THE ORIGIN OF LANGUAGE

Milana Vulin

Jovana Rubežić

How and when did we first start using language?

Ancient timesAlthough the previous image may seem as a

fun solution to the pending question, our ancestors had a somewhat different idea.

For example, both the Egyptians and Babylonians believed that language came to them as a gift from the gods.

The story in the Bible does not differ much, as it is stated that God gave Adam the power to name things. Not much later, Adam had assigned a name to everything in existence.

The biblical story gives us some more detail as to the development of language, mainly through the story of The Babel Tower. It is believed that one god-given language ceased to exist when human beings began building The Tower of Babel against God’s wishes. As a punishment, he made them speak a number of varying languages which would later on spread across the Globe.

The Hebrew Bible

The Greeks had their own thoughts on the matter, as well. A particularly interesting idea came from Plato (in his “Cratylus”). He proposed that it was the Ancient Legislator who gave names to objects.

The Greeks

India In India, a myth tells that language

came into being by the punishment of a proud tree, by the creator-god Brahma. “There grew in the centre of the earth the wonderful `world tree,' or `knowledge tree.' It was so tall that it reached almost to heaven. It said in its heart, `I shall hold my head in heaven and spread my branches over all the earth, and gather all men together under my shadow, and protect them, and prevent them from separating.’ But Brahma, to punish the pride of the tree, cut off its branches and cast them down on the earth, when they sprang up as wata trees, and made differences of belief and speech and customs to prevail on the earth, to disperse men upon its surface.”

Mesoamerica According to the Aztecs, only a

man, Coxcox, and a woman, Xochiquetzal, survived the Great Flood, having floated on a piece of bark. They found themselves on land and gave birth to numerous children who were at first born unable to speak, but, upon the arrival of a dove were endowed with language, although each one was given a different speech, so that they could not understand one another.

The Greek historian Herodotus wrote of an experiment carried out by an Egyptian pharaoh, Psammetichus, in the 7th century BC. Two infants were given to a mute shepherd so their first words would be from the oldest language. The first word they uttered was “bekos” (bread in Phrygian), so the Egyptians came to a conclusion that Phrygian was the oldest language. Interestingly enough, A Scottish king, James IV had a similar idea in the 15th century AD, although the result of his experiment was that Hebrew was the first language.

The first attempts at a more “scientific” approach

The 18th and 19th Century

As these two centuries were a consistent follow-up to the rationalism of the 16th century and are known as the Age of Enlightenment and Romaticism, more serious attempts to explain the origin of language were made.

The Natural Cries TheoryA French philosopher, Jean Jacques Rousseau

established the so called “Natural Cries” theory. He believed that primitive men uttered these cries and made gestures in order to communicate with other men. As the cries grew more efficient, they developed into language, using sounds for communication

Otherwise known as the “pooh-pooh theory”

Language as an Instrument of Human Thought In 1769, the Prussian Academy offered a

reward for the essay which best explained the origin of language. A German philosopher and poet, Johann Gottfried von Herder won the prize with his hypothesis that language was inseparable from thought- it is an instrument of human thought. He was opposed to both the theory of a god-given language and Rousseau’s theory. language is an internal part of human nature and human beings are born with the ability to think and speak.

English grammarianHis most famous work is called “Hermes”

or “Philosophical inquiry concerning universal grammar”, published in 1751.

In this work, he introduced the idea that God gave people the ability to form ideas which they then expressed in words.

James Harris

Connects the theory of evolution with the development of language

The idea that language was created in one moment is therefore refuted

Darwin came to the conclusion that language is created during a long process of gradual and slow changes rather than instantenously

Charles Darwin

Supports Darwin’s theory and points out that the anatomy of human body has an influence on its ability to produce sounds

He conducted a comparison between the pharynx of an infant, a Neanderthal man, a chimpanzee and an adult man

Concluded that the pharynx of an adult man differs from others and that the Neanderthal man could produce the same sounds as an infant whose pharynx and anatomy are still not completely developed

Liberman

A Russian linguist who was known for his Japhetic theory of the origin of language

According to this theory all the languages of the world descended from a single proto-language which had consisted of four "diffused exclamations": sal, ber, yon, rosh

The theory was official for a certain period of time, but soon abolished as anti-Marxist

Nicholas Yakovlevich Marr

Danish linguistHis point of view was that one of the early

urges that man possessed was an urge to express his feelings

Thus, language developed from the songs and utterances expressing man’s emotional states and became means of satisfying one’s expressive strivings.

Known as the “sing-song theory”

Otto Jespersen

Famous for his work “Human Speech”Created a theory, known as the “ta-ta

theory” that language developed from "pantomimic action" of the lips and tongue and unconscious movements of organs of speech

According to him hand signs and gestures were the original form of human communication, and vocal communication appeared because their "hands were full“ and engaged in different activities

Sir Richard Paget

British anthropologistEstablished the “gossip” theoryHe points out that the majority of people’s

conversations are devoted to gathering news about other people - gossiping.

For Dunbar, language developed from the human need to exchange information about their social environment: who is trustworthy or who has made alliances with whom (gossip).

Robert Dunbar

Soviet neuropsychologistHis thesis was connected with Marxist

theories and the glorification of work and it is known as the “yo-heave-ho theory”.

According to him, the process of work and sounds produced meanwhile contributed to development of language.

Alexander Luria

French sociologistAccording to his theory, humans are first

and foremost political animals. People had to form alliances, or to accept the truth of something that was not happening before their eyes.

Thus language emerged from man’s political purposes to choose allies within groups whose social structures were becoming more and more complex.

Jean Louis Dessalles

Modern anthropologists assert the close connection between the evolution and the development of language.

According to them, physical development of the man influenced the development of language.

The turning point happened when man started to walk in an upright position, which also changed the position of speech organs and therefore enhanced their functioning.

Contemporary theories

Regardless of various theories about the origin of language, another question arises:Does language originate from one or more than one centers (proto-languages)?

Monogenesis – is the idea of a single linguistic origin

Polygenesis – is the idea of multiple linguistic origins

Language Diversity

Different beliefs as to the development of language:1.http

://thebrain.mcgill.ca/flash/d/d_10/d_10_s/d_10_s_lan/d_10_s_lan.html

2.http://pandora.cii.wwu.edu/vajda/ling201/test1materials/origin_of_language.htm

Cognitive development of language:http://

en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Origin_of_language#Cognitive_development_and_language

Myths on the origin of language:http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mythical_origins_of_languageWorkbookLesson notes

References

Thank you for your attention!

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