language emergence language emergencee.ppt

Contents
 Language.
 The origin of language.
 Theories.
 Social interaction source.
 The divine source.
 The oral gestures.
 The physical adaptation source.
 The tool making source.
 The genetic (innateness) source.
 Conclusion.

Language
The principal method of human
communication, consisting of
words used in a structured and
conventional way and
conveyed by speech, writing,
or gesture
A study of the way children
learn language.
A system of communication
used by a particular country or
community.
The book was translated into
twenty-five languages.

The Amoeba Question
• Did language elaborate from a simple outline?
• Did a mish-mash become neat and orderly?
• bow-wow theory
hunters imitated the sounds of animals they wanted to
track down
• Rousseau/ Jespersen
first languages were singable and more passionate –
became simple and methodical
• spaghetti junctions
various possibilities existed and were used – in the long
run certain features were more likely to be chosen

The Rabbit-out-of-hat problem
• language emerged fairly suddenly (like a rabbit out of a
hat)
• mutation in hominid gene pool
• extra use for already enlarged brain
but:
• language evolved slowly over millennia

Why do languages differ?
• new appearances could not be handled properly (e.g.
(new) thoughts could not be expressed properly)
• differences between and within languages are signs of a
flexible and adjustable system
• ‘Tower of Babel’

• ‘Swiss army knife’ view: specialized linguistic system, which
allows variation
• human mind as gadget with numerous specialized devices
• humans acquire language through a language-handling
mechanism
• difference of language according to an inherited degree of
flexibility
• ‘Auntie Maggie’s remedy’ view: languages differ because
human general intelligence produced them
• language is one of many different tasks children have to
encounter – use the mind to sort out the way it works
• tasks can be encountered in different ways

• hard-wired: - pre-programmed
- do not have to be learned
- instinctive
- (Swiss army knife)
• soft-wired: - can be acquired
- have to be learned
- Auntie Maggie’s remedy
• past: nature – nurture; hard – soft; instinct – learning
controversies
• present: ‘innately guided behaviour’

Conclusion
• many theories – scientific or non-scientific – were
propounded
• Amoeba Question and the rabbit-out-of-hat problem
• differing: - Swiss Army Knife vs. Auntie Maggie’s
remedy; hard-wired vs. soft-wired;
- innately guided behaviour

The origin of language
Ivo Tateo

The Human’s history of evolution
175,000 BP
300,000 BP
1,5 m BP
2 m BP
3 m BP
4 m BP
4,5 m BP
Homo sapiens sapiens (modern humans)
Archaic Homo sapiens
Homo erectus (upright man)
Homo abilis (handy man)
Homo (man)
Australopithecus afarensis
Australopithecus ramidus

How did Language emerge?
 Language emerged
suddenly, as a rabbit
out of a hat. This
would be possible
because humans are
endowed with an
innate language
faculty (Chomsky).
 Language is the result
of a long process,
creeping upwards in
complexity over
millennia, like a snail
creeping up a wall.
Language capacity
increased very slowly.
 The most accredited theory is that of a ‘language bonfire’.
After this theory, sparks of language have been flickering for
a long time before language begun a fast evolution and then
stabilized around 50,000 years ago.
 Language evolution
alternated between
periods of stasis
(stagnation) and
periods of fast
development (Eldredge
and Gould).

Representation of the
‘Language Bonfire’ on a graph
250,000 BP 100,000
BP
75,000 BP 50,000 BP Years
BP
Complexity
of language

The development of Language
Key properties of Language
Interaction Persuasion
The Grooming Theory: grooming is for animals a factor of social
interaction as language for humans.
Maybe language is a substitution for grooming, since:
- Humans are ‘naked apes’ with little hair for grooming
- Great groups of primates tend to abandon grooming

The development of Language
Key properties of language
Interaction Persuasion
The theory of mind
The ability to deceive may be an important prerequisite for
language, which is not only confined to humans.
This process (we may also talk about ‘lying’) implicates that the
individual is able to put himself into another person’s shoes and
act to his own advantage.

