Mira de Jesus Canhanga
Design Feature
• Coup d’etat
• Coup
• Mot
• lit
Design Feature
According to Trask 2007, design feature is
an informal list of the seemingly universal
properties of human languages introduced
by Charles Hockett in 1960.
• arbitrariness,
• duality of patterning,
• displacement,
• open-endedness and
• stimulus-freedom.
“Of these five, only the first is also normally
found in animal communication”. Ibid 70
According to Victorino in the General Linguistic
Module, design feature is the study of the
similarities and the differences between the
human language and the other animals means
of communication.
• Interchangeability,
• Feedback,
• Specialization,
• Arbitrariness,
• Discreteness,
• Displacement,
• Productivity,
• Duality of Patterning,
• Cultural Transmission,
• Learnability,
• Reflexiveness,
Yule 2010 refers to design features as the
properties of human language and he suggests
that there are 8 properties of human languages.
• Reflexiveness,
• Displacement,
• Arbitrariness,
• Productivity,
• Cultural Transmission
• Duality
Design Feature
Trask (2007)Lea O’ Grady (2011) Victorino (?) Yule (2010)
Reflexiveness Reflexiveness Reflexiveness,
Displacement Displacement Displacement Displacement,
Arbitrariness Arbitrariness Arbitrariness Arbitrariness,
Open-endedness Productivity Productivity Productivity,
Tradition Cultural Cultural
Transmission Transmission
Duality of Duality of Duality of Duality
patterning Patterning Patterning
Interchangeability Interchangeability
Feedback Feedback
Specialization Specialization
Discreteness Discreteness
Learnability Learnability
Stimulus freedom Prevarication
Semanticity
Design Definition Evidences
Feature
Human Language Animal
Communication
Arbitrariness No connection between form 1 and one Bee dancing (1)
(signifier) and meaning
(signified)
Productivity/ Ability to use lgg to say new Infinite set of In a very
open- things. utterances. limited range
endedness/ (See Washoe)
creativity
Duality A small number of meaningless t, o, p No evidence
units are combined to produce a Top, pot, opt
large number of meaningful
units
Displacement Ability to refer to events remote Humans can talk Bee dance
in time and space about past and
future events
Design Feature Definition Evidences
Human Language Animal
Communication
Tradition Lgg is passed from Language Limited in birds and
one generation to acquisition by bees
the other children
Learnability Ability to learn Humans can learn Birds learn the
other variants different languages songs of other
species.
Reflexiveness Ability to use Linguistic studies No evidence
language to discuss
language
Interchangeability The ability to dialogue Birds can go from
interchange roles in singing to listening
communication
Feedback Ability to monitor Correct their Birds may do
linguistic output speech
Design Feature Definition Evidences
Human Language Animal
Communication
Stimulus Freedom Ability to speak Humans lie, talk Fox and monkeys
when willing to not about things do not
as a result of a exist
stimulus
Specialization Lgg serves only the The barking of a
purpose of dog may be used
communication for other purposes
Discreteness Set of individual Phonemes, Birdsongs show a
units can be syllables, words limited sign of
combined to create discreteness
new ideas
Semanticity Ability to use a Different meaning Bee dance conveys
broad meaning conveyed in human meaning in a
language limited range
Functions of Language
• Emotional Expression
• Communicative Function
• Social Interaction
• Power of sound
• Control of Reality
• Recording facts
• Instrument of thought
• Expression of Identity
The Origin of Languages
• What was the first language spoken?
•
• Have all languages come from the same
language?
• What was the language spoken in the Garden
of Eden?
• When did the humans develop the ability of
speaking?
• When was writing invented?
• Where did the language come from?
For centuries people have speculated over the
origins of language. Crystal 2010
What myths are there in your community that
explain the origins of language?
• What is the world oldest language?
• Do languages have a common source?
• What was the language spoken in the Garden
of Eden?
•
We simply don’t know how language originated.
Yule 2010
Research on the origin of language was banned
because of its speculative character by the
Société Linguistique de Paris in 1871.
• Araki (2018)
• Early humans had developed musical abilities
before the development of speech. (Yule 2010)
• Language might have developed between 100,
000 to 50, 000 years ago.
Devine Source
• Christian Tradition
God created the human language
Book of Genesis
• Hindu Traditions
Sarasvati, the wife of Brahma the creator of the
universe created language
In most religions, there appears to be a divine
source who provides humans with language.
Yule 2010
• The Greek writer Herodotus reported the
story of an Egyptian pharaoh named
Psammetichus (or Psamtik) who tried the
experiment with two newborn babies more
than 2,500 years ago.
• Yule 2010
Herodotus (historian)
King Psamtik I (Egyptian Pharaop
• Bekos
• Bread in Phrysian (Turkey)
• Were the children simply babbling?
• Were they emitting the sound goats
produced? Be…….
James IV of Scotland
• Left two kids with a dumb woman
• They spoke Hebrew
Children of the Wild
Victor (11) unable to speak, understand and read
Kamala (8) ; (learnt some speech ,sign language)
Kaspar (17) (speech become quite advanced)
Genie (13). (learned quite well after discovery)
Tomko (?) learnt two languages
Critical Period Hypothesis
• The ability to develop normal behaviour and
knowledge does not continue indefinitely.
• Children who have never learnt a language
cannot do so if the deprivation goes on for too
long.
Theories of the Origins of
Language
Otto Jesperson (1860-1943)
• The bow-wow Theory (nature)
• The pooh-pooh theory (emotions)
• The ding-dong theory (world stimuli)
• The yo-he-ho theory (community work)
• The la-la theory (romance)
The Natural Sound Source Theory
The basic idea is that primitive words could have
been imitations of the natural sounds which
early men and women heard around them.
Yule (2010)
Natural Sound Source
• Bow-Wow Theory
(echoing of the world sounds)
• The Pooh-pooh Theory
(natural cries of emotion ;pain, anger and joy)
The ding-dong Theory
(stimulus response of the world around)
The Bow-Wow Theory
• Human speech came from the imitation of
environment and animal sounds.
Onomatopoeic words
Splash, bang, boom
The Pooh-pooh Theory
• Human speech came from instinctive sounds;
pain, anger and other emotions
The use of interjections
(ah, yeah, gosh,)
The ding-dong Theory
• Human speech arose as a reaction of the
stimulus of the world around them and
spontaneous produced sounds.
(sounds are oral gestures)
Bye-bye , ta ta (the lips waving good-bye)
Mama (lip movements as the mouth approaches
the breasts)
It has also been suggested that the original
sounds of language may have come from natural
cries of emotion such as pain, anger and joy.
Yule 2010
Social interaction Theory
• The yo-he-ho Theory
• The la-la Theory
The yo-he-ho Theory
• Human speech arose as a result of people
working together, their physical effort produced
communal sounds.
• The sounds of a person involved in physical
effort could be the source
language.
The la-la Theory
• Human speech arose from the romantic life.
People felt the need of expressing their feeling
to other.
The Genetic Source
• At birth, the baby’s brain weighs just a quarter
of its original weight;
• The larynx is much higher in the throat;
• In a relatively short period larynx descends,
• The brain develops,
• The child assumes an upright posture;
• Starts walking and talking.
-
• Children who are born deaf become fluent
sign language users in a very early stage of
their life.
Innateness Hypothesis
• This seems to indicate that human offspring
are born with a special capacity for language.
Language Source
• Monogenesis
(all lgg have originated from a common source)
• Polygenesis
(lggs emerged simultaneously in different places