THE ORIGIN OF LANGUAGE & LG FEATURES

Dolly Ramos G

Time Magazine 1994

No single difference separates human beings

from other animals

How did speech come about? • Age 4: oral speech & ability to communicate• Age 6. comprehend & express written lg (13,000)

Science is insufficient/sufficient

No exact # (6889).

Colombia

65 to 68 indig Lg2 Creols

It has not

evolve in other species

Neurons/

anatomy

Unique to

humanS

How many languageless communities have you heard of?

Atlas of LanguageNO LAGUAGELESS COMMUNITY HAS EVER BEEN FOUND

founded in 1866Banned 1866

That is an amazing admission of defeat

Not only theory but physical

Linguistic Society of Paris

“make the problem go away”

Some Lg Theories

Strange labels were given to nineteenth century attempts to explain the origin of lg

The early theories are now referred to by the nicknames given to them by

language scholars fed up with unsupportable just-so stories

Theory What's wrong with this theory

THE BOW-WOW

Ancestors imitating the natural sounds..

few words are onomatopoeicwords vary Lg another. (a dog's bark)Onomatopoeic recent Do not derived from natural sounds.

THE DING-DONG

by Plato and Pythagoras: the essential qualities of objects in the environment.

Apart from some rare instances of sound symbolism, there's no evidence of an innate connection between sound and meaning.

Theory What's wrong with this theory?

THE LA-LA The linguist Otto Jespersen suggested that language may have developed from sounds associated with love, play, and (especially) song

As David Crystal notes (Penguin, 2005), this theory still fails to account for "the gap between the emotional and the rational aspects of speech expression."

THE POOH-POOH

This theory holds that speech began with interjections-cries of pain ("Ouch!"), surprise ("Oh!"), and other emotions ("Yabba dabba do!").

No language contains very many interjections, and, Crystal points out,

Theory What's wrong with this theory?

The Yo-He-Ho In this theory language evolved from the grunts, groans, and snorts evoked by heavy physical labor.

Though this notion may account for some of the rhythmic features of language, it doesn't go very far in explaining where words come from.

THE TA-TA Mouth gestures to mimic manual gestures. For example, saying ta-ta is like waving goodbye with your tongue.

Most of the things we talk about do not have characteristic gestures associated with them, much less gestures you can imitate with the tongue and mouth.

THE BRAIN•The Ape•Linguistic research & neurological studies•Neuronal network/ anatomical components

THE BIBLE•Adam and Eva•His own image•The tower of Babel/The same lg•Different Communities spread

Theories of the origin of language

The Brain (Damage) • THE BROCA AREA

1861, Paul Broca – Left frontal cortex– Can understand lg

• Unable to prod speech• Words not formed properly

(baby talk)

• WERNICKE AREA1876, Carl Wernicke Back - – temporal lobe– words not made no sense

patients with damage to Broca’s area can

understand language, they generally are unable to produce

speech

Damage to Wernicke’s area results in a loss of

the ability to understand language

The complexity of language

Only human behavior• Design of new language• Grammar• Makes words• Pronunciation• Ability to learn 10 words per day

Brad Hurrub 2003

The Bible

• “Let Us make man in Our image, according to Our likeness;” ... So God created man in His own image; in the image of God He created him; male and female He created them’ (Genesis 1:26-27).

The most acceptable theory

References

• http://grammar.about.com/od/grammarfaq/a/Where-Does-Language-Come-From.htmhttp://grammar.about.com/od/grammarfaq/a/Where-Does-Language-Come-From.htm

• http://www.trueorigin.org/language01.asp•

http://mentalfloss.com/article/48631/6-early-theories-about-origin-language#ixzz2d2B6Qs4O