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Origins of Language

The document discusses different theories on the origins of human language, including that it arose from divine intervention, imitation of natural sounds, social interaction, physical adaptations in the vocal tract, tool-making abilities, or genetic factors. It analyzes each theory and their limitations, noting that the exact origins remain unclear but likely involved multiple evolutionary factors.

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9 views

Origins of Language

The document discusses different theories on the origins of human language, including that it arose from divine intervention, imitation of natural sounds, social interaction, physical adaptations in the vocal tract, tool-making abilities, or genetic factors. It analyzes each theory and their limitations, noting that the exact origins remain unclear but likely involved multiple evolutionary factors.

Uploaded by

tulinh.dinh2906
Copyright
© © All Rights Reserved
We take content rights seriously. If you suspect this is your content, claim it here.
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Download as PDF, TXT or read online on Scribd
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THE ORIGINS OF LANGUAGE

CHAPTER 1
DIFFERENT BELIEFS

1. Christian tradition:

2. Tower of Babel:
DIFFERENT BELIEFS
1960s – Noam Chomsky
 Innate biological endowment

Baker (1979) – a Chomskyan linguist


“an adult native speaker of a language knows things he could not have learnt
from the samples of speech he has heard; since this knowledge is not based
on his experience of the world, it must come from some property inside his
own mind.”
THE SOURCES OF LANGUAGE

1 The divine source

2 The natural sound source

3 The social interaction source

4 The physical adaptation source

5 The tool-making source

6 The genetic source


1. THE DIVINE SOURCE

 Without hearing any languages, human infants would begin using


God-given language.

 Experiment from Egyptian pharaoh named Psammetichus (or


Psamtik)

 Experiment from King James the Fourth of Scotland


Hypothesis 1: Experiments
Researcher Participants Method Result Conclusion
Psammetichus (the two newborn be isolated for two spontaneously utter Phrygian was the
Egyptian pharaoh) babies years; live with the Phrygian word original language.
2,500 years ago goats and a mute ‘bekos’ meaning
shepherd ‘bread’

King James the newborn babies be isolated Spontaneously utter Hebrew was the
Fourth of Scotland Hebrew words first language
in 1,500

The Holy Roman newborn babies be isolated The participants died before the end of the
Emperor Frederick II experiment.
of Hohenstaufen

Refutation: the story of feral children


2. THE NATURAL SOUND SOURCE

the bow-wow theory


the pooh-pooh theory
THE BOW WOW THEORY

 Early humans tried to imitate the sounds and then used them to
refer to those objects.
 All modern languages have some words with pronunciations that
seem to echo naturally occurring sounds.
 Examples: bow-wow, moo, baa, oink, cock-a-doodle-doo
THE BOW-WOW THEORY
Onomotopoeia: words that sound similar to the noise they describe

Examples:

• Dog: Bow-wow (English), wu-wu (Chinese), wan-wan (Japanese), gaf-gaf


(Russian)

• Cat: meow (English), mao (Chinese), nya-nya (Japanese)

• Pig: oink-oink (English), hryu-hryu (Russian), oh-ee-oh-ee (Chinese)


ANIMAL SOUNDS IN KOREAN

 https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LvuEVCmJ0GU

Limitation: how to name silent subjects?


THE POOH-POOH THEORY
 First words came from involuntary exclamations of dislike, hunger,
pain or pleasure, eventually leading to the expression of more
developed ideas and emotions.

 Example: Ouch!, Ah!, Phew!, Wow!, Yuck!


Refutation:
Expressive noises are not used in speech production
3. THE SOCIAL INTERACTION SOURCE

the yo-he-yo hypothesis


3. THE SOCIAL INTERACTION SOURCE

 Language developed on the basis of human cooperative efforts

 The earliest language was chanting to simulate collective effort.

 First poetry and song came from this aspect of beginning speech

▪ Examples: Volga boatmen, military marching chants, seven dwarfs


working song…
Question:
Apes and other primates live in groups?
Why don’t they develop languages?
4. THE PHYSICAL ADAPTATION SOURCE

Teeth and lips


Mouth and tongue
Larynx and pharynx
TEETH AND LIPS

 Human teeth are upright and roughly even in

height => /f, v/

 Human lips have much more intricate muscle

interlacing => /b, p, m/


MOUTH AND TONGUE

 The human mouth is fairly small => can open and close quickly
 The tongue is shorter, thicker and more muscular
 Unlike other primates, humans can close off the airway through the
nose to create more air pressure in the mouth

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=M2OdAp7MJAI
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-XGds2GAvGQ
LARYNX AND PHARYNX

➢Larynx or “voice box”:


containing the vocal folds or
vocal cords
➢Pharynx: a resonator for
increased range and clarity of
the sounds produced via the
larynx and the vocal tract
Distinct physical features of human beings
support speech production
Transition to an upright posture
Bipedal locomotion
Revised role for the front limbs
Reconstructed vocal tract
Human brain
5. THE TOOL MAKING SOURCE

 Tool-making, or the outcome of manipulating objects and


changing them using both hands, is evidence of a brain at
work.

 Human brain: left hemisphere and right hemisphere

 Left hemisphere: complex vocalization (speaking) and object

manipulation (making or using tools)


6. THE GENETIC SOURCE

 Young baby’s brain: ¼ of adult’s brain


 Larynx: higher
 => A baby can drink and breathe at the same time
 Changes happen: brain gets bigger and larynx descends => up-right
position
 Children are born with the special capacity for language: innateness
hypothesis
 Refutation:
Thetool-making process is not enough to
develop human language
Human beings may have developed the ability
to name things and build complex messages.
REVIEW QUESTIONS
1. Why are interjections such as Ooh! or Yuck! considered to be unlikely sources
of human speech sounds?
2. What is the basic idea behind the “bow-wow” theory of language origin?
3. Why is it difficult to agree with Psammetichus that Phrygian must have been
the original human language?
4. Why do you think that young deaf children who become fluent in sign
language would be cited in support of the innateness hypothesis?
5. With which of the six “sources” would you associate the following quotation?
Chewing, licking and sucking are extremely widespread mammalian activities,
which, in terms of casual observation, have obvious similarities with speech.

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