CHAPTER 1

The Origins of Language

Origins of Language

The Divine Source

The Social Interaction Source

The Tool-Making Source

The Natural Sound Source

The Physical Adaptation Source

The Genetic Source

The Origins of Language

We simply don’t know how language originated. We do know that the ability to produce sound and simple vocal patterning appears to be in an ancient part of the brain.
Some type of spoken language must have developed between 100,000 and 50,000 years ago.
Before written language (about 5,000 years ago).
We never find any direct evidence or artifacts relating to the speech of our distant ancestors that might tell us how language was back in the early stages.
Perhaps because of this absence of direct physical evidence, there has been no shortage of speculation about the origins of human speech.

The Divine Source

The basic hypothesis seems to have been that, the original God-given language.

2 experiments: King James the Fourth of Scotland and The Greek writer Herodotus prove the basic hypothesis that god-given language seems to be real. 👍

King James the Fourth of Scotland

"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."

The Greek writer Herodotus

"The children may not have picked up this “word” from any human source, but as several commentators have pointed out, they must have heard what the goats were saying."

But experiment: the Mogul emperor Akbar the Great proves the basic hypothesis that god-given language is not real.👎

The Mogul emperor Akbar the Great

"He arranged for newborn babies to be raised in silence, only to find that the children produced no speech at all, and when isolated kids and young kids having no access to human languages develop no languages at all."

The Natural Sound Source

The "Bow -Wow" Theory

The early human -> imtale the sound heard -> refer ro the particular object

Ex: coo-coo, meow, wolf,...

=> Splash, bang, boom, rattle, buzz, hiss, screech and bow-wow.

Words that sound similar to the noises they describe are examples of onomatopeia.
Onomatopeia: words similar to natural sounds true for some words in all languages.
Those words vary in different languages.

We might also be rather skeptical about a view that seems to assume that a language is only a set of words used as “names” for things.

-> pronunciations of all modern-language words seem to echo naturally

The "Bow -Wow" Theory

-> how most of soundless things as well as abstract concepts echoed natural sounds

The "Pooh-Pooh" Theory

Speech developed from the instinctive sounds people make in emotional circumstances.

+ The noises that we make whether we are in any state of emotion such as anger, pain, sadness, or joy.

We normally produce spoken language as we breathe out, so we speak while we exhale, not inhale. In other words, 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.

-> Ouch! has painful connotations

But Ouch! and other interjections such as Ah!, Ooh!, Phew!, Wow! or Yuck! are usually produced with sudden intakes of breath, which is the opposote of irdinary talk.

The Social Interaction Source

Another proposal involving natural sounds was nicknamed the “yo-he-ho” theory

The idea is that the sounds of a person involved in physical effort could be the source of our language, especially when that physical effort involved several people and the interaction had to be coordinated.
A group of early humans might develop 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.

The Social Interaction Source

“yo-he-ho” theory

STRENGTHEN

Groups are necessarily social organizations and, to maintain those organizations, some form of communication is required, even if it is just grunts and curses

AGAINST

It does not, however, reveal the origins of the sounds produced. Apes and other primates live in social groups and use grunts and social calls, but they have not developed the capacity for speech.

The Physical Adaptation Source

We can look at the types of physical features humans possess, especially those that may have supported speech productionproduction.

The main difference between 4-legged and 2-legged creaturescreatures, according to Hurfor is the relationship between the rhythm of breathing and the rhythm of walking.
It has been calculated that “human breathing while speaking is about 90% exhalation with only about 10% of time saved for quick in-breaths”

The Physiacal Adaption Source

Teeth and Lips

Human teeth: upright; animals': outwards and much smaller

-> very helpful in making sounds such as for v.

- Human lips: more flexible - helps in making sounds like p, b, and m.

Mouth and Tongue

• The human mouth: small compared to other primates; can be opened and closed rapidly

• Humans' tongue: shorter, thicker and more muscular -> to shape a wide variety of sounds inside the oral cavity.

Larynx and Pharyxn

Primates' and human infants' larynx: shorter.
Larynx begins to develop - grow longer -> human speech or linguistic development.

The Physical Adaptation Source

STRENGTHEN

Physical features of humans may have supported speech production.

-> Posture upright

-> Mouth and structure -> Lips, flexible tougue, teeth not sharp, small mouth.

-> Pharynx and vocal folds

AGAINST

→ evolutionary development -> certain physical features found in other primates which would not guarantee speech.

Parrot

The Tool-Making Source

In the physical adaptation view, one function (producing speech sounds) must have been superimposed on existing anatomical features (teeth, lips) previously used for other purposes (chewing, sucking). A similar development is believed to have taken place with human hands and some believe that manual gestures may have been a precursor of language

By about two million years ago, there is evidence that humans had developed preferential right-handedness.
Manipulating objects + speaking ability: left hemisphere of the brain.

STRENGTHEN

Human's brain: 2 different hemispheres -> different functions.

-> control the motor movements involved in complex vocalization (speaking) and object manipulation (making or using tools) are very close to each other in the left hemisphere of the brain.

=> Human beings must have organized some sounds to make a word just like they use different materials to make a tool ???

AGAINST

Tool-making source -> unable to provide the structural organization of language

The Genetic Source

born-deaf children > fluent sign language users => human offspring with a special capacity for language.

Deaf kids > acquire sign languages = a computer

Study Questions

Before written language (about 5,000 years ago).
The human auditory system is already functioning before birth (at around seven months).
Human breathing while speaking is about 90% exhalation with only about 10% of time saved for quick in-breaths”
The human larynx or “voice box” (containing the vocal folds) differs significantly in position from the larynx of other primates.
But Ouch! and other interjections such as Ah!, Ooh!, Phew!, Wow! or Yuck! are usually produced with sudden intakes of breath, which is the opposite of ordinary talk. We normally produce spoken language as we breathe out, so we speak while we exhale, not inhale. In other words, the expressive noises people make in emotional reactions contain sounds that are not otherwise used in speech production.
The "bow-wow" theory suggests that language originated from imitations of natural sounds, such as animal cries.
Psammetichus' experiment, in which two infants were isolated from human contact and raised by goats, was flawed. The results were unreliable and did not provide conclusive evidence about the origin of language.
In the course of human physical development, the assumption of an upright posture moved the head more directly above the spinal column and the larynx dropped to a lower position. This created a longer cavity called the pharynx, above the vocal folds, which acts as a resonator for increased range and clarity of the sounds produced via the larynx.
Even children who are born deaf (and do not develop speech) become fluent sign language users, given appropriate circumstances, very early in life. This seems to indicate that human offspring are born with a special capacity for language. It is innate, no other creature seems to have it and it is not tied to a specific variety of language.
This quotation would most likely be associated with the "oral-motor source" theory, which suggests that language originated from the movements involved in eating and drinking.

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