The search for the missing link
 The gestural origin of
speech
 Sign language is easier
than speech
 The idea that gestures are
universal
 Neurological connection
between speech and
movements
How did language get started? Many support the gestural
theory, which claims that sign language is the missing link
between the primate communication and human language.
These supporters emphasize four reasons:

Basic requirements for human language
The human voice-box or larynx is more streamlined than that of
other primates; it is also positioned lower than in other primates.
The particular position of the larynx, the complexity of the
muscular tongue and the possibility to produce vowels via
mouth, allow the human beings to produce three fairly extreme
vowels:
[i] [a] [u]
ƀ Sound-producing ƀ Sound-receiving
ƀ Sound-planning ƀ Sound-interpreting

Conclusion
Language appeared about 200,000 years ago and developed very fast
between 100,000 and 75,000 years ago (language bonfire theory)
Language probably emerged to satisfy a need of interaction or to influence
other individuals
Language probably developed from gesture. Sign language has been the
intermediate between the two:
Primate communication Sign language Human language
Sound-producing, sound-receiving, sound-planning, sound-interpreting
mechanisms and the particular position of the larynx, among others, allow
the human beings to produce sounds which are unique to our species.

The emergence of rules
 A language needs ‘rules’. Communication would break down if
there were no agreed ways of combining linguistic units.
 In theory there are nearly endless possibilities to combine
words and sounds. However, any full language has narrowed
down the range of possibilities to a few allowable combinations
=> the grammar.

How could grammar have arisen in the
evolution of language?
Simple rules have two requirements:
1. different types of basic units must exist
2. ways of combining the units must be agreed

Different types of basic words
 Nouns are the basic words, which arose before
other types of words were developed
 Nouns and verbs together constituted the first ‘grammar’ => humans
could mentally distinguish things and people from actions and
events for a long time before establishing them as nouns and verbs.
 Nouns and verbs are regarded as the universal categories of all
languages.

The combination of words as a requirement for
the emergence of grammar
 Grammar emerged when noun-type words were combined with
verb-type words.
 Two possible ways by which nouns and verbs could have been
combined:
1. ‘build-up’-route
2. ‘re-analysis’ -route

The build-up route
....assumes that a large number of single words accumulated.
These were words of different types, some involving things,
others actions. At a later stage these words were combined.
e.g. child: “mummy open” as a request for “Mummy please
open this”

The re-analysis route
...assumes that words, mainly nouns, were already being
combined, but that sometimes more than one interpretation
was possible
e.g. the word ‘singsing’ in Tok Pisin (pidgin, Papua New
Guinea)
(singsing = any festival which involves dancing and singing)
ð “mi singsing” means “I went to the song and dance festival” or
“I sang and danced”

Consistent ordering of words
There are several possibilities as to how a firm word order
might have happened in the evolution of languages
 the signing of chimps
 the utterances of Vincent, a child of deaf parents
 the predispositions of the human mind

1. The signing of chimps - Nim
Chimpsky
 At first sight Nim’s signing was quite unordered.
 However Nim had some preferences:
-- food was placed first: “grape eat, banana Nim eat, apple
me eat”
--“more” at the beginning: “more eat, more tickle, more drink,..”
--his own name at the end
--repetition of words: “eat Nim eat, Nim eat Nim”
ð Nim’s ordering resembles the process found when a language acquires
new word-order rules:
mild stylistic preferences change into strong preferences which
stabilize, become a habit and form a pattern which influences the
formation of others.

2. The utterances of Vincent, child of
deaf parents
 Vincent: hearing child of deaf parents who taught him sign language. He
did not speak and heard sounds only by watching television. He was
first exposed to speak English when he was over three years old.
 at first his speech was barely intelligible and only slowly his speech
became clear
 short utterances: “You –uh-oh”
 limited vocabulary: „puter“ was a general, all-purpose verb.
 “You”: several meanings: you, he, she
 tendency to “copy-around” a word, to put one form on both sides of
another “You house you”

 The way Vincent put words together was bizarre.
However when his repeats and copying around were omitted, a clear
word ordering preference appeared
=> he constructed many sentences according to a basic, but private,
plan

=> Both the chimp and the child show that an optional word order
can become a preferred order which later becomes a certain rule.

3. Human mind set
Our human-mind set dictates how we see the world and create the language.
‘Ontological categories’, such as people, things, actions, events, provide a
universal initial structure of the language of thought on which language is based.
The innate thought structure also covers the way in which words may be
combined.
e.g. The cat sat on the mat. The dog lay under the table.
not: The mat lay under the cat. The table stood over the dog.
=> The location of ‘small onto large’ may be due to the human mind-set. Human
thoughts run along certain routes, which are likely to affect the order of
participants in a grammar.

Preferences and pre-linguistic rules
 ‘animate first preference’:
It is more normal to say “Patsy was hit on the head by a ball” than “A
ball hit Patsy on the head”
=> The ‘animate first preference’ is not due to any obvious linguistic
factor, but the human mind-set plays an important role.
 The ‘animate first’ preference is linked to an ‘actor first’ principle,
because in real life animates act on lifeless things more often than the
other way round.
 The preferences are based on pre-linguistic mind-sets, which explain
why so many languages show similarities.

