain, anger and

joy.

The theory can be refuted on the following

grounds:

But Ouch! and other interjections such as

Ah!,Ooh!,Wow! or Yuck!, are usually produced with

sudden intakes of breath, which is the opposite of

ordinary talk. We normally produce spoken language

on exhaled breath.

Basically, the expressive noises people make in

emotional reactions contain sounds that are not

otherwise used in speech production and

consequently would seem to be rather unlikely

candidates as source sounds for language

Invention Hypotheses (ta-ta)

“ta-ta” Hypothesis. Charles Darwin theorized that speech may

have developed as a sort of mouth pantomime – the organs of

speech were used to imitate the gestures of the hand. The first

words were lip icons of hand gestures.

Same problem as for onomatopoeia – different gestures in

different cultures: crossing fingers for good luck in English

versus Russian “fig” gesture; nodding “no” in Greek versus “yes”

in English

Even Darwin himself thought this was a little implausible.

Necessity Hypotheses

Necessity is the mother of invention”

Warning Hypothesis. Language evolved from the

warning signals used by animals. Perhaps language

started with a warning sound to others, that

signified “HELP!” or “RUN!” to alert other members

to the approach of a lumbering hairy mammoth or

hungry saber-tooth tiger.

Other first words could have been hunting

instructions.

Necessity Hypotheses

The “Lying” Hypothesis: Sturtevant argued that since

all our real intentions or emotions get involuntarily

expressed by gesture, look, or sound, voluntary

communication must have been invented in order to lie

or deceive. He believed that the need to deceive and

lie – to use language in contrast to reality for selfish

ends – was the social prompting that got language

started.

Seems pretty far-fetched.

Yo-he-ho theoryAnother proposal involving natural sound

has been called the “ yo-he-ho” theory. The

idea is that the sounds of a person involved

in physical effort could be the source our

language, especially when that physical

effort involved several people and the

interaction had to be coordinated.

So, a group of early humans might have

developed a set of hums, grunts,

groans and curses that were used when

they were lifting and carrying large bits

of trees or lifeless hairy mammoths.

Primitive man hunting a mammoth

Appeal of the theoryThe appeal of this theory lies in its emphasis on

social context.

Language we know is a social phenomenon and it

must have been originated in groups.

Early people must have lived in groups, if only

because larger groups offered better protection

from attack. Groups are necessarily social

organizations and ,to maintain those

organizations, some form of communication is

required, even if it is just grunts and curses.

Weaker point of the theory

But the theory does not fully answer

our question as we see same kind of

sounds produced by different animals

but these grunts and groans do not

develop into a fully fledged

communicative language.

The Real Reason For Language

The Physical

Adaptation

Source

Basic Assumption

Physical features humans

possess, especially those that are

distinct from other creatures,

may have been able to support

speech production.

Bipedalism

our ancestors made a very significant transition to

an upright posture, with bipedal (on two feet)

locomotion, and a revised role for the front limbs.

Neanderthal Man

4. The physical adaptation source

Human vs Neanderthal(Evidence of vocal tract)

The reconstructed vocal tract

of a Neanderthal suggests that

some consonant-like sound

distinctions would have been

possible.

In the study of evolutionary development, there

are certain physical features, best thought of as

partial adaptations, which appear to be relevant

for speech. They are streamlined versions of

features found in other primates. By themselves,

such features would not necessarily lead to

speech production, but they are good clues that a

creature possessing such features probably has

the capacity for speech.

Teeth

Human teeth are upright, not slanting outwards like those of apes, and they

are roughly even in height. Such characteristics are not very useful for ripping

or tearing food and seem better adapted for grinding and chewing. They are

also very helpful in making sounds such as f or v.

Lips, Mouth and Tongue

Human lips have more intricate muscle interlacing than is found in other primates and their resulting flexibility certainly helps in making sounds like p or b.

The human mouth is relatively small compared to other primates, can be opened and closed rapidly, and contains a smaller, thicker and more muscular tongue which can be used to shape a wide variety of sounds inside the oral cavity.

In addition, unlike other primates, humans can

close off the airway through the nose to create

more air pressure in the mouth. The overall effect

of these small differences taken together is a face

with more intricate muscle interlacing in the lips

and mouth, capable of a wider range of shapes

and a more rapid and powerful delivery of sounds

produced through these different shapes.

The tool-making source

Other Sources of Language

The tool-making source: As early humans’ hands

became occupied with tool use, they were less able to

use hand gestures, so speech became a necessity

Preferential right-handedness

Lateralized brain: each hemisphere of brain has its

own functions alternatively

Speech and tool-making abilities are very close to

one another in the left hemisphere

Other Sources of Language

The Genetic Source: a crucial genetic mutation arose which gave humans the unique ability to produce and understand language. This means that language is

Innate

Hard-wired like in a computer

Pre-programmed

Universal in form

The innateness hypothesis states that language is endemic to all humans.

Hypotheses Regarding Language Diversity

Was there one or more than one original language? Was there one or more than one “invention” of language?There are approximately 6,300 languages spoken on earth now, and an even greater number spoken in the past

Latin Roman

German

Indian

IranianCeltic

Beltic

6 Primativelanguages

Linguistic DiversityEarly humans first appeared 150,00 years ago

Language first appeared 50,000 years ago

Language is a relatively recent phenomena

All of the original first languages have disappeared

Many more languages were spoken in the past

because humans lived in small tribes (lots of different

languages) rather than in large states (with one

common language)

Linguistic DiversityMonogenesis: mono = “one”

genesis = “birth”

There was a single, original language spoken by a single group of Homo sapiens as early as 50,000 years ago which gave rise to all human languages spoken on earth today.

The Mother Tongue Hypothesis – this original language diverged through time and distance to form many different languages. All of today’s languages descended from this one language.

Out of Africa Theory – General theory of human origin arising in Africa; language may have arisen here as well.

Linguistic Diversity

Polygenesis: poly = “many”

genesis = “birth”

The Candelabra Hypothesis:

The hypothesis of parallel evolution of language in

more than one place and by more than one group

of Homo sapiens. Each of these languages would

have diverged into many forms.

The major language groups of today would be

descended from these separate mother tongues.

Comparative and Anthropological Linguistics

Comparative linguists try to trace the original mother

tongue (or tongues). Scholars compare modern

languages and try to reconstruct ancient ones.

Anthropological linguists see language as a window

into the past. Language changes much more slowly

than the environment in which it is spoken, so you can

learn a lot about the cultural history of the people who

speak a language.

The origin of languageTheories Characteristics Criticism Development

The divine source

(monogenetic)

Suddenly

The natural sound source

(bow-wow/pooh-pooh)

Existence of onomatopoeia Soundless things and

abstract concepts

Produced with intake of

breath

Gradually

The social interaction

source (yo-he-ho)

Early humans lived in

groups

Other primates also live in

groups and use grunts

Gradually

The physical adaptation

source (teeth, lips,

mouth, larynx & pharynx)

There’s evidence for the

evolutionary changes

These changes would not

themselves lead to speech

production

Gradually

The tool-making source

(brain)

Accounts for structural

organisation of language

Gradually

The genetic source

(innateness theory)

Automatic set of

developments in young

children

Suddenly

ANY