The origins of language

Phuong Dang

The desire to explore the origins of language

When did language start?

• Spoken language: between 100,000 and 50,000 years ago

• Written language: about 5,000 years ago

Where did language come from?

• Difference speculations and hypotheses

– The divine source

– The natural sound source

– The social interaction source

– The physical adaptation source

– The tool-making source

Hypothesis 1: God’s gift to mankind

• Christian beliefs: God gave Adam the power to name all things

• Egyptian beliefs: the god Thoth

• Babylonian beliefs: the god Nabu

• Hindu beliefs: Sarasvati, Brahma’s wife (Brahma is the creator of the universe)

Hypothesis 1: ExperimentsResearcher Participants Method Result Conclusion

Psammetichus(the Egyptian pharaoh)2,500 years ago

two newborn babies

be isolated for two years; live with goats and a mute shepherd

spontaneously utter the Phrygian word ‘bekos’ meaning‘bread’

Phrygian wasthe original language.

King James the Fourth of Scotlandin 1,500

newbornbabies

be isolated Spontaneously utter Hebrew words

Hebrew wasthe first language

The Holy Roman Emperor Frederick II of Hohenstaufen

newborn babies

be isolated The participants died before the end of the experiment.

Refutation: the story of feral children

Hypothesis 1: The first language

• J. G. Becanus (16th century): German – “the most perfect language”

• Noah Webster (1830): Chaldee (Aramaic) – the language spoken in Jerusalem during the Roman occupation

• Joseph Elkins (1887): “there is no other language which can be more reasonably assumed to be the speech first used in the world’s gray morning than can Chinese”

• “the Lord did there confound the language of all the earth” (Genesis 11:9)

The tower of Babel

Hypothesis 2: The natural sound source

• Primitive words could have been the imitations of natural sounds which early men and women heard around them

The “bow-wow theory” (a dog would be designated by the word ‘bow-wow’ because of the sounds of his bark)

- The earliest forms of language are imitative

- Onomatopoeia words are echoic to natural sounds

Ex: cuckoo, splash, bang, boom, rattle, buzz, hiss, etc.

Refutation: the soundless things & abstract concepts

Hypothesis 2: Natural cries of emotions

• Natural cries of emotion such as pain, anger or joy.

• Ex: Ouch!; Ooh!; Wow!; Yuck!; Oops!

Refutation:Expressive noises are not used in speech production

Hypothesis 3: The social interaction source

• The sounds of a person involved in physical effort could be the source of language

the “yo-he-yo” theory

• A set of hums, grunts, groans and curses

• The development of human language in a social context the need of communication

• Refutation: apes and other primates live in social groups but do not seem to develop the speech capacity.

Hypothesis 4: The physical adaptation source

• 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

Reconstructed vocal tract• Upright & even teeth;

• Flexible lips thanks to more intricate muscle

• Smaller mouth open & close quickly

• Thicker & more muscular tongue shape different sounds in the oral cavity

• The ability to close off the airway through the nose to create more air pressure in the mouth

• Lower larynx and then longer pharynx increase the range and clarity of the sounds

Hypothesis 5: The tool-making source• The brain is

lateralized or has specialized functions.

• Complex vocalization & object manipulation are close to each other.

• Evolutionary connection btw the language-using & tool-using abilities.

Hypothesis 5: The tool-making source

• Refutation:

– The tool-making process is not enough to develop human language

– Human beings may have developed the ability to name things and build complex messages.

Hypothesis 6: The genetic source

• Human beings are born with the innate capacity for language.

The innateness hypothesis

- pre-programmed or hard-wired language

- “Language gene” – something in human genetics, possibly a crucial mutation is the source of language