2. WHAT IS LANGUAGE?
LANGUAGE IS THE MOST IMPORTANT
ASPECT IN THE LIFE OF ALL BEINGS.
LANGUAGE IS THE HUMAN ABILITY TO
ACQUIRE AND USE COMPLEX SYSTEMS OF
COMMUNICATION, AND A LANGUAGE IS
ANY SPECIFIC EXAMPLE OF SUCH WE USE
LANGUAGE TO EXPRESS INNER
THOUGHTS AND EMOTIONS, MAKE SENSE
OF COMPLEX AND ABSTRACT THOUGHT,
TO LEARN TO COMMUNICATE WITH
OTHERS, TO FULFILL OUR WANTS AND
NEEDS, AS WELL AS TO ESTABLISH RULES
AND MAINTAIN OUR CULTURE.
A SYSTEM.
3. LANGUAGE CAN BE DEFINED AS VERBAL,
PHYSICAL, BIOLOGICALLY INNATE, AND A
BASIC FORM OF COMMUNICATION.
BEHAVIOURISTS OFTEN DEFINE
LANGUAGE AS A LEARNED BEHAVIOUR
INVOLVING A STIMULUS AND A
RESPONSE.(ORMROD,1995)
OFTEN TIMES THEY WILL REFER TO
LANGUAGE AS VERBAL BEHAVIOUR,
WHICH IS LANGUAGE THAT INCLUDES
GESTURES AND BODY MOVEMENTS AS
WELL AS SPOKEN WORD.
( PIERCE,& EPLIN,1999)
4. WHEN WE DEFINE LANGUAGE WE HAVE TO
BE CAREFUL NOT TO EXCLUDE SYMBOLS,
GESTURES,OR MOTIONS. THIS IS BECAUSE
IF WE EXCLUDE THESE FROM OUR
DEFINITION, WE WILL BE DENYING THE
LANGUAGE OF THE DEAF COMMUNITY.
5. ALL HUMAN LANGUAGES SHARE BASIC
CHARACTERISTICS, SOME OF WHICH ARE
ORGANIZATIONAL RULES AND INFINITE
GENERATIVITY.
INFINITE GENERATIVITY IS THE ABILITY
TO PRODUCE AN INFINITE NUMBER OF
SENTENCES USING A LIMITED SET OF
RULES AND WORDS.
( SANTROCK,& MITTERER,2001)
6. IMPORTANCE OF LANGUAGE
LANGUAGE IS AN EXTREMELY IMPORTANT
WAY OF INTERACTING WITH THE PEOPLE
AROUND US. WE USE LANGUAGE TO LET
OTHERS KNOW HOW WE FEEL, WHAT WE
NEED, AND TO ASK QUESTIONS.
LANGUAGE IS THE LIGHT OF THE MIND.
(JOHN STUART MILL)
LANGUAGE, OF COURSE, IS KNOWLEDGE,
AND IN OUR WORLD TODAY KNOWLEDGE IS
ONE OF THE KEY FACTORS IN
COMPETITIVENESS.
7. ORIGIN OF LANGUAGE
THE ORIGIN OF LANGUAGE IN THE HUMAN
SPECIES HAS BEEN THE TOPIC OF
SCHOLARLY DISCUSSIONS FOR SEVERAL
CENTURIES.
IN SPITE OF THIS, THERE IS NO
CONSENSUS ON THE ULTIMATE ORIGIN OR
AGE OF HUMAN LANGUAGE.
HUMAN ORIGIN IS LANGUAGE ORIGIN.
(FROMKIN & RODMAN)
8. CONCERNING THE ORIGIN OF THE
FIRST LANGUAGE, THERE ARE TWO
MAIN HYPOTHESES, OR BELIEFS.
NEITHER CAN BE PROVEN OR
DISPROVED GIVEN PRESENT
KNOWLEDGE.
1) BELIEF IN DIVINE CREATION
2) NATURAL EVOLUTION
HYPOTHESIS
9. BELIEF IN DIVINE CREATION
MANY SOCIETIES THROUGHOUT HISTORY BELIEVED THAT
LANGUAGE IS THE GIFT OF THE GODS TO HUMANS.
IN THE BEGINNING WAS THE WORD AND THE WORD WAS WITH
GOD AND THE WORD WAS GOD.
(JOHN 1:1)
AND OUT OF THE GROUND THE LORD GOD FORMED EVERY
BEAST OF THE FIELD AND EVERY FOWL OF THE AIR; AND
BROUGHT THEM UNTO ADAM TO SEE WHAT HE WOULD CALL
THEM AND WHATSOEVER ADAM CALLED EVERY LIVING
CREATURE, THAT WAS THE NAME THEREOF.
(GENESIS 2:19)
10. NATURAL EVOLUTION
HYPOTHESIS
AT SOME POINT IN THEIR EVOLUTIONARY DEVELOPMENT
HUMANS ACQUIRED A MORE SOPHISTICATED BRAIN WHICH
MADE LANGUAGE INVENTION AND LEARNING POSSIBLE. IN
OTHER WORDS, AT SOME POINT IN TIME HUMANS EVOLVED
A LANGUAGE ACQUISITION DEVICE, WHATEVER THIS MAY BE
IN REAL PHYSICAL TERMS.
