2. QUIZZES
• Quizzes take place on Wednesdays during the
first period (8:50-9:35)
• Venue: the computer lab: E LES 202
• You will log on to Edulink and receive a
password to start the quiz
• The quiz will deal with work from the
previous lecture
• All quizzes are submitted directly on Edulink
and will contribute 10% towards your
semester mark!
• Bring your prescribed book to the quiz!!!
3. LIN1A11
• Robyn’s tutorials: B Ring 513
– Tuesday: 13:50-14:35
– Wednesday: 11:20-12:05
– Consultation times:
• Tuesdays 13:00-13:45
• Wednesdays 10:30-11:15
– Email: Robyn.stewardbb@gmail.com
• Wendy’s tutorials: B Ring 513
– Thursday 11:20-12:05
– Thursday 13:50-14:35 – not enough students for a tutorial
group, either join Robyn’s group or make an individual
appointment with Wendy
– Consultation times:
• Mondays 12:00-13:00
• Thursdays 12:10-12:55
– Email: wbissett15@gmail.com
4. LINEX1A
• Leane’s tutorials now with Laurinda: B Ring 513
– Mondays 13:50-14:35
– Consultation times:
• Mondays 14:35-16:00
– Email: laurinda14@gmail.com
• Laurinda’s tutorials now with Leane: B Ring 513
– Wednesdays 12:10-13:00 CHANGES TO 13:50-14:35 due to
venue availability
– Consultation times:
• Mondays, Tuesdays & Thursdays 9:00-10:00
– Email: rokebrandleane@gmail.com
5. • Who is registered for the Language
Practitioner course?
6. OUTCOMES
• identify and discuss the six main
theories/explanations on the origin of
language according to Yule (2010)
7. The origins of language
• Ability to produce sounds is located in an
ancient part of the brain which we share with all
vertebrates (fish, frogs, birds, mammals)
• Spoken language probably developed between
100 000 and 50 000 years ago while writing only
dates back to about 5 000 years ago => no direct
evidence about the development of speech
• A lot of speculation about the origins of
language, but little known about the topic =>
little physical evidence on language our ancestors
used
10. The origins of language
1. The divine source (Yule 2010:2; Fromkin 2011:309)
2. The natural sound source
3. The social interaction source
4. The physical adaptation source
5. The tool-making source
6. The genetic source
11. 1. The divine source: Christianity
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)
And the Lord said, Behold, the people is one, and they have all one
language; and this they begin to do; and now nothing will be
restrained from them, which they have imagined to do. Go to, let us go
down, and there confound their language, that they may not
understand one another's speech. So the Lord scattered them abroad
from thence upon the face of all the earth: and they left off to build
the city. Therefore is the name of it called Babel; because the Lord did
there confound the language of all the earth: and from thence did the
Lord scatter them abroad upon the face of all the earth (Genesis 11:7-
9)
12. 1. The divine source: Hinduism
There grew in the centre of the earth the
wonderful ‘world tree,’ or ‘knowledge tree’. It was
so tall that it reached almost to heaven. It said in
its heart, ‘I shall hold my head in heaven and
spread my branches over all the earth, and gather
all men together under my shadow, and protect
them, and prevent them from separating’. But
Brahma, the creator-god, to punish the pride of
the tree, cut off its branches and cast them down
on the earth, when they sprang up as wata trees,
and made differences of belief and speech and
customs to prevail on the earth, to disperse men
upon its surface.
13.
14. 1. The divine source: The Americas
The Aztecs’ belief maintains that a great flood
occurs and only a man, Coxcox, and a
woman, Xochiquetzal, survive, having floated
on a piece of bark. They find themselves on
land and beget many children who are at first
born unable to speak, but subsequently, upon
the arrival of a d0ve, are endowed with
language, although each one is given a different
speech such that they cannot understand one
another.
15. 1. The divine source: Africa
The Wa-Sania, a Bantu people of East African
origin, have a tale that in the beginning, the
peoples of the earth knew only one language,
but during a severe famine, a madness struck
the people, causing them to wander in all
directions, jabbering strange words, and this
is how different languages came about.
