General linguistic
Chapter 1 the origins of language
We don’t know where language stems from, we do know that the ability to produce sounds appears
to be in an ancient part of the brain. Possible options:
The Divine source
Genesis says it is Adam who named every living creature. Alternatively, following a Hindu tradition
it is Sarasvati, wife of Brahma who brings language.
To find the divine language children were placed without any human contact for three years to see
what their first words would be like, the outcome was different for every test.
The Natural Sound source
- Bow-wow theory (Jespersen)
Humans tried to imitate sounds from objects who flew by. After they referred to those objects
even when they were not present. This theory is backed by the fact that almost every language has
onomatopoeia (word mimicking a sound) like splash, buzz.
- Pooh-Pooh theory (Jespersen)
Speech developed from instinctive sounds people make in emotional circumstances. Original
sounds of language come from cries of emotion. This is backed up by words like ‘ouch’ indicating
pain.
The Social Interaction source
- Yo-he-ho theory
The sounds of a person involved in physical effort could be the source of our language. Especially
when that effort involved several people and an interaction had to be guided. A set of
hums/grunts/curses/groans might stem from this. The appeal of this theory is that it places
language in a social context and people lived in large groups for safety back in the days.
The Physical Adaption source
We look at sounds from the types of physical features a human possesses. Firstly, four legged
creatures breath in the rhythm that they walk in and two legged creatures exhale 90% of the time
saving 10% for quick in-breaths. Human:
Teeth stand upright, making them useful for chewing, as well as producing a F/V sound.
Lips have more intricate muscle than other primates so we can produce P/B/M
Mouth is small, can open and close rapidly, and a more muscular tongue so it can produce more
sounds inside the oral cavity.
Larynx is positioned differently which created the pharynx which made it possible to increase range
and clarity of sounds.
The Tool-Making source
Some believe, that manual gestures may have been a precursor of language. Humans had
developed preferential right-handedness and became capable of making stone tools. Doing this is
evidence of a brain at work. The brain is lateralized (specialized functions in each hemisphere). The
making things part of the brain is right next to the muscles in the face/jaw/tongue so their
development may have been connected. You have to do a series of actions before you can make a
tool, the same goes for developing language.
,The Genetic Source
Human offspring are born with a special capacity for language, no other creature seems to have it
and it is not tied to a specific language.
- The innateness hypothesis
Points to something in human genetics. It is a search within humans for the language gene, the
FOXP2 gene is considered to play a role in language production.
, Chapter 2 Animals and human language
There are a lot of stories about creatures that can talk how far this could be true is explored in the
next paragraphs:
Communication: properties of human language, it is a unique system.
There are communicative signals and informative signals. When you tell someone ‘I am here to apply for
the position of senior partner’ you are intentionally communicating a message. Whereas shifting in your
seat may identify that you are uncomfortable however it was not your intention to bring this message
across, it is an informative signal.
Glossolalia humans are capable of producing sounds and syllables in a stream of speech that appears to
have no communicative purpose.
Birds make glossolalia by chirping, however when a cat is nearby it is a communicative signal.
Properties of human language
All creatures communicate in some way, humans:
1. Reflexivity
humans are the only ones to possess this. It means you can use language to think and talk about
language itself. Without this ability we would be unable to reflect on other aspects of human
language. It involves 5 other things.
2. Displacement
Allows humans to talk about the past and the future, about things with an uncertain existence
(fairies, superman) and things that are not in here and now. A honeybee can do a dance to say he
saw nectar close by or further away however can not specify to the nectar he found last week.
3. Arbitrariness
No natural connection between the linguistic form and its meaning, when we look at the Arabic word
for dog it looks nothing like the English word for dog. It has no iconic relationship with our hairy four-
legged friends. We make this connection ourselves. Arbitrary relationship between signs and objects
of the real word (picture of a car, carpark)
4. Productivity (creativity)
Humans could continue forever to make new expressions this is called productivity, there is an open
endedness. Other creatures do not have this ability to produce words that you have never used
before..Bees have signals for horizontal lines but not for vertical lines. When a few bees were shown
nectar somewhere all the way up and then were put back into their hive could not find a way to tell
the other bees where the nectar was because they cannot describe how to go up. This lack of
productivity is called fixed reference. Animals can’t change sounds to produce new utterances.
5. Cultural transmission
Language is passed on from one generation to another and it is not defined at birth. If a Chinese kid,
made by two Chinese parents was adopted as a baby by an English couple and raised in England it
would look like its natural parents however not speak Chinese but English. We are born with some
kind of predisposition to acquire language however not for a specific language (parental genes don’t
define language)Birds growing up isolated start producing songs, but not the sounds that all other
birds of it specie make. Dogs growing up with cats will still bark.
6. Duality
Human language is organized simultaneously, this is called duality. We have a physical level at which
we produce individual sounds n b and I. however we can mix it up to bin or nib, so we have distinct
meanings on another level. We can make make many sound combinations so we can make many
words with distinct meaning. Dogs can say woof (hi) but not oowf (hungry) they have their distinct
sounds but cannot do anything with it on another level.
Talking to animals
Dogs can remember sit, however they do not understand the word they just remember what you want
them to do at hearing that particular sound.
