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Sources of Language Explained

This document discusses various proposed sources of the origins of human language. It describes experiments conducted by Psammatichus and King James to determine the original language, but notes flaws in their methodologies. Key proposed sources discussed include the divine source, the natural sound source of onomatopoeia, the social interaction source of communicating needs, the physical adaptation of an upright posture and tool-making abilities, and the genetic source of an innate language capacity in humans. Overall, the document examines different theories for how and why human language may have developed.

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Mahmoud A harfoush
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7 views5 pages

Sources of Language Explained

This document discusses various proposed sources of the origins of human language. It describes experiments conducted by Psammatichus and King James to determine the original language, but notes flaws in their methodologies. Key proposed sources discussed include the divine source, the natural sound source of onomatopoeia, the social interaction source of communicating needs, the physical adaptation of an upright posture and tool-making abilities, and the genetic source of an innate language capacity in humans. Overall, the document examines different theories for how and why human language may have developed.

Uploaded by

Mahmoud A harfoush
Copyright
© All Rights Reserved
We take content rights seriously. If you suspect this is your content, claim it here.
Available Formats
Download as PDF, TXT or read online on Scribd

EDC

INTRODUCTION TO
LINGUISTICS (ENGL236)
Chapter 1 Brief
Ibrahim Shahwan
9/10/2018

Disclaimer: This document is made to ease up the studying process, however it


might contain errors or lack some info so do not rely on it entirely.
Ibrahim Shahwan

Sources of Language
 The Divine Source:

Some Experiments were conducted To prove the divine source of language, and a
lot of results showed up:

Psammatichus Psammatichus is an egyptian pharoah that isolated two new born babies
with a mute shpeherd and a bunch of goats for the purpose of finding out
the original language of humans. The babies grew up and uttered the word
“Bekos” which is Phryigian. So, The pharoah cocluded that Phrygian is the
original language

However, a lot of researchers pointed out that those babies were just
mimicking the sound made by sheep. If you remove the (- KOS) part you will
end up with (-BE) which is identical to the sound of sheep.

King James King James did a similar Experiment, But the kids grew up to speak Hebrew
thus he cocluded that Hebrew is the original languageof the Garden Of Eden
But if you think about it, A lot of children who live without access to human
language grow up with no language at all. And those kids spoke Hebrew
simply because they were somehow exposed to the language.
Ibrahim Shahwan

 If human language did emanate from a divine source, There will


be no way that we could reshape it.

 The natural Sound source


Onomatopoeia: is the process of creating a word that phonetically
imitates, resembles, or suggests the sound that it describes.

 It occurred when early humans tried to imitate a


sound they heard around them and then associating
it with the source that made that particular sound.
 It is hard to see how soundless objects used to be
referred to
 Maybe language came as a result to the natural cries
and emotions like ‘Ouch!’ .

 The social Interaction source


The “YE-HE-HO” theory: It suggests that sounds based on physical
efforts might be the source of language. Hums, Grunts, and curses
while lifting up heavy objects could be what made language come to
life.

This Theory falls within the “Social Context” ; People worked in groups
which meant having a particular communication mode for the purpose
of interaction.
Ibrahim Shahwan

 The physical Adaptation Source


This source looks at physical possessions that humans have which differ
from the possessions other creatures contain. For example, Humans
have the Up-right posture alongside bipedal locomotion whereas other
animals can neither walk on two feet, nor have an upright posture.

Skeletal evolution over the years had shown improvement in speech in


general.

 The tool- making Source


o There is a development that is believed to have taken place
with human hands and some believe that manual gestures
may have been a precursor of language
o There might be a connection between language using and
tool using abilities.
Ibrahim Shahwan

 The genetic Source.


*There are indications that human offspring are born with a special
capacity for language.

* The innateness Hypothesis points out that there would be something


in human genetics, possibly a crucial mutation, as the source of
obtaining a language.

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