16. 1. The divine source: Australia
In remote times an old woman, named Wurruri, lived
towards the east and generally walked with a large stick in
her hand, to scatter the fires around which others were
sleeping. Wurruri at length died. Greatly delighted at this
circumstance, they sent messengers in all directions to
give notice of her death; men, women and children came,
not to lament, but to show their joy. The Raminjerar were
the first who fell upon the corpse and began eating the
flesh, and immediately began to speak intelligibly. The
other tribes to the east, arriving later, ate the contents of
the intestines, which caused them to speak a language
slightly different. The northern tribes came last and
devoured the intestines and all that remained, and
immediately spoke a language differing still more from
that of the Raminjerar.
17. 1. The divine source
• In most religions, a divine source gives
language to the humans
• Nearly all divine theories believe that
languages originated from a single source and
are thus monogenetic theories of language
origin
• Over the ages, people carried out
experiments to rediscover this original,
God-given language
18. 1. The divine source: The first language
• Experiments: if human infants grow up in isolation, they
will automatically begin to use the original God-given
language!??!
• Psammetichus (Egyptian pharaoh) let two newborn
babies grow up in the company of only goats and a mute
shepherd 2 500 years ago
– they are reported to have started saying the Phrygian
(Turkey) word ‘bekos’ (bread) = original language?
– however, it is more likely that the children imitated the
sounds they heard the goats make
• King James of Scotland carried out similar experiment
around 1 500
– the children are reported to have started speaking
Hebrew = original language?
19. 1. The divine source: The first language
• BUT: Children discovered living in isolation
do not confirm these findings but grow up
with no language at all
• Criticism: Divine source is impossible to
prove/disprove and the ‘first language’ is
impossible to reconstruct!!
• Plato argues that a legislator gave the correct,
natural names to all things
• In many religions, only “special” languages
may be used in prayers and rituals
20. The origins of language
1. The divine source
2. Natural sound source (Yule 2010:2-3; Fromkin 2011:310)
3. The social interaction source
4. The physical adaptation source
5. The tool-making source
6. The genetic source
21. 2. The natural sound source:
bow-wow
• 1. Primitive words started as imitations of the
natural sounds early humans heard around
them (bow-wow theory)
• The imitations of sounds were then used to
refer to the things associated with the relevant
sound (onomatopoeia still exist in our
language today: splash, rattle, boom, ...!)
• For example, when a bird flew by making the
sound ‘coo-coo’, it would be called ‘cuckoo’.
• Criticism?
22. 2. The natural sound source:
bow-wow
• Criticism: how would soundless things
and abstract concepts have been
referred to??
• Criticism: Language is more than only
a set of names
23. 2. The natural sound source:
pooh-pooh
• 2. Original sounds may have started as
natural cries of emotion such as pain, anger
and joy (pooh-pooh theory)
• Criticism?
24. 2. The natural sound source:
pooh-pooh
• Criticism: these are produced with
sudden intakes of breath, which is not
the case for ordinary speech!! =>
emotional reactions contain sounds
not otherwise used in speech
production
26. The origins of language
1. The divine source
2. The natural sound source
3. Social interaction (Yule 2010:3-4; Fromkin 2011:310)
4. The physical adaptation source
5. The tool-making source
6. The genetic source
27. 3. The social interaction source:
yo-he-ho
• Language arose out of the rhythmical grunts of
people working together, involved in physical
effort that has to be coordinated (yo-he-ho
theory)
• Early humans may have developed a set of grunts,
groans and curses used when lifting and carrying
trees/mammoths
• Makes sense as early humans must have lived in
groups, which require some form of organisation
and hence communication to maintain =>
development of language placed in a social
context
• Criticism?
28. 3. The social interaction source
• Criticism: apes and other primates
also live in groups and use grunts
etc without having developed the
capacity for speech!!
29. 3. The social interaction source:
la-la
• Language originated from song as an
expressive rather than a communicative
need
30. The origins of language
1. The divine source
2. The natural sound source
3. The social interaction source
4. Physical adaptation (Yule 2010:4-5; Fromkin 2011:26-28))
5. The tool-making source
6. The genetic source
31. 4. The physical adaptation
source: Early ancestors
• Homo erectus (from Africa to Europe &
Asia) – originated 1.8 million years ago –
extinct 0.5 million years ago
– hunter-gatherer – tool-making
– able to control fire
– brain size increased
– not capable of producing sounds of complexity
comparable to modern speech
32. 4. The physical adaptation
source: Early ancestors
• Homo Neanderthalensis
– Brain size increased
– average 1412 c.c. (homo sapiens; 1487 c.c.)
