This document discusses various theories about the origins of human language. It explores hypotheses such as language developing from natural sounds like animal noises, emotional cries, or coordinated social sounds used for tasks. Alternative explanations propose that the human brain, physical ability to speak, or innate genetic factors enabled the development of language. While the exact origins are unknown, most theories suggest language emerged gradually over tens of thousands of years as human cognition and social interaction evolved.
The origin of language remains one of the most significant hurdles even in the 21st century, however, many theories have been proposed about the topic. Most of which have been speculated from a specific evidence. The current presentation depends on George Yule's book (2014) The Study of Language (5th edition)
The origin of language remains one of the most significant hurdles even in the 21st century, however, many theories have been proposed about the topic. Most of which have been speculated from a specific evidence. The current presentation depends on George Yule's book (2014) The Study of Language (5th edition)
Welcome to our introductory presentation on linguistics. In this presentation, we will explore the fascinating world of language and linguistics, beginning with the definition of language itself, delving into its key functions, and examining its unique characteristics. We will then transition into defining linguistics, the scientific study of language, and discuss its various types and branches. By exploring these foundational aspects, we aim to provide a comprehensive overview that highlights the complexity and diversity of human language. This presentation is designed to offer both foundational knowledge and insightful perspectives into how language functions as a crucial tool for communication and cultural expression. Join us as we embark on this linguistic journey, uncovering the intrinsic properties that make language an integral part of human existence and a primary focus of linguistic study.
We refer to to the 4 sources of language origin discussed in George Yule's importance book, The Study of Language. I have added something to the Divine Source; Some Quranic verses have been added to it!
Welcome to our introductory presentation on linguistics. In this presentation, we will explore the fascinating world of language and linguistics, beginning with the definition of language itself, delving into its key functions, and examining its unique characteristics. We will then transition into defining linguistics, the scientific study of language, and discuss its various types and branches. By exploring these foundational aspects, we aim to provide a comprehensive overview that highlights the complexity and diversity of human language. This presentation is designed to offer both foundational knowledge and insightful perspectives into how language functions as a crucial tool for communication and cultural expression. Join us as we embark on this linguistic journey, uncovering the intrinsic properties that make language an integral part of human existence and a primary focus of linguistic study.
We refer to to the 4 sources of language origin discussed in George Yule's importance book, The Study of Language. I have added something to the Divine Source; Some Quranic verses have been added to it!
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Letter from the Congress of the United States regarding Anti-Semitism sent June 3rd to MIT President Sally Kornbluth, MIT Corp Chair, Mark Gorenberg
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The US House of Representatives is deeply concerned by ongoing and pervasive acts of antisemitic
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• The Committee on Education and the Workforce has been investigating your institution since December 7, 2023. The Committee has broad jurisdiction over postsecondary education, including its compliance with Title VI of the Civil Rights Act, campus safety concerns over disruptions to the learning environment, and the awarding of federal student aid under the Higher Education Act.
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Operation “Blue Star” is the only event in the history of Independent India where the state went into war with its own people. Even after about 40 years it is not clear if it was culmination of states anger over people of the region, a political game of power or start of dictatorial chapter in the democratic setup.
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3. What is Language?
• Language, a system of conventional spoken,
manual (signed), or written symbols by means
of which human beings, as members of a
social group and participants in its culture,
express themselves.
4. Introduction
• No one knows exactly when or how human
beings came up with spoken language.
• One hypothesis is that language began between
• 100,000 and 50,000 years ago, with the advent of
modern man, i.e. homo sapiens.
• This is well before the invention of the written
• language, about 5,000 years ago. We have direct
evidence and artifacts about writing.
5. The Origins of Language
There are Speculations about how language
may have originated.
Suspect that some type of spoken language
must have developed between 100,000 and
50,000 years ago, well before written language
(about 5,000 years ago).
Absence of direct physical evidence.
6. Theories of Language Origin
• The Divine Source
• The Natural Sound Source
(a)The “Bow-Wow” Theory
(b)The “Pooh-Pooh” Theory
• The Social Interaction Source
• The Physical Adaptation Source
Teeth and Lips Mouth and Tongue Larynx and
Pharynx
• The Tool-Making Source (The Human Brain)
• The Genetic Source (The Innateness Hypothesis)
7. The Divine Source
• In most religions, there appears to be a divine source
who provides humans with language.
