2014-05-13
Sources
" Yule, 2006. The study of language. CUP.
 Chapter 1: The origins of language.
Introduction to linguistics
" Fromkin, Victoria, Robert Rodman, Nina
Hyams. 2011. An introduction to language.
 Chapter 1: In the beginning. The origin of
Lecture 12: Origins and development
language, pp. 27-29.
of language
The origins of language 2 main hypotheses
" Spoken language developed approximately
" There is no agreement about the ultimate
between 100,000 and 50,000 years ago.
origin or age of human language.
" Writing was invented about 5,000 years ago.
" That is why there is no evidence about the
1. Belief in divine creation:
speech of our ancestors: there are no theories
 language is the gift of the gods to humans.
about the origins of language but only
hypotheses (beliefs):
 They can t be proven or disproved given the 2. Natural evolution hypothesis:
present knowledge.
 language is an evolutionary development.
The divine source The divine source
" Christianity: in Genesis 2:20 Adam gave names to " The Americas: the only survivirs of a great
all living creatures; in Genesis 11:7-9 At the tower
flood, a man Coxcox and a woman
of Babel God confused people s languages.
Xochiquetzal, had many children. The children
 This belief suggests that humans were created with an
couldn speak until a dove gave them the gift
innate ability to use language.
of language. However, each child received a
 There was only one language at the beginning.
different speech so that they couldn t
" Hinduism: languages grew from the branches of a
understand each other.
knowledge tree that Brahma, the creator-god, cut
off as punishment for its pride.
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The divine source The divine source
" In most religions, a divine source gives language to
" Africa: in the beginning people knew only one
humans.
language but once a great famine happened.
" Over the ages, people carried out experiments to
Hunger made people mad and they wandered in
discover the original, God-given language.
all directions uttering strange words.
" Egyptian pharoah Psamtik I (7th c. BC) thought that if
" Australia: Once there lived an old woman infants grew up in isolation, they would begin to use
the original language.
Wurruri who used to scatter fires around. When
 He let 2 babies grow up in the company of only goats and a
she died, people came to show their joy. They ate
mute shepherd.
her corpse, which caused them to speak different
 The children were believed to have started saying the
languages. Phrygian (Turkey) word bekos (bread)  original lg?
 Yet they probably only imitated the sounds goats made.
 Diversity in language resulted from cannibalism.
The divine source The natural sound source: bow wow
" King James of Scotland (about 1500) did a similar  First words originated as imitations of natural
sounds: if an object was making a cuckoo sound, it
experiment:
was named a  cuckoo
 The children were believed to have started speaking
Hebrew  original lg?  All lgs have onomatopoeic sounds that echo
natural noises.
" 20th century: there have been children who grew
 BUT: such words are a minority;
up in isolation (e.g. Genie), but they didn t learn
" most words name soundless entities, e.g. bring, if, dry,
any language at all.
etc. so they can t be of the bow-wow origin.
" So the divine source hypothesis is impossible to
" Language is more than just naming things.
prove or disprove and the original language is
impossible to reconstruct.
The natural sound source: pooh pooh The social interaction source: yo-he-ho
 The source of lg  the sounds of people working
 Lg developed from people's instinctive sounds
together, involved in physical effort that has to be
caused by pain, anger or other emotions.
coordinated.
 Such interjections are universal.
 Grunts and groans could be the first words.
 BUT: these sounds are produced with sudden
 This hypothesis makes sense because early
intakes of breath, unlike speech sounds  they are
humans lived in groups, which required
not related to speech sounds.
organization.
 Development of lg is placed in a social context.
 BUT: apes also live in groups and produce grunts
but haven't developed speech.
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The physical adaptation source: the
The social interaction source: la-la
hominids
" Homo erectus (spread from
 What initiated language was the romantic side of
Africa to Europe and Asia):
life  sounds associated with love, play, poetic originated 1.8 million years ago,
became extinct 0.5 million years
feelings or even song.
ago.
 hunter-gatherers, made
 BUT: the theory does not explain the rational
tools;
aspects of speech expression.
 able to control fire;
 brain larger than that of their
ancestors;
 the structures of the skull and
neck suggest that they were
probably able to make noises
more complex than the
grunts and screams of
modern apes  some kind of
human-like proto-language?
The physical adaptation source: the
The physical adaptation source
hominids
" Homo Neanderthalensis
" Evolutionary development of humans resulted
(Europe, originated 300,000
years ago, extinct probably in certain physical adaptations that made
40,000 years ago).
speech possible:
 brain larger than that of
modern humans;
 Transition to upright posture made front limbs
 3D x-ray technology showed
free.
that their hyoid bone (kość
gnykowa) is like that of modern
 Adaptations that helped the development of
humans  they could probably
speak.
speech: teeth, lips, mouth, tongue, larynx and
 The origins of language are far
pharynx.
older than it was previously
believed.
The physical adaptation source The tool-making source: oral-gesture
" Teeth: upright and quite even, helpful in making such
" Humans started making
sounds as [f] or [v].
tools and manipulating
" Lips: more flexible, suitable for producing sounds like [p] or
objects using both
[b].
" Mouth and tongue: smaller than those of other primates, hands.
can move faster, can shape a wide variety of sounds.
" Manual gestures may
" Larynx: due to the upright position the larynx is lowered.
have preceded
" Pharynx (cavity above the vocal folds, acts as resonator):
became longer which led to an increased rnge and clarity of language: bringing
sounds.
words together was like
" BUT: certain birds (e.g. parrots) can also produce a variety
bringing two rocks
of sounds; the changes alone would not lead to speech
production. together to make a tool.
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The tool-making source: oral-gesture The genetic source: innateness theory
" The functions for object manipulation and for " All human babies develop in the same way:
speaking are very close to each other in the  At first: small brain, the larynx high in the throat;
left hemishere of the brain  there may have  then changes take place: the brain grow, the larynx
moves lower in the throat.
been an evolutionary connection between
" Even deaf children become fluent users of a sign
the use of tools and the use of language in
language.
early humans.
" These facts led to the claim that humans are
" This hypothesis explains the structural
born with a special capacity for language.
organisation of all languages (including sign
" Perhaps this capacity is genetically hard-wired
languages).
into newborn humans.
The genetic source: innateness theory
" There is a special  language gene (FOXP2) that is
linked to speech and language.
 FOXP2 is also present in chimpanzees, but it differs
slightly from the human one  so it is this tiny
mutation which gives us the ability to develop
language.
" This might mean that language did not result
from a gradual change but happened rather
quickly as a crucial genetic mutation.
" It is not clear when the genetic change happened
or how it may relate to physical adaptation.
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