Theories about origin of language and human speech.

1. Origins of Human Speech
Prepared By: Hilal Yüzbaşı

2. 1) The Divine Source
It is believed that
language is a gift of God
to humans. That means
humans have an innate
capacity oto use
language.
But empirical
evidence from children
raised without wxposure
to language shows
that these children grow
up with no language at all

3. 2) The Natural Source
Theory
2.1) Bow-Wow Theory
Human vocabulary developed from animal noises. For instance; meow, moo,
quack, etc.
Ontomatopoeia: The imitation of a sound in naming.
- Limited part of vocabulary
- Differ from language to language

4. 2) The Natural Source
Theory
2.2) Pooh-Pooh Theory
Humans' first words were derived from spontaneous expressions of dislike,
hunger, pain, pleasure, etc.
- Very small part of any language
- Differ from language to language

5. 2) The Natural Source Theory
2.3) Ding-Dong Theory
Humans named actions, objects and phenomena after a recognizable sound
associated with it. For instance, ''boom'' which means explosion as in English,
''tun-tun'' which means heart as in Chinook Indian.
-Limited part of vocabulary
-Differ from language to language

6. The Biggest Problem of Thoese Theories:
Where do names for natural
noisless concepts come from? For
instance; rock, sun, sky, love, hate, etc.

7. 2) The Natural
Source Theory
2.4) Ta-Ta Theory
Charles Darwin theorizde that maybe the first word were lip icons of hand
gestures.
-Same gestures' meaning differs from language to language
-Even, Darwin, himself thought that this was a little implausible.

8. Note
Necessity Hypotheses: Language evolved from the
warning signals used by animals. Perhaps language
started with a warning sound to others that stands for
''help'' or ''run'' to alert other members to a
dangerous issue.

9. 3) Social Interaction Source
Early people must have lived in groups to protect
themselves from any attack. Thus, to retain in this
group, they have to communicate. Then, sounds
occured from some social interacions of early
people.
-Some mamals, primates, etc. Live in social
groups like early people. They warn each
other using some sounds yet this is not
enough for speech ability.

10. 4) Physical
Adaptation Source
It is about the development of our posture
and body. In early times, human learnt
how to stand on two feet (bi-pedal
position). It causes some changes in the
way we breathe. Moreover, some changes
occured in our up-right teeth, intricate lip
muscles, smaller-thicker-more musclar
tongue, and also the ability to close off the
nose to create more air pressure for sound
in mouth cavity. Thus, the human larynx
(voice box), which contains the vocal
cords, came in a lower position, creating a
longer cavity called pharynx (big echo
chamber above the vocal cords for volume
and clarity of sound).

11. 4) Body
Changes
in Physical
Adaptation
Source
1) Posture
2) Teeth and Lips
3) Mouth and Tongue
4) Larynx and Pharynx

12. 5) Tool Making Source
Early people created words from sounds like they made
tools from objects. If they wanted to create a thing, for instance,
first they found a rock and then another rock so they can put
them together to make a tool. As in tool making, first they used
sounds which stands for a meaning of a sense, an object etc.
and then they put that sound together with another one. This
sound combination became a sentence, phrase, situation for
them

13. 6) Genetic Source
Small phsical adaptations over time is not enough for explanation
of language-born. Because even children who are borny deaf
have the capacity of learning language. We can conduct that
human children are born with a special capacity for language.
That means language is an ability that is innate for human
beings.