The origin of language

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Huỳnh Thị Thanh Thúy_11128129
Đặng Thị Thúy Sương_11128089
Vũ Thị Kim Trúc_11128112
Trần Thị Mỹ Dung_11128016
NguyễnThị Lệ Hà_11128027
THE ORIGIN OF
LANGUAGE
‘‘No thing, no doubt, more interesting than to know
from historical documents the exact process by the
first man began to lisp his first words, and thus to be rid
for ever of all the theories on the origin of speech.’’
(M.Muller, 1874)
•
Anthropologists claim that humans have existed for
between 1-4 million years.
•
Earliest written records are only 6000 years old.
I. THE BEGINNING ORIGIN OF
LANGUAGE

Neither can be proved or disproved given present
knowledge.
A. BELIEF IN DIVINE CREATURE
God’s gift to humanity ?

According to Judaeo-Christiant: ‘And out of the
ground the Lord 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 s.

Adam gave names to all living creatures.
=> An innate capacity to use language.

According to the Egyptians, the creator of speech was
the god Thoth.

Babylonians believed the language giver was the god
Nabu.

According to Hindu tradition, language comes from
the goddess Sarasvati.( wife of Brahma who created the
universe).

language origin => myths,customs and supersitions.

no way to ‘prove’ or‘disprove’ (the divine origin of
language)=> (the existence of God.)
Historical experiment by:
•
Egyptian pharaoh Psammetichus (664-610) new born
baby in company of goats and mute shepherd.
•
James IV of Scotland (1473-1513): similar experiment.
It was claimed that children eventually spoke Hebrew .
•

J.G. Becanus argued that German was the original
language? Why?
Because God would have used the most perfect language.
•
1830, The American lexicographer Noah Webster
asserted that the ‘proto-language’ must have been
Chaldee (Aramaic)
•
1887, Joseph Elkins maintained that ‘There is no other
language which can be more reasonably assumed to be
the speech first used in the world’s gray morning than
can Chinese’.
B. THE FIRST LANGUGE
•
mono-: one, single
•
genetic: influenced by geneses or origins.
=>monogenetic: a theory of language origin that all
languages originated from a single source.

For example: Tower of Babel story in Genesis, legend
of the Toltecs

Many modern scholars:

The Mother Tongue Theory: a single group of Homo
sapiens perhaps as early as 150 thousand years

The Out of Africa Theory: the first fully modern
humans appeared in Africa.

C. NATURAL EVOLUTION HYPOTHESIS
1)The "ding-dong" hypothesis.

naming objects, actions and phenomena after a
recognizable sound associate=>in real life.

Uses:

the first human words: type of verbal icon, a sign whose
form is an exact image of its meaning:

crash became the word for thunder, boom for explosion.

Chinook Indian word for heart tun-tun,

Basque word for knife: ai-ai (literally ouch-ouch).

The problem ‘onomatopoeia’:

limited part of the vocabulary

imitative sounds differ from language to language:
Ex: Russian: ba-bakh =bang, bukh= thud.
2.The ‘pooh-pooh’’ hypothesis

involuntary exclamations of dislike, hunger, pain, or
pleasure,

the expression of more developed ideas and emotions
ex: ha-ha-ha, wa-wa-wa .


The problem :small part of any language.

expressing sudden pain or discomfort:

Eng:ouch;

Russ. oi.;

Cherokee eee.
3.The ‘bow-bow’’ hypothesis


Uses:vocabulary developed from imitations of
animal noises

Ex: Moo, bark, hiss, meow, quack-quack.

the problem:

‘onomotopoeia’ : a limited part of the vocabulary of
any language.

The linguistic renditions of animal sounds differ
considerably from language to language
a) Dog: English: bow-wow

Chinese: wu-wu;

Jap.:wan-wan ;


Russ , tyaff-tyaff
b)Cat :English:meow,

Russ:myaoo,

Chin mao,

Jap. nya-nya ;

purr in French is ron ron.
c) Pig: English: oink-oink;
Russ. hryu-hryu;
Chin oh-ee-oh-ee;
Jap. bu-bu.

4.The ‘‘ta-ta’’ hypothesis
Charles Darwin

Speeching: a sort of mouth pantomime: the organs of
speech => imitating the gestures of the hand.

the problem: Human gestures differ from culture to culture.
Ex:

Cf. English crossing the finger for good luck vs.Russian
"fig" gesture;

nodding for yes vs. for no in Turkish and Bulgarian;


knocking on wood vs. spitting over the left shoulder three
times.
5. Warning hypothesis.

Starting with a warning to others.

Ex: Look out, Run, or Help
6. => alerting members of the tribe when some lumbering
beast was approaching. The "yo-he-ho" hypothesis.
Language developed on the basis of human cooperative
efforts.

language was chanting to simulate collective efforts

repeating warlike phrases to inflame the fighting spirit.

The first poetry and song came from this aspect of
beginning speech.
EX: Volga boatmen, military marching chants, seven
dwarfs working song.
8. .Lying hypothesis
E.H. Sturtevant

since all real intentions or emotions get involuntarily
expressed by gesture, look or sound, voluntary
communication have been invented for lying or
deceiving.

Using language in contrast to reality for selfish ends –
was the social prompting that got language started.


Example: the word tree in several languages:
Spanish árbol;

French arbre;

Slovak strom;
I. BASIC IDEAS
1. Languages and races?
no evidence to support that racial differences are
responsible for linguistic differences.
2. Language and culture?
There is no inherent relation between language and
culture.
3. “Primitive” and “civilizable” language?

there is no correlation between degree of cultural
advancement and complexity and linguistic structure.
4. “Corrupt” language?

Just as there are no primitive languages, there are no
“corrupt” languages. Languages change, but they do
not decay.
5. Theories of language origin
─
The origin of language have been advanced, but none
worth taking seriously:

imitation of animal cries.


great physical exertion were the original source of
speech.
─
Neither idea has any evidence in its favor.

a man accquired language as the result of
evolutionary changes in the structure of his mind.