Chapter 1 the origins of language
We don’t know where language stems from, we do know that the ability to produce sounds appears
to be in an ancient part of the brain. Possible options:
The Divine source
Genesis says it is Adam who named every living creature. Alternatively, following a Hindu tradition
it is Sarasvati, wife of Brahma who brings language.
To find the divine language children were placed without any human contact for three years to see
what their first words would be like, the outcome was different for every test.
The Natural Sound source
- Bow-wow theory (Jespersen)
Humans tried to imitate sounds from objects who flew by. After they referred to those objects
even when they were not present. This theory is backed by the fact that almost every language has
onomatopoeia (word mimicking a sound) like splash, buzz.
- Pooh-Pooh theory (Jespersen)
Speech developed from instinctive sounds people make in emotional circumstances. Original
sounds of language come from cries of emotion. This is backed up by words like ‘ouch’ indicating
pain.
The Social Interaction source
- Yo-he-ho theory
The sounds of a person involved in physical effort could be the source of our language. Especially
when that effort involved several people and an interaction had to be guided. A set of
hums/grunts/curses/groans might stem from this. The appeal of this theory is that it places
language in a social context and people lived in large groups for safety back in the days.
The Physical Adaption source
We look at sounds from the types of physical features a human possesses. Firstly, four legged
creatures breath in the rhythm that they walk in and two legged creatures exhale 90% of the time
saving 10% for quick in-breaths. Human:
Teeth stand upright, making them useful for chewing, as well as producing a F/V sound.
Lips have more intricate muscle than other primates so we can produce P/B/M
Mouth is small, can open and close rapidly, and a more muscular tongue so it can produce more
sounds inside the oral cavity.
Larynx is positioned differently which created the pharynx which made it possible to increase range
and clarity of sounds.
The Tool-Making source
Some believe, that manual gestures may have been a precursor of language. Humans had
developed preferential right-handedness and became capable of making stone tools. Doing this is
evidence of a brain at work. The brain is lateralized (specialized functions in each hemisphere). The
making things part of the brain is right next to the muscles in the face/jaw/tongue so their
development may have been connected. You have to do a series of actions before you can make a
tool, the same goes for developing language.
,The Genetic Source
Human offspring are born with a special capacity for language, no other creature seems to have it
and it is not tied to a specific language.
- The innateness hypothesis
Points to something in human genetics. It is a search within humans for the language gene, the
FOXP2 gene is considered to play a role in language production.
, Chapter 2 Animals and human language
There are a lot of stories about creatures that can talk how far this could be true is explored in the
next paragraphs:
Communication: properties of human language, it is a unique system.
There are communicative signals and informative signals. When you tell someone ‘I am here to apply for
the position of senior partner’ you are intentionally communicating a message. Whereas shifting in your
seat may identify that you are uncomfortable however it was not your intention to bring this message
across, it is an informative signal.
Glossolalia humans are capable of producing sounds and syllables in a stream of speech that appears to
have no communicative purpose.
Birds make glossolalia by chirping, however when a cat is nearby it is a communicative signal.
Properties of human language
All creatures communicate in some way, humans:
1. Reflexivity
humans are the only ones to possess this. It means you can use language to think and talk about
language itself. Without this ability we would be unable to reflect on other aspects of human
language. It involves 5 other things.
2. Displacement
Allows humans to talk about the past and the future, about things with an uncertain existence
(fairies, superman) and things that are not in here and now. A honeybee can do a dance to say he
saw nectar close by or further away however can not specify to the nectar he found last week.
3. Arbitrariness
No natural connection between the linguistic form and its meaning, when we look at the Arabic word
for dog it looks nothing like the English word for dog. It has no iconic relationship with our hairy four-
legged friends. We make this connection ourselves. Arbitrary relationship between signs and objects
of the real word (picture of a car, carpark)
4. Productivity (creativity)
Humans could continue forever to make new expressions this is called productivity, there is an open
endedness. Other creatures do not have this ability to produce words that you have never used
before..Bees have signals for horizontal lines but not for vertical lines. When a few bees were shown
nectar somewhere all the way up and then were put back into their hive could not find a way to tell
the other bees where the nectar was because they cannot describe how to go up. This lack of
productivity is called fixed reference. Animals can’t change sounds to produce new utterances.
5. Cultural transmission
Language is passed on from one generation to another and it is not defined at birth. If a Chinese kid,
made by two Chinese parents was adopted as a baby by an English couple and raised in England it
would look like its natural parents however not speak Chinese but English. We are born with some
kind of predisposition to acquire language however not for a specific language (parental genes don’t
define language)Birds growing up isolated start producing songs, but not the sounds that all other
birds of it specie make. Dogs growing up with cats will still bark.
6. Duality
Human language is organized simultaneously, this is called duality. We have a physical level at which
we produce individual sounds n b and I. however we can mix it up to bin or nib, so we have distinct
meanings on another level. We can make make many sound combinations so we can make many
words with distinct meaning. Dogs can say woof (hi) but not oowf (hungry) they have their distinct
sounds but cannot do anything with it on another level.
Talking to animals
Dogs can remember sit, however they do not understand the word they just remember what you want
them to do at hearing that particular sound.