– consonant-like sound distinctions
– 35 000 years ago
– features emerge that resemble homo sapiens
33. 4. The physical adaptation source
• Answer question by looking at physical features
that distinguish humans from other creatures
• Transition to upright posture & bipedal
locomotion => front limbs free
• Differences between skull of gorilla and
Neanderthal => Neanderthal may have been able
to produce some consonant-like sounds
• Fossilised skeletal structures that begin to
resemble modern humans => partial adaptations
that appear relevant for speech => features are
more streamlined compared to other primates
• Features themselves may not have triggered
speech but give good indication that the creatures
possessing them were capable of speech
34. 4. The physical adaptation source
• Physical features that distinguish humans from
other creatures may have supported speech
production
• Evolutionary development resulted in partial
adaptations making speech possible for early
humans:
– Teeth
– Lips
– Mouth
– Tongue
– Larynx
– Pharynx
35. 4. The physical adaptation source: TEETH
• Upright position, not slanting outwards like
those of apes
• Roughly even in height
• Good for grinding and chewing
• Very helpful in making sounds such as ‘f’ or
‘v’
36. 4. The physical adaptation source: LIPS
• More intricate muscle interlacing
• More flexible
• Capable of a wider range of shapes
• Suitable for making sounds such as ‘p’ or ‘b’
37. 4. The physical adaptation source:
MOUTH AND TONGUE
• Relatively small mouth compared to other
primates: can be opened and closed more
rapidly
• Smaller, thicker and more muscular tongue
that can be used to shape a wide variety of
sounds
• Airway through the nose can be closed off
to create more air pressure in the mouth
38. 4. The physical adaptation source:
LARYNX AND PHARYNX
• Larynx is “voice box” in your throat containing the
vocal folds or vocal chords
• Due to upright position, head moved directly above
the spinal column and larynx dropped to a lower
position
• As a result, the pharynx (cavity above the vocal
folds, acts as resonator) became longer => increased
range and clarity of sounds
• Disadvantage: due to lower position of
pharynx, humans may choke more easily on food =>
ability to speak must have outweighed this
disadvantage for humans
• Criticism?
41. 4. The physical adaptation source
• Criticism: Certain birds and parrots are able
to also produce a wide variety of sounds
42. The origins of language
1. The divine source
2. The natural sound source
3. The social interaction source
4. The physical adaptation source
5. Tool-making source (Yule 2010:5-6; Fromkin 2011:26-28)
6. The genetic source
43.
44. 5. 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
45. 5. The tool-making source (brain)
• The functions for object manipulation 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 the
use of language in early humans
• This theory allows for structural organisation
inherent to all language (even sign languages),
not only articulation of sounds to denote
objects
46. The origins of language
1. The divine source
2. The natural sound source
3. The social interaction source
4. The physical adaptation source
5. The tool-making source
6. The genetic source (Yule 2010:6)
47. 6. The genetic source
• Young babies go through developments:
small brain, larynx higher in throat =>
changes take place => Almost automatic set
of development
• Even children who are born deaf become
fluent speakers of a sign language
claim that human offspring are born with a
special capacity for language (innateness
theory)
• Capacity for language genetically hard-wired
into newborn humans?
48. 6. The genetic source
• This applies to all language in general, not one
specific language
• Crucial mutation in human genetics, special
“language gene” that only humans possess
• This would mean that language did not result
from a gradual change but happened rather
quickly as a crucial genetic mutation (unlike
physical adaptation, for example)
• No certainty when this genetic change might
have taken place and how it may relate to
physical adaptation
• If we have a special gene for language, can other
creatures also learn language?
49.
50. The origin of language
Theories Arguments for Arguments against Development
The divine source Suddenly
(monogenetic)
The natural sound Existence of Soundless things and Gradually
source (bow- onomatopoeia abstract concepts
wow/pooh-pooh) Produced with intake
of breath
The social Early humans lived Other primates also Gradually
interaction source in groups live in groups and
(yo-he-ho) use grunts
The physical There’s evidence for These changes would Gradually
adaptation source the evolutionary not themselves lead
(teeth, lips, mouth, changes to speech production
larynx & pharynx)
The tool-making Accounts for Gradually
source (brain) structural
organisation of
language
The genetic source Automatic set of Suddenly
(innateness theory) developments in
young children
51. READING
Yule (2010), Chapter 1
• The origins of language (pp. 1-9)
Fromkin, Rodman & Hyams (2011):
• In the Beginning: The Origins of Language
(pp. 308-315)
• The Development of Language in the Species
(pp. 26-28)