Summary
 Language began when words were combined.
 There are several theories on how grammar could have arisen:
-out of ‘build-ups’: putting individual words together,
-out of ‘re-analyses’ of combined nouns.
 At first many word combinations were possibly repetitive and
inconsistent.
 The examples of the chimp and the child Vincent show how rules may
have became fixed: optional orders became strong preferences which
later became rules.
 The original preferences were probably on pre-linguistic ‘mind-sets’ =>
explains why so many languages show similarities

The evolution of language
The expansion of language –
Martina Kleinebreil

First steps
 - Humans named themselves
- parts of body
- the immediate environment

Inwards and Outwards
 The human body, and the space surrounding it, presumably formed
the basis of further meaning extensions.

Outwards:
 Humans body-parts move outwards to features of environment.
e.g.Tok Pisin (Papua New Guinea)

 het = head
het bilong diwai - top of a tree
han = hand
han bilong diwai – branch of a tree
han bilong pik – front legs of a pig
Or even in English: head of state

Inwards:
 Outer behaviour is a regular source for talk about the inner mental
self.
e.g. Physical sight expressions
I see what Helen means.
Peter is still in the dark.

Physical holding - mental grasping:
 - Did you grasp what he meant?
- Did you get this?
- Paul hold on to his point of view.

Adpositions (Pre- & Postpositions)
 - a limited number of prepositions
- re-apply of the old ones,
instead of inventing new ones.

 Tok Pisin:
mi go long taun – I go to town
mi kam long town – I come from town
mi stap long haus – I stayed at home
mi paitim dok long stik –
I hit the dog with a stick

 Nouns – durable: dog, sky
Verbs – rapid change: swim, go, hit
properties – hot day, green house
properties are less time-stable than nouns, but more time-
stable than most verbs

1st possibility
 Subdivision into stative and non- stative verbs
non-stative: kill, shoot
stative: be-green, be-ill
(Mandarin Chinese, Yoruba)

2nd possibility
 adjectives as an extra category
border-line between nouns/adj.
and verbs/adj. seems arbitrary
e.g. a gold watch  noun
a lasting peace  verb

 In the early days verbs and adjectives were probably
indistinguishable.
To reach a clear distinction later word- endings were added.

 But a language is still not complete with just a few parts of speech,
and various attachements for its verbs.

 So from this point on it´s still a long way to today´s language

Diffusion
Frauke Skrobaschewsky

Moving outwards
 roughly 75.000 years ago humans moved out of Africa
and into Asia
 first to Asia Minor
 then westwards to Europe
 eastwards to the Far East and Australia

 the last continent to be populated was America
 crossed from northeastern Siberia into northwest Alaska
 went by boat via the Bering Strait
 smalls groups
 probably spoke dialects of the same language

The hunt for Universals
 language universals = features which occur in all
languages
 any human can learn any language, so something must
link all languages together
 a possible list of “narrow“ absolute universals:

All languages
 1) have consonants and vowels
 2) combine sounds into larger units
 3) have nouns  words for people & objects
 4) have verbs  words for actions
 5) can combine words

All languages
 6) can say who did that to who
 7) can negate utterances
 8) can ask questions
 9) involve structure-dependance
 10) involve recursions

 finding absolute linguistic universals is hard because they
differ in details from language to language

Constraints
 language must have constraints which prevent it from
flying apart in different directions
 constraints are hard to find  promising approach is the
search for constraining links
 language constructions are often linked tp one another in
implicational chains
 Noam Chomsky‘s ‘paramter setting‘  best
known implicational theory

Chomsky‘s parameter setting
 children have an inbuilt knowledge of some basic
language principles
 in addition they are instinctively aware of some key
‘either/or‘ options
 they need to find out which options their own language
selects
 the extra information follows automatically

The future
 there are about 6.000 languages spoken today
 in this century 90% of all languages will cease to exist
 3.000 languages are ‘moribund‘: no longer learned as a
first language by the new generation of speakers
 the few languages that will remain will spread across the
world

Origin of language
 Word origin is very important. Knowing the
etymology of a word provides enhanced
perspective about its most effective use.
 You understand its original meaning and how
it may have transformed over time, how
people have used it past and present.
 Actually no one exactly knows when or how
human beings came up with spoken
language.
 One hypothesis is that language began
between 100,000 or 50,000 years ago with
the advent of modern man i.e. Homo
Habilis and Homo Sapiens.

