topic 1 - origins of language

7/29/2019 Topic 1 - Origins of Language

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The OriginsofLanguage
http://www.fromoldbooks.org/Roam-MuseeArtistiqueIV//pages/274-cartouche-blank/274-cartouche-blank-q75-500x347.jpghttp://www.fromoldbooks.org/Roam-MuseeArtistiqueIV//pages/274-cartouche-blank/274-cartouche-blank-q75-500x347.jpghttp://www.fromoldbooks.org/Roam-MuseeArtistiqueIV//pages/274-cartouche-blank/274-cartouche-blank-q75-500x347.jpghttp://www.fromoldbooks.org/Roam-MuseeArtistiqueIV//pages/274-cartouche-blank/274-cartouche-blank-q75-500x347.jpg


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Introduction Otto Jesperson (1921) language

originated while humans werecourting or enjoying themselves.

Communicated to attract

attention by making sounds,particularly the opposite sex.


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Divine Source

Most religions claim that divinityprovides humans to communicate

with language.

Language came from god.
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The Divine Source

One view says that God created Adam

and whatsoever Adam called everyliving creature, that was the namethereof. (Genesis 2:19).
http://images.google.com/imgres?imgurl=http://www.christusrex.org/www1/Sistine/4-Adam.gif&imgrefurl=http://www.christusrex.org/www1/Sistine/1-Genesis.html&h=792&w=1081&sz=441&hl=en&start=251&tbnid=tvKbCzdXFqQPCM:&tbnh=110&tbnw=150&prev=/images%3Fq%3Dadam%2B%2Bpicture%26start%3D234%26ndsp%3D18%26svnum%3D10%26hl%3Den%26rls%3DRNWE,RNWE:2006-34,RNWE:en%26sa%3DN


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According to Hindu tradition, language came

from the goddess Sarasvati, the wife of

Brahma, creator of the universe.


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In an attempt to test this theory, a few

experiments have been carried out, with rather

conflicting results.

E.g. An Egyptian pharaoh Psammetichus tried

to experiment with 2 born infants in 600BC,

where they are left in the company of goats

and a mute shepherd.


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Outcome of Experiment

After 2 years, children did not utter anyEgyptian words, but Phrygian word bekos,which means bread.

Pharaoh concluded that that the Phrygianlanguage is actually the original language ofgod.

Several people commented that the childrenmust have picked up the word from theshepherd.


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Other tests

Similar test was done by James IV of Scotlandwhere similar results were obtained.

In conclusion, children living without any access tohuman speech grow up without language at all.

NO SPEECH = NO LANGUAGE


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Aristotle, Poetics

Art is imitation, and thats all right, even good.

Imitation is natural to humans fromchildhood.

Imitation is how children learn, and we all

learn from imitations.


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Natural-sound Source

Primitive words can be the imitations of naturalsounds.

E.g. when a flying object went by and made thesound of cuckoo, that became the name of thebird.


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Also known as the bow-

wow theory.


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It is true that there are onomatopoeic wordsin every language, words that echonatural sounds.

For example: CUCKOO, SPLASH,BANG, RATTLE, BUZZ, etc.



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Cries of emotion like pain, anger,

joy brought in sounds of language

Natural-sound

Source
http://images.google.com/url?q=http://www.emergencydentist247.com/images/pain-cartoon.jpg&usg=AFQjCNFhB2wm0FoLZUS0FlxEgXEjVsFG8Q


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The Oral-Gesture Source

Involves a link between physical gesture and

orally produced sounds.

After physical gestures were developed as

means of communication, oral gestures were

developed involving movements of the tongue,

lips, etc.

oral gestures were recognized to patterns of

movement similar to physical gestures.


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The Oral-Gesture Source

Many of ourphysical gestures,using body hands

and face, are meansofnonverbalcommunicationand are used by

modern humans,even with theirdeveloped linguistic

skills.


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The "oral-gesture

theory" proposes

an extremely

specific connection

between physical

and oral gestureinvolving a

"specialized

pantomime of thetongue and lips"


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Glossogenetics

Biological basis of the formation and

development of human language.

As we evolved, our development of thehuman language also evolved.


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Physiological Adaptation

Physical aspects of humans are not shared with

other creatures.

Human teethupright, not slanting and shorter

in height. [f, v, th]

Human lipsmore intricate muscle,

flexibility. [p, b, w]

Human larynx (voice box)differs in position.


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Human brain is lateralized.

Has two hemispheres where left isresponsible for language.


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Human and Monkey Brain
http://images.google.com/imgres?imgurl=http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/5/58/Human_brain.png&imgrefurl=http://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/Image:Human_brain.png&usg=__TnBs6zzgUqWpYBHM7drM9a55cJg=&h=608&w=577&sz=291&hl=en&start=14&tbnid=nuCtgXmeMu95EM:&tbnh=136&tbnw=129&prev=/images%3Fq%3Dhuman%2Bbrain%26gbv%3D2%26hl%3Denhttp://images.google.com/imgres?imgurl=http://darwin-online.org.uk/converted/Ancillary/1903_OutlineofEvolution_A39/1903_OutlineofEvolution_fig20.jpg&imgrefurl=http://darwin-online.org.uk/content/contentblock%3FitemID%3DA39%26basepage%3D1%26viewtype%3Dside%26hitpage%3D65&h=417&w=506&sz=123&hl=en&start=50&um=1&tbnid=A1Jtrzd2dscsTM:&tbnh=108&tbnw=131&prev=/images%3Fq%3Dmonkey%2Bbrain%2Bpicture%26start%3D36%26ndsp%3D18%26svnum%3D10%26um%3D1%26hl%3Den%26rls%3DRNWE,RNWE:2006-34,RNWE:en%26sa%3DN


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There are two major functions of language use:

The interactional function has to do with howhumans use language to interact with each

other socially or emotionally.

How Humans started to interact

with each other?


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The transactional function

has to do with

communicating knowledge,

skills and information.


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This transactional function will have

developed, in part, for the transfer of

knowledge from one generation to the next.

And while there are cultures that rely mainly

on their oral tradition, in many cases, as speech

by its nature is transient, the desire for a more

permanent record must have developed:written language
http://userpage.fu-berlin.de/~rober/linguistics/writing_dev.htmlhttp://userpage.fu-berlin.de/~rober/linguistics/writing_dev.html

topic 1 - origins of language

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