• Genesis 2/19: God created Adam and “whatsoever
• Adam called every living creature, was the name
thereof.”
• The Qur’an: He said, “O Adam, inform them of their
• names.” And when he had informed them of their
names… (Al Baqarah, 2/31-33)
• A Hindu belief: language came from Saraswati, wife
• of Brahma, creator of the universe.
8. The Divine Source
• The basic hypothesis seems to have been that, if
human infants were allowed to grow up without
hearing any language around them, then they would
spontaneously begin using the original God-given
language.
• Attempts to find a divine, God-given language
• Psamtik carried out an experiment with two babies
depriving them of human contact. They uttered the
word bekos ‘bread’ in Phrygian!!
• King James the Fourth did a similar experiment and
the kids were reported to speak Hebrew.
9. Negation of Divine Source
• The Mogul emperor Akbar the Great also
arranged for newborn babies to be raised in
silence, only to find that the children produced
no speech at mall.
• It is unfortunate that Akbar’s result is more in line
with the real-world outcome for children who
have been discovered living in isolation, without
coming into contact with human speech. ( The
Study of Language, 6th edition, pg, 27)
10. The Natural Sound Source
• Language emerged from natural sounds.
• Primitive words are considered to be imitations of
• natural sounds that people hear around them.
• Jespersen (1922) called this idea the “bow-wow”
theory.
• The natural sound a bird makes is argued to have
been used to describe that particular animal.
• The fact that in many languages there are words such
• as drip, click, meow and honk that sound like what
they mean supports this claim.
• Not every sound is onomatopoeic in languages!!
11. (i)The “Bow-Wow” Theory
• different objects flew by, making a C AW - C AW
or C O O - C O O sound, the early human tried to
imitate the sounds and then used them to refer
to those objects even when they weren’t present.
• The fact that all modern languages have some
words with pronunciations that seem to echo
naturally occurring sounds could be used to support
this theory.
In English, in addition to cuckoo, we have splash,
bang, boom, rattle, buzz, hiss, screech and of course
bow-wow.
12. Th Bow-Wow Theory
• Words that sound similar to the noises they
describe are examples of onomatopeia.
13. (ii)The “Pooh-Pooh” Theory
• Jespersen’s nicknames was the “pooh-pooh”
theory, which proposed that speech developed
from the instinctive sounds people make in
emotional circumstances.
• original sounds of language may have come from
natural cries of emotion such as pain,
• anger and joy. Ouch! came to have its painful
connotations. But
• Ouch! and other interjections such as Ah!, Ooh!,
Phew!, Wow! or Yuck
14. The Social Interaction Source
• involving natural sounds was nicknamed the “yo-
he-ho” theory. The idea
• is that the sounds of a person involved in physical
effort could be the source of our language,
especially when that physical effort involved
several people and the interaction had to be
coordinated.
• group of early humans might develop a set of
hums, grunts, groans and curses that were used
when they were lifting and carrying large bits of
trees
15. The Social Interaction Source
• The appeal of this proposal is that it places the
development of human language in a social
context.
17. The Physical Adaptation Source
• Human beings are genetically with some physical
features that are responsible of producing speech
sounds.
• types of physical features humans possess,
especially those that may have supported speech
production.
• such features would not guarantee speech, but
they are good clues that a creature with such
features probably has the capacity for speech.
• Teeth, lips, Mouth, Tongue, Larynx, Pharynx
18. The Tool-Making Source
• Tool making, or the outcome of manipulating objects and
changing them using both hands, is evidence of a brain at
work.
• The human brain is not only large relative to human body
size, it is also lateralized, that is,
• it has specialized functions in each of the two hemispheres.
• The patterns of blood flow to specific parts of the brain
were very similar, suggesting that aspects of the structure of
language may have developed through the same brain circuits
established earlier for two-handed stone tool creation.
19. The Genetic Source (The innateness
hypothesis)
• Human offspring are born with a special
• capacity for language.
• It is innate, no other creature seems to have it
and it is not tied to a specific variety of
language.
20. Conclusion
• consider this hypothesis, we find our speculations
about the origins of language moving away from
fossil evidence or the physical source of basic
human sounds toward analogies with how
computers work (e.g. being preprogrammed
or hard-wired) and concepts taken from the study
of biology and genetics.
• The investigation of the origins of language then
turns into a search for the special
• “language gene” that only humans possess.