Consequently, the major history of
language is discovered through guesses
and written evidence that is much newer
than the era that the linguists study.
This is well before the invention of the
written language, about 6000 years ago.
Some researchers even propose that
language began as sign language, then
(gradually or suddenly) switched to the
vocal modality, leaving modern gesture as
a residue.
These issues and many others are
undergoing lively investigation among
linguists, psychologists, and biologists.

 While some theorists believe language
originated as an evolution of our culture,
others believe that there is also a certain
innate understanding of language in us.
 The expression language origins refers to
theories pertaining to the emergence and
development of language in human
societies.
 Over the centuries, many theories have
been put forward—and almost all of them
have been challenged, discounted, and
ridiculed.
 Chomsky’s Hypothesis about the origin of
language says that language is genetically
imbibed in us by birth, that we innately
know how to communicate.

Theories
 Bow-wow theory
 Pooh-pooh theory
 Ding-dong theory
 Yo-he-ho theory
 Ta-ta theory
 Sing-song
 Mama theory
 The eureka! theory
 Hey you! theory
 Hocus pocus theory.
Many theories have presented over the years. That are following.

Bow-wow theory
 Max Muller, a philologist and linguist, published a list
of these theories in the mid-19th century: Bow-wow.
Ding-Dong. Pooh-pooh.
 Bow-wow theory is also known as the natural sound
source theory.
 The bow-wow theory is largely discredited as an
account of the origin of language.
 Though some contemporary theories suggest that
general imitative abilities may have played an
important role in the evolution of language.
 Bow-wow theory postulates that the origin of
language arose through “onomatopoeia,”.
 In simple words, is the imitation of sounds in
nature (Moran and Gode 1986).
 Specifically, the sounds from animals were the most
imitated from the environment.

Pooh-pooh theory
A pooh-pooh (also styled as poo-poo) is
a fallacy in informal logic that consists
of dismissing an argument as being
unworthy of serious consideration.
Pooh means that Pull Out of Hole.
Scholars generally characterize the
fallacy as a rhetorical device in which
the speaker ridicules an argument
without responding to the substance of
the argument.
Pooh-pooh theory A speculative theory
that human language originated from
emotional exclamations of pain,
pleasure, surprise, etc.

Ding-dong theory
 A theory that language originated out of a
natural correspondence between objects of
sense perception and the vocal noises
which were part of early humans' reaction
to them — compare bowwow theory, pooh-
pooh theory.
 DING-DONG: The “ding-dong” hypothesis
bases the origins of language on
onomatopoeia.
 This idea states that language began when
humans started naming objects after a
relevant sound that was already involved in
their everyday life.
 Examples include words such as “boom,”
“crash,” and “oink”.

Yo-he-ho theory
 Yo-he-ho theory a speculative theory that
human language emerged from instinctive
noises made by humans during physical
exertion, and especially while involved in
collective rhythmic labour.
 “Work Song” The Yo-He-Ho Theory proposes
that language and speech started with grunts
and groans as well as chants, and rhythmic
sounds.
 That the earliest peoples use to coordinate
their movements as they work together to
accomplish a formidable task.
 If you've ever lifted anything heavy, you might
have let out a groan or other kind of sound.
This theory claims language came from the
sounds we made while doing hard work.

The gestural theory
 Condillac as one of the earlier scholars
to put forth a gestural theory of
language.
 The Gestural Theory states that human
language was developed from
gestures that were a primitive form of
communication.
 As opposed to the vocal signals that
might have been adopted by non-
human primates.
 According to the gestural theory of
language evolution, our ancestors
were able to communicate intentionally
through gestures but could not control
their vocalizations.

 Two types of evidence support this theory.
 Gestural language and vocal language
depend on similar neural systems.
 Examples of communicative gestures
are waving, saluting, handshakes, pointing, or
a thumbs up.
 There are voluntary and involuntary gestures.
 Waving to a friend would be an intentional
method of saying hello,
 While throwing one's arms up in exasperation
may be an involuntary reaction to feelings of
frustration or anger.
 In 1992 McNeill proposes a general
classification of four types of hand
gestures: beat, deictic, iconic and
metaphoric.

Social interaction source (SIT)
 In the first half of the 1900s, American
philosopher, sociologist and psychologist
George Herbert Mead and later his student,
Herbert Blumer, developed this theory.
 Social interactionist theory (SIT) is an
explanation of language development
emphasizing the role of social interaction
between the developing child and linguistically
knowledgeable adults.
 This theory emphasizes the importance of
social interactions with others and how they
shape a person's self-concept or identity which
in turn, influence behavior.
 There are five common forms of social
interaction— exchange, competition, conflict,
cooperation, and accommodation.

