The Development and

Evolution of
Language Growth
Quitaleg, Karyll Ann
BSED- English Major 2
• Language is a unique hallmark of the
human species. Although many species
can communicate in limited ways about
things that are physically present, only
humans can construct a full narrative
characterization of events occurring
outside of the here and now.

• The religions of the world have interpreted

our unique linguistic endowment as a
Special Gift bestowed directly by the
Creator. Scientists have also been
influenced by this view of language, often
attributing the emergence of this
remarkable species-specific ability to some
single, pivotal salutatory event in human
evolution.
• . As the database of evidence regarding humans' last 6
million years continues to grow, we will be able to
articulate increasingly precise ideas about the
coevolution of language, brain, and social processes.
• To learn language, they depend
on systems of imitation, empathy,
mimesis, play, articulation,
lexicalization, and perspective
switching that have developed
across millions of years.
• According to the old testament, the
Lord gave language to Adam. The
people then grew proud and they built
the Tower of Babel in an attempt to
get closer to heaven. But, the Lord
was vengeful God and he destroyed
the tower. The people scattered and so
did the languages.
• According to Noam Chomsky is
that roughly 90 thousand years
ago, mutation happened in one
individual , he doesn't call that
individual " Adam" , he calls that
individual Prometheus for some
reason known to him.

• From there it spread to all other

people and eventually created all
the languages of the world.
• Charles Darwin argued that
laying any complex organ , like
the language , like the liver or the
heart or the brain must have
evolved through successive
numerous slight modifications ,
and if anybody could find an
exception to that , that would
destroy his theory of evolution.
HOW DO LANGUAGE
EVOLVE ?
• Language developed as the human species evolved.
• Human language can express thoughts , convey information, ask questions
and give orders.
HOW DID
LANGUAGE
BEGIN?
• One theory is that hominids (our
human ancestors) started by
grunting, hooting and crying out.
And this gradually developed into
the language we use today.

• The size of the hominid brain

increase and developed over
time , while chimpanzee brain
remain the same.
• Another theory is that language began as
sign language and then switched to the vocal
modality.

• However, a recent study shows that all

languages in the world evolved from one
prehistoric language , first spoken in Africa
tens of thousands of years ago , and then
spread across the world with the migration
of our ancestors when they left Africa 70,000
years ago.
SO DO
LANGUAGES
STAY THE SAME
OVER THE
GENERATIONS?
• Generation by generation, pronunciations evolve, new words are
borrowed or invented, the meaning of old words drifts, and
morphology develops or decays.
How and why does Language change?
ROUTES TO LANGUAGE
CHANGE

Language Learning:
- Language is transformed as it is
Language Contact:
transmitted from one generation to
- Migration, conquest and trade
the next. Each individual must re-
bring speakers of one language into
create a grammar and lexicon based
contact with speakers of another
on input received from parents,
language.
older siblings and other members of
the speech community.
 Social Differentiation:
- Social groups adopt distinctive norms of dress,
adornment, gesture and so forth; language is part
of the package.
ROUTES TO
LANGUAGE
Natural Processes in Usage:
CHANGE - Rapid or casual speech naturally produces
processes such as assimilation, dissimilation,
syncope and apocope. Through repetition,
particular cases may become conventionalized, and
therefore produced even in slower or more careful
speech.
The Analogy with Evolution via Natural
Selection

• Analogy means : a comparison of two otherwise unlike things based on

resemblance of a particular aspect.

• Natural Selection means: a natural process that results in the survival

and reproductive success of individuals or groups best adjusted to their
environment and that leads to the perpetuation of genetic qualities best
suited to that particular environment.

- Merriam Webster
The Analogy with Evolution
via Natural Selection

• To make the analogy work, we need a pool of individuals with varying

traits, as well as a mechanism of replication that produces new
individuals whose traits are determined by their "parents." Darwin
himself made a parallel between the development of species and the
evolution of languages while creating the concept of species evolution by
natural selection.
 Language allows us to share our thoughts, ideas,
emotions, and intention with others. Over thousands of
years, humans have developed a wide variety of systems
to assign specific meaning to sounds, forming words and
systems of grammar to create languages. Many languages
developed written forms using symbols to visually record
their meaning. Some languages, like American Sign
Language (ASL), are an entirely visual language without
the need for vocalizations.
 Some languages are incredibly old and have changed very little over
time, such as modern Icelandic, which strongly resembles its parent, Old
Norse.

Still ,other languages die out due to political oppression or social

assimilation, though many dying languages live on in the vocabularies and
dialects of prominent languages around the world.

MacWhinney, B. (2005). Language Evolution and Human Development. In B. J. Ellis & D. F.

Bjorklund (Eds.), Origins of the social mind: Evolutionary psychology and child development
(pp. 383–410). Guilford Press.
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