LANGUAGE

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References: Alemán, P, (2021). Courleander, V, (n.d). Guía Lingüística I. Yule, G. (2010). Study Of Language. Cambridge Univ Press.

LANGUAGE

Human beings developed language as a way of communication to make easier the invention and use of tools, “tool-making theory”, to share information, to hunt, and to survive.

Properties of Human Language

Other Properties

Prevarication

Language signals can be false and language signals can be used to lie or deceive.

Rapid Fade

Quickly produced and disappeared.

Non - directional

Not easily direct speech to one listener.

Example: Webinar meetings

Specialization

Language symbols

Reciprocity

Exchange of rules (sender-receiver)

Examples: Conversations, debates, discussions, etc

Vocal - Auditory channel

Produced with vocal organs, perceived through the ears.

Patterning

Combination of discrete sounds is systematic (well-defined patterns)

Examples with sentences

go - store - quickly - please - to:

2. Go to the store, please.

1. Please, go to the store.

Examples with words

u - g - m: Mug or Gum

o - p - t: Pot or Top

Duality

Human language is divided into two levels:

Meaning level: Combination of sounds (Team or Mate) - Distinct of sound.

Physical level: Articulation of symbols (e - m - a -t) - Distinct sound.

Cultural Transmission

Learning any language by the culture passed from one generation to another.

Example: Birds develop their songs to communicate. If those birds spend their first seven weeks without hearing other birds, they will instinctively produce songs or calls, but those songs will be not normal, in other words, like the songs that the other birds normally sing.

Productivity or Creativity

New words or word combinations can be created based on experiences.

Example: When bees find another nectar source, they go back to the beehive and performer a specific dance to indicate the direction where the honey is. However, if the honey was moved, they would not be able to find the nectar. The bees could only communicate that the nectar was toward a horizontal path, but they cannot create a message to indicate that the nectar is now located in a vertical path.

Arbitrariness

It is the relationship between linguistic signs and objects in the world. This property claims that words and their meanings do not have a connection between them.

Displacement

Human beings can refer to past, present, and future, while animals can just communicate in present. Also, displacement allows humans to talk about things and places whose existence has not even been proved. For example, Santa Claus, Easter Bunny, witches, angels, heaven, and hell.

Example: When a cat meows to his or her owner, the owner is likely to understand the message that the animal is relating to that immediate time and place, but if the owner asks the cat “Where have you been?”, the owner will get the same “meow” response. The answer will not change because animals cannot refer to different tenses.

Reflexivity

Human beings think and talk about language itself.

The possession of language distinguishes man from other animals. Only human beings can develop it.

Origin of Language

The Genetic Source

The “Innateness Hypothesis” pointed out that there was something in human genetics, possibly a crucial mutation, as the source, like a “language gene” that only human beings possess.

Genetic mutation from ancestors

This theory refers to the “Innateness Hypothesis”, in which human offspring are born with a special capacity for language. It is innate, no other creature seems to have it, and it is not just to a specific variety of language.

The Tool-making Source

The evolutionary connection of tool-using and language-using might have been involved in the development of the speaking brain.

Lateralization of the brain leads to:

2. Left hemisphere in charge of object manipulation, muscle movement, and speaking.

1. Specialization of functions

Tool-making is evidence of a working brain.

Manual gestures may have been a precursor of language.

The Physical Adaption Source

Physical Changes

Pharynx: Above vocal folds and resonator.

Larynx: Lower position and contain vocal folds.

Head: Above the spinal cord.

Tongue: Flexible muscle.

Mouth: Small.

Lips: Intricate set of muscles.

Teeth: Upright position.

The evolved posture of human beings might have influenced the production of speech:

- Upright position - Bipedal locomotion - Role of front limbs (brain)

Examples 1. The transition that our ancestors made to an upright posture, with bipedal (on two feet) locomotion, and a revised role for the front limbs. 2. The reconstructed vocal tract of a Neanderthal.

The Social interaction Source

The “yo-he-ho” theory explains that human beings could develop language while they were doing a physical effort because this one involved several people, and the interaction had to be coordinated.

Example: A group of human beings might develop a set of hums, grunts, groans, and cries while they were lifting and carrying large bits of trees and other heavyweight objects.

The Natural Sound Source

Some original sounds of language may have come from natural cries of emotion, such as pain, anger, and joy. Examples: Ouch! Ah! Wow!

“Bow-wow theory”: Words that echo natural sounds. Examples: splash, bang, boom,

This theory explains that human beings develop language by imitating the sound heard from their surroundings.

Example: An object flew by, making a CAW-CAW sound, and humans would name it and refer to it according to the sound it made.

The Divine Source

In most religions, there appears to be a divine source that provides humans with language. To discover this “Original Divine Language”, a few experiments have been carried out. They were based on the fact that human infants would spontaneously develop the original God-given language by being isolated. Those experiments are:

Second Experiment

It is important to know that all the other cases of isolated children tended not to confirm this "divine source theory" because young children who lived in isolation grew up without any language.

Around the year 1500, King James the Fourth of Scotland tried a similar experiment. As a result, the children were reported to have spontaneously started speaking Hebrew, confirming the King’s belief.

First Experiment

2,500 years ago, the Egyptian pharaoh tried the experiment with two newborn babies. After two years of isolation, except for the company of goats and a mute shepherd, the two infants were reported to have spontaneously emitted, not an Egyptian word, but it was identified as the Phrygian word “bekos”, meaning “bread.” For him, the children developed “the original language” given by God.