ACCORDING TO THE NATURAL EVOLUTION HYPOTHESIS, AS
SOON AS HUMANS DEVELOPED THE BIOLOGICAL, OR
NEUROLOGICAL, CAPACITY FOR CREATIVE LANGUAGE, THE
CULTURAL DEVELOPMENT OF SOME SPECIFIC SYSTEM OF
FORMS WITH MEANINGS WOULD HAVE BEEN AN INEVITABLE
NEXT STEP.
11. IT IS BELIEVED THAT HUMANS OF
PRIMITIVE SOCIETIES HAVE IMITATED
NATURE’S SOUND. IF A CERTAIN OBJECT,
AS A BIRD, WOULD MAKE A SOUND OF
COO-COO WHILE FLYING, THEN THE
HEARD SOUND WOULD BE ADOPTED TO
REFER TO THAT SPECIFIC BIRD OR BIRDS
IN GENERAL.
12. THEORIES OF LANGUAGE
THERE ARE SO MANY THEORIES OF LANGUAGE BUT I HAVE DISCUSSED FEW OF
THEM.
1. INTERACTIONIST THEORY
2. THE NATIVIST PERSPECTIVE
3. THE BOW-WOW THEORY
4. THE POOH-POOH THEORY
5. THE DING-DONG THEORY
6. THE YO-HE-HO THEORY
7. THE TA-TA THEORY
8. THE LA-LA THEORY
13. INTERACTIONIST THEORY
INTERACTIONISTS ARGUE THAT LANGUAGE
DEVELOPMENT IS BOTH BIOLOGICAL AND SOCIAL.
INTERACTIONISTS ARGUE THAT LANGUAGE LEARNING IS
INFLUENCED BY THE DESIRE OF CHILDREN TO
COMMUNICATE WITH OTHERS.
CHILDREN ARE BORN WITH A POWERFUL BRAIN THAT
MATURES SLOWLY AND PREDISPOSES THEM TO ACQUIRE
NEW UNDERSTANDINGS THAT THEY ARE MOTIVATED TO
SHARE WITH OTHERS.
(BATES,1993;TOMASELLO,1995)
14. THE NATIVIST PERSPECTIVE
THE NATIVIST PERSPECTIVE ARGUES THAT HUMANS ARE BIOLOGICALLY
PROGRAMMED TO GAIN KNOWLEDGE.THE MAIN THEORIST ASSOCIATED WITH
THIS PERSPECTIVE IS NOAM CHOMSKY.
CHOMSKY PROPOSED THAT ALL HUMANS HAVE A LANGUAGE ACQUSITION
DEVICE (LAD). THE LAD CONTAINS KNOWLEDGE OF GRAMMATICAL RULES
COMMON TO ALL LANGUAGES.
CHOMSKY ALSO DEVELOPED THE CONCEPTS OF TRANSFORMATIONAL
GRAMMAR, SURFACE STRUCTURE AND DEEP STRUCTURE.
TRANSFORMATIONAL GRAMMAR IS GRAMMAR THAT TRANSFORMS A
SENTENCE. SURFACE STRUCTURES ARE WORDS THAT ARE ACTUALLY WRITTEN.
DEEP STRUCTURE IS THE UNDERLYING MESSAGE OR MEANING OF A SENTENCE.
15. THE BOW-WOW THEORY
THE IDEA THAT SPEECH AROSE FROM
PEOPLE IMITATING THE SOUNDS THAT
THINGS MAKE: BOW-WOW, MOO, BAA,
HISS, MEOW, QUACK-QUACK, etc.
IN OTHER WORDS, THE FIRST HUMAN
WORDS WERE A TYPE OF INDEX, A SIGN
WHOSE FORM IS NATURALLY
CONNECTED WITH ITS MEANING IN TIME
AND SPACE.
16. THE DING-DONG THEORY
LANGUAGE BEGAN WHEN HUMANS STARTED
NAMING OBJECTS, ACTIONS AND
PHENOMENA AFTER A RECOGNIZABLE
SOUND ASSOCIATED WITH IT IN REAL LIFE.
THIS THEORY HOLDS THAT THE FIRST
HUMAN WORDS WERE A TYPE OF VERBAL
ICON, A SIGN WHOSE FORM IS AN EXACT
IMAGE OF ITS MEANING: CRASH BECAME
THE WORD FOR THUNDER, BOOM FOR
EXPLOSION.
17. 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.
18. THE YO-HE-HO THEORY
THE IDEA THAT SPEECH STARTED
WITH THE RHYTHMIC CHANTS AND
GRUNTS PEOPLE USED TO
COORDINATE THEIR PHYSICAL
ACTIONS WHEN THEY WORKED
TOGETHER. THERE'S A PRETTY BIG
DIFFERENCE BETWEEN THIS KIND OF
THING AND WHAT WE DO MOST OF
THE TIME WITH LANGUAGE.
