18. Origins of language (Star Wars Theme)

• The Sing-song theory by Otto Jespersen

Language comes out of play, laughter, cooing, courtship, emotional mutterings and the like. Our first words were most probably long and musical, rather than the short grunts many assume we started with.

• The La-la theory by Jespersen

Language may have developed from sounds associated with love, play, and--especially--song.

• The Bow-wow theory

Language began as imitations of natural sounds -- moo, choo-choo, crash, clang, buzz, bang, meow...  This is more technically referred to as onomatopoeia or echoism.

• The pooh-pooh theory

Language began with interjections, instinctive emotive cries such as oh! for surprise [pooh! for teddy-bears] and ouch! for pain.

• The yo-he-ho theory by A. S. Diamond

Language began as rhythmic chants, perhaps ultimately from the grunts of heavy work (heave-ho!).  These were perhaps calls for assistance or cooperation accompanied by appropriate gestures.  This may relate yo-he-ho to the ding-dong theory, as in such words as cut, break, crush, strike...

• The ding-dong theory by Max Muller

Some people have pointed out that there is a rather mysterious correspondence between sounds and meanings.  Small, sharp, high things tend to have words with high front vowels in many languages, while big, round, low things tend to have round back vowels!  Compare itsy bitsy teeny weeny with moon, for example.  This is often referred to as sound symbolism.

• The ta-ta theory by Sir Richard Paget

The body movement preceded language.  Language began as an unconscious vocal imitation of these movements -- like the way a child's mouth will move when they use scissors, or my tongue sticks out when I try to play the guitar.  This evolved into the popular idea that language may have derived from gestures.

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