Introduction to LanguageBy: Waleska J. Rodríguez BonillaCourse: Language and Culture ENG 604

Profa. Evelyn LugoUniversity of EL Este

“Language is more than just a means of communication”It influences our culture and even out thought processes. From: Language and Thought Processes

Language predetermined what we can see in the world around us.Edward Sapir/ Benjamin Whorf

Definitions of Language0Language is a system of arbitrary conventionalized vocal, written, or gestural symbols that enables members of a given community to communicate intelligibly with one another.

0Language is a system of symbols, with several levels of organization, at least phonetics (the sounds), syntax (the grammar), and semantics (the meanings). (Dr. C. George Boeree /The Origins of language)

0Language is a complex, specialized skill, which develops in the child spontaneously, without conscious effort or formal instruction, is deployed without awareness of its underlying logic, is qualitatively the same in every individual, and is distinct from more general abilities to process information. (Pinker, Language Instinct (1994).

Characteristics of language

0Language is systematic0Language is a set of arbitrary symbols0Those symbols are primarily vocals, but may also be

visual.0The symbols have conventionalized meanings to which

they refer.0Language is used for communication.0Language operates in a speech community or culture.0Language is essentially human, although possibly not

limited to humans.0Language is acquired by all people in much the same

way.

Chomsky (1972) Language is the most distinctive feature by which human beings are differentiated from animals.

Chomsky “Human language appears to be a unique phenomenon”

Origins of LanguageConcerning the origin of the first language, there are two main hypotheses, or beliefs.  Neither can be proven or disproved given present knowledge.

Hypotheses or beliefs Edward Vadja / The origin of

language01) Belief in divine creation -Many societies throughout history believed that language is the gift of the gods to humans.  The most familiar is found in Genesis 2:20, which tells us that Adam gave names to all living creatures.  This belief predicates that humans were created from the start with an innate capacity to use language. (Chomsky/LAD)

2) Natural evolution hypothesis – at some point in their evolutionary development humans acquired a more sophisticated brain which made language invention and learning possible.Invention Hypothesis:

Theories about the origin of language

0The mama theory- language began with the easiest syllables attached to the most significant objects.

0The ta- ta theory-vocal imitation of body movements (gestures)

0The bow-bow theory- imitation of natural sounds (Dog: bow-wow, Chinesse; wu –wu, Japanese; wan-man, Russian; gaf –gaf)

0The pooh-pooh theory –language began with interjections, instinctive emotive cries such OH! For surprise and Ouch!

0Ding dong theory- sound symbolism (the small, sharp, high things tend to have words with high fronts vowels in many languages.

Other theories about languageYo-he-ho theorySing - song theoryHey- you theoryHocus pocus theoryEureka theory

The Most Common Spoken Languages in the World

0 There are about 5,000 to 6,000 different languages spoken in the world today.

0 There are about 200 languages that have a million or more native speakers.

0 Mandarin Chinesse is the most common, being spoken by around 874,000,000 people as a native language.

0 English is an official language in 52 countries as well as many small colonies and territories.

0 ¼ and 1/3 of the people of the world understand and speak English to some degree.

Language

Number of

speakers

Countries with number

of speaker

sMandarin Chinesse

874,000,000

16

Hindi (India)

366,000,000

17

English 341,000,000

104

Spanish 322-358,000,0

00

43

Bengali 207,000,000

9

Portuguese

176,000,000

33

Russian 167,000,000

30

Japanese 125,000,000

26

Facts about Languages 0There are no primitives languages.0All languages have a system of sounds,

words and sentences that can adequately communicate the content of culture.

0Cultures that have more complex, diverse economies and advanced technologies have larger vocabulary. (English has 615,000 of non technical words, German has about 185,000, French may have 100,000 and Spanish even fewer.

0Every language can create new words to describe new situations and objects.

Examples 0 The Salmon0 The salmon would have been a plentiful and nourishing source of food for

the Indo-Europeans. At this time the fish would have swum in from the North Atlantic along rivers connected to the Baltic and would be quite easy to catch as they leapt up stream to their spawning grounds.

0 The fish still lives in Russia, around Scandinavia and the Baltic and in all these places it is known as some form of "laks-".

0 In Celtic languages, however, "laks" is not used. This can be explained by the fact that the Celts, migrating westwards, found a different variety of salmon on the river Rhine and gave it another name, replacing the original.

0 The English word salmon derives from Latin, probably from the word meaning to leap. In this way the Italic languages have Spanish "salmon' and Portuguese "salmao". The word "lax" or "leax" does appear before 1300 in Old English and in 1488 we read of "salmond laxis takin vp" (OED). It seems our joint origins in Celtic and Germanic language are demonstrated here.

0 In Greek and the Italic languages where there were no salmon the word fell out of use. In some other languages the word has changed its meaning such as in Tocharian, spoken in eastern Turkestan, where the word means fish in general.

References 0 Origins of Language by Edward Vajda

http://pandora.cii.wwu.edu/vajda/ling201/test1materials/origin_of_language.htm

0 Origins of Language by Dr. C. George Boeree http://webspace.ship.edu/cgboer/langorigins.html

0 Language in use http://www.putlearningfirst.com/language/01origin/salmon.html