The Divine Source
 In most religions, it is believed that
language is a God-given gift to human
species.
 Language is a gift of God to help us
experience this earthly life,” said Jones.
 Much of our enjoyment, entertainment,
and education comes through language,
he said.
 Jones said how someone uses words
determines the ability to fulfill your role
as a member of the human race
 In the Quran “O Adam, inform them of
their names”. And he had inform them of
their names. (Al-Baqarah 2/ 31-33).

 “And of His signs is the creation of the
heavens and the earth and the diversity of
your languages and your colors”. (Ar-Rum
30/ 22).
 In Christianity, God gave Adam the kingdom
of all animals in the Garden of Eden and the
first thing Adam did was to name these
animals. That is how language started
according to religious sources.
 In Hindu belief, language came from
Saraswsati, wife of Brahma, who they
believe is the creator of the universe.
 Hence, the basic idea of the theory is that “If
infants were allowed to grow up without
hearing any language, then they would
spontaneously begin using the original God-
given language”.

 It suggests that the evolution of sounds involves a connection between physical
gestures and orally produced sounds.
 Most of our physical gestures are means of communication.
 Even with the ability of speech we frequently use our hands, face and body to
express certain emotions and intentions.
 Originally a set of gestures was developed as a means of communication, then a set
of oral gestures, specifically involving the mouth, developed for expressing ideas.
The oral gestures
Physical gestures
(Including mouth)
Physical gestures
(Except mouth)

The physical adaptation
 The theory comes from the idea that there is a
link between physical gesture and orally
produced sounds.
 First of all a set of physical gestures was
developed as a means of communication.
 Adaptations can be either physical or
behavioral.
 A physical adaptation is some type of structural
modification made to a part of the body.
 A behavioral adaptation is something an animal
does - how it acts - usually in response to some
type of external stimulus.
 The shape of a bird's beak, the color of a
mammal's fur, the thickness or thinness of the
fur, the shape of the nose or ears are all
examples of physical adaptations which help
different animals survive.

 Camouflage, mimicry, and animals' body
parts and coverings are physical
adaptations.
 Type of Body Covering - Fur, Feathers,
Scales.
 Color – Patterns, Camouflage - a color or
pattern that allows an animal to hide in its
environment.
 Body Part - Claws, Beak, Antlers, Ears,
Blubber (to keep them warm)
 Defenses - Spray, Quills, Venom.
 Adaptations usually occur because a gene
mutates or changes by accident! Some
mutations can help an animal or plant
survive better than others in the species
without the mutation. For example, imagine
a bird species.

Larynx and Pharynx
Larynx is a “voice box” in your
throat containing the vocal folds
or vocal chords.
Due to upright position, head
moves directly above the spinal
column and larynx dropped at a
lower position.
As a result pharynx (cavity above
the vocal folds, act as a
resonator) became longer and
increase range and clarity of
sounds.

The tool making source (Hands)
 Humans started making tools and manipulating objects using both hands.
 Manual gestures may have been a precursor of language (Oral gesture theory).
 Bringing words together like bringing two rocks together to make a tool.

 The functions for object manipulating and for speaking are very close to each
other in the left hemisphere of the brain (lateralisation).
 There may have been an evolutionary connection between the use of tools
and use of language in early humans.
 This theory allows for structural organization inherent to all language (even
sign language) not only articulation of sounds to denote objects
The tool making source (Brain)

The genetic (innateness) source
 Young babies go through the
automatic developments from
small brain, higher larynx to
lowering larynx, standing upright,
walking and talking.
 Even children who are born deaf
become fluent speakers of sign
language. HOW??
 Claims that humans offspring are
born with a special capacity for
language.
 Capacity for language genetically
hard wired into new born humans.

 Researchers have found evidence
that genetic factors may contribute to the
development of language during infancy.
 Scientists discovered a significant link
between genetic changes near the
ROBO2 gene and the number of words
spoken by children in the early stages of
language development.
 This applies to all language in general
not one specific.
 This would mean that language did not
result from a gradual change but
happened rather quickly as a crucial
genetic mutation e.g. unlike physical
adaptation.

Conclusion
 All the presented theories do not precisely
demonstrate what is the origin of language but it is
clear that in the past people were only able to do
some gestures and only produce few sounds.

Thank you all for your
precious time

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