LIN1102E.

Introduction to Session 1
Linguistics
 Course name: Introduction to
Linguistics

Course Coursebook: Yule, G. (2014).

overview The study of language (5th ed.).
Cambridge University Press.

Instructor: Nguyen Thi Quyen (

quyennt@uef.edu.vn)
 Assessment method

On-going 1. Attendance (10%) 30%

assessment 2. Pair/Group presentation (10%)
3. Regular quizzes (10%)
Mid-term test Multiple choice questions + gap fill 20%
(60 mins)
Final test Multiple choice questions 50%
(60 mins)  
General rules
Don’t be late on Quiz day!

If you show up 30 minutes after class starts and do so for 3 times,

that will be counted as 1 absence.

Group presentation day: Don’t be late; check equipment properly

Chapter 1
By the end of the lessons, you will be able to
• understand different theories/
speculations as to how language originates
• evaluate the reliability of those
theories/speculations
The divine source

The natural sound source

The social interaction source

The physical adaptation source

The tool-making source

The genetic source

The divine source

The natural sound source

The social interaction source

The physical adaptation source

The tool-making source

The genetic source

The divine source
• A divine source gives language to the humans.
• Experiments carried out to rediscover this God given
language: If infants grow up isolated from human
languages, they will begin to use the original God
given language.
• ☛ What’s wrong: Children discovered living in
isolation grow up speaking no language at all.
• ☛ Divine source is impossible to prove/disprove, and
the first language is impossible to construct The Tower of Babel (Genesis 11:1-9)
The divine source

The natural sound source

The social interaction source

The physical adaptation source

The tool-making source

The genetic source

The natural sound source
• Bow-wow theory: language began when our ancestors started
imitating the natural sounds around them. The first speech was
onomatopoeic (echoic words such as moo moo, splash)
☛ What’s wrong: Few words are onomatopoeic, and these vary
among languages (e.g. achoo vs. hắt xì).
☛ Criticisms: How would soundless things and abstract concepts
have been referred to? Language is more than only a set of names.
• Pooh-Pooh theory: language began with interjections –
spontaneous cries of emotion.
☛ What’s wrong: Interjections are usually produced with sudden
intakes of breath, which is the opposite of natural language.
The divine source

The natural sound source

The social interaction source

The physical adaptation source

The tool-making source

The genetic source

The social interaction source
• Yo-he-ho theory: language arouse out of
rhythmical grunts of people working together,
involved in physical effort that had to be
coordinated.
• This theory makes sense as early humans must
have lived in groups, requiring some forms of
communication  development of language
placed in a social context
☛ Criticisms: Apes and other primates also live in
groups and use grunts without having developed
the capacity for speech.
The divine source

The natural sound source

The social interaction source

The physical adaptation source

The tool-making source

The genetic source

The physical adaptation source
• Distinct physical features of human support speech production
Transition to an upright posture – Bipedal locomotion
Revised role for the front limbs – Reconstructed vocal tract
Human brain
• Upright & even teeth: helpful in making dental sounds /f/ /v/
• Lips with intricate muscle interlacing: increased flexibility => useful in
making bilabial sounds /p/ /b/ /m/
The physical adaptation source
• Smaller mouth: open and close quickly (more sounds can be
produced in shorter time); L-shaped vocal tract rather than front-to-
back tract in other primates  varied sounds
• Thicker and more muscular tongue: shape different sounds in the
oral cavity
• The ability to close off the airway through the nose to create more
air pressure in the mouth  increase pitch and loudness.
The physical adaptation source
LARYNX and PHARYNX
• Larynx is “voice box” in your throat containing the vocal folds or vocal cords.
• Due to upright position, head moved directly above the spinal column and larynx
dropped to a lower position.
• As a result, the pharynx (cavity above
the vocal folds, acts as resonator
became longer => increased range and
clarity of sounds.
• Consequence: easily choke on food 
Presumably the communicative
benefits outweighed the physiological
costs.
The divine source

The natural sound source

The social interaction source

The physical adaptation source

The tool-making source

The genetic source

The tool-making source
• HANDS: Humans developed preferential right-
handedness
• BRAIN: lateralized or has specialized functions.
• Complex vocalization & object manipulation are close
to each other (lateralization).
• Evolutionary connection between the language-using
& tool-using abilities.
☛ Criticisms
The tool-making process is not enough to develop
human language.
Human beings may have developed the ability to
name things and build complex messages.
The divine source

The natural sound source

The social interaction source

The physical adaptation source

The tool-making source

The genetic source

The genetic source
• Young babies go through developments: small brain, larynx higher
in throat => changes take place => Almost automatic set of
development
• Even children who are born deaf become fluent speakers of a sign
language
• claim that human offspring are born with a special capacity for
language (innateness hypothesis)
• Capacity for language genetically hard-wired into newborn
humans?
The genetic source
• This applies to all language in general, not one specific language
• Crucial mutation in human genetics, special “language gene” that only
humans possess
• Language did not result from a gradual change but happened rather
quickly as a crucial genetic mutation (unlike physical adaptation, for
example)
• No certainty when this genetic change might have taken place and how
it may relate to physical adaptation
• If we have a special gene for language, can other creatures also learn
language?
 The Origins of Languages
Theories Arguments for Arguments against Development
The divine source Suddenly
(monogenetic)
The natural sound source Existence of Soundless things and abstract Gradually
(bow- wow/pooh-pooh) onomatopoeia concepts Produced with
intake of breath
The social interaction source Early humans lived in Other primates also live in Gradually
(yo-he-ho) groups groups and use grunts
The physical adaptation There’s evidence for the These changes would not Gradually
source (teeth, lips, mouth, evolutionary changes themselves lead to speech
larynx & pharynx) production
The tool-making source (brain) Accounts for structural Gradually
organisation of language
The genetic source Automatic set of Suddenly
(innateness theory) developments in young
children
Language and Linguistics: Myths and
Misconceptions
• Myth #1: Children learn to speak through explicit teaching or
memorization
• Myth #2: Animals have language just like humans
• Myth #3: Reading and writing are an essential part of language
• Myth #4: Some languages/dialects are more complex or better than
others