Chapter

The Origin of Language

1

Introduction

How did language begin? Words don’t leave artifacts behind—writing began
long after language did—so theories of language origins have generally been based
on hunches. For centuries there had been so much fruitless speculation over the
question of how language began that when the Paris Linguistic Society was founded
in 1866, its bylaws included a ban on any discussions of it. The early theories are
now referred to by the nicknames given to them by language scholars fed up with
unsupportable just-so stories.

What I Need to Know

1. Determine the origin of language.

2. Make a concept map of the origin of the language.

What’s New

Let’s Talk About It!

1.What is language?

2.How did language originate?

3.What are the reasons behind the diversity of languages in our present day?

What Is It

What is Language?

Language is one of the best means by which humans communicate.

Importance of language

Language:

 Is everywhere
 permeates our thoughts
 Mediates our relations with others
 Creeps into our dreams And in it,

1
  Human knowledge and culture is stored and transmitted.
 So, without it, all the above points are IMPOSSIBLE!

How and when did language originate?

Most of the Western Linguists & Philosophers believe:

 There was a time when people didn’t have the ability to talk.
 Humans developed language between 100,000 and 50,000 years ago (but,
written language appeared 5000 years ).
 There is no physical evidence about when and how of language in humans
emerged.
 All what is said in this regard is a matter of speculation.

Some of these speculations are from four different sources

1. Divine Source
2. Natural Sound Source
3. Physical Adaptation Source
4. Genetic Source
I. Natural Sound Source
The suggestion of this source is:

 Primitive words could have been imitations of natural sounds which early
men heard around them.
 CAW-CAW sound of flying objects
 COO-COO sound of a flying creature.
 People started to imitate the sounds and named the objects and creatures
with these sounds.

In addition to cuckoo: Splash , Bang , Boom , Rattle , Buzz , Hiss , Roar

1. This is known as bow-wow theory ;Onomatopoetic words

What's wrong with this theory?

Relatively few words are onomatopoeic, and these words vary from one language to
another. For instance, a dog's bark is heard as au au in Brazil, ham ham in Albania, and
wang, wang in China. In addition, many onomatopoeic words are of recent origin, and not
all are derived from natural sounds.

2. Pooh-Pooh Theory

Natural cries of emotion • Pain: Ouch! • Anger: Ah! • disgust: yuck!

 These are produced with intakes of breath

 But normal spoken language is produced when air is exhaled rather than inhaled

What's wrong with this theory?

No language contains very many interjections, and, Crystal points out, "the clicks, intakes of
breath, and other noises which are used in this way bear little relationship to the vowels
and consonants found in phonology."

2
 3. Yo-he-ho theory

According to this theory, language evolved from the grunts, groans, and snorts evoked by
heavy physical labor.

What's wrong with this theory?

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

4. The Ding-Dong Theory

This theory, favored by Plato and Pythagoras, maintains that speech arose in
response to the essential qualities of objects in the environment. The original sounds
people made were supposedly in harmony with the world around them.

What's wrong with this theory?

Apart from some rare instances of sound symbolism, there is no persuasive evidence, in
any language, of an innate connection between sound and meaning.

5. The La-La Theory

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

What's wrong with this theory?

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

6. The ta-ta theory

The idea that speech came from the use of tongue and mouth gestures to mimic manual
gestures. For example, saying ta-ta is like waving goodbye with your tongue. But 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.

II. Physical Adaptation Source Origins of Language

16. Physical Adaptation Source Origins of Language

This source depends on the physical features humans possess, especially those that
are distinct from other creatures

 Human physical features that help language • Human teeth are upright / f, v/
 The lips are made of intricate muscles /p, b/
 The tongue is also helpful.
 Human larynx (voice box: containing vocal cords) pharynx (resonator).
 Human brain: left hemisphere, in most of the people is responsible for
controlling the above organs of speech.

3
III. Genetic Source Origins of Language
The reason why physical adaptation takes place in humans & why deaf and dumb
can be fluent sign language users is answered by supporters of innateness hypothesis
(human offspring are born with a special capacity for language).

• The language capacity is genetically hard- wired in born babies.

IV. Divine Source

In most of the worlds religions language is regarded as a gift from gods to the
humans:

Hinduism: Saraswati (Sarasvati), Brahma’s wife, has given language to humans as a gift.

In Judaism, Christianity and Islam.

Quran :

And He taught Adam the names of all things; then He placed them before the angels, and
said: "Tell me the names of these if ye are right."

He has taught him [man] speech (and intelligence).

Why do people speak different languages if they first had one language?

Christianity: Language diversity is a curse to humanity!

Quran: Language diversity is one sign of God’s Supreme

What’s More

A. In your own opinion and belief, how did language begin?

_________________________________________________________________________________________________
_________________________________________________________________________________________________
_____________________________________________________________________________________________
B. Journal Writing
Talk about your new learning/discoveries. Given the learning you have, what
will you do differently as a would-be teacher? (You may use a separate sheet)
_________________________________________________________________________________________________
_________________________________________________________________________________________________
_________________________________________________________________________________________________
_________________________________________________________________________________________________
_________________________________________________________________________________________________
_________________________________________________________________________________________________
_________________________________________________________________________________________________

What I Can Do

A. Come up with a concept map showing the origin of the language. Be guided
with the given rubric.

4
References:
file:///C:/Users/IBED/Downloads/originoflanguage-171215180045.pdf
https://www.mentalfloss.com/article/48631/6-early-theories-about-origin-language