The origins of language 1.The natural-sound source:1. ‘Bow-wow theory’ of language origin: Formation of words by imitating (echoing) natural sound (onomatopoeia) – bow wow, cawcaw, cuckoo, buzz, hiss, rattle, screech, etc. – how about soundless objects – stone, wood – abstract ideas – truth, happiness – language is not simply a set of words used as ‘names’ for entities.2. ‘Yo – heave – ho’ theory of language origin: Sounds made by persons involved in physical efforts – grunts, groans, swear words – indicating that language developed in social context – but does not shed light on the origin of the sounds produced – apes have grunts and socialcalls, but have not developed the capacity for speech. Natural cries of emotions as source of language: Emotional cries of pain, joy, sorrow, disgust, etc. – expressed in words, such as ouch, wow, ah, yuck, etc. – interjections (expressive noises) seem to be unlikely candidate as source of language sounds.2. The oral-gesture source:Oral gesture theory – a link between physical gesture and oral gesture – originally a set of physical gestures (pantomimes – representing actions, characters, moods, etc.) were developed for (nonverbal) communication – then oral gestures (movements of tongue, lips, etc.) were recognized according to patterns of movements similar to physical gestures – movement of tongue representing waving of hand in a ‘goodbye’ message – called ‘a specialized pantomime of the tongue and lips’ – hard to visualize oral gestures that can mimic various physical gestures or vice-versa.3. Glossogenetics:Focuses on the biological basis of the formation and development of human language – transition to upright posture – bipedal (two-legged) locomotion – revised roll for the hands – differences between the skull of a gorilla and a Neanderthal man (around 60, 000 B.C.) – Neanderthals could have made some consonant-like sound distinctions – reconstructed fossilized skeletons of about 35,000 B.C. resemble modern humans – there was partial adaptation of certain physical features – that appears relevant for speech.4. Physiological adaptation:Teeth: upright, roughly even in height – lips: more intricate muscle interlacing than in other primates – very flexible – mouth: relatively small – open / close rapidly – tongue: very complex muscular structure – very flexible –larynx: the voice box contains vocal cord (folds) – lower in humans – pharynx: cavity above larynx – can act as resonator – brain: lateralized in humans – each of the two brain hemispheres has specialized function – analytical functions, such as tool using and language largely confined to the left hemisphere for most humans – 1. Ability to name objects – 2. Combining naming words to build complex messages. 5. Interaction and transaction:1. Interaction: Use of language to interact with one another, socially or emotionally – to indicate friendliness, co-operation, hostility, annoyance, pain, pleasure.2. Transaction: Transfer of knowledge, skills, information form one generation to the next– through spoken and written language.