Running Head: Origins of Language

Origins of Language

Ricardo Serrano Antúnez

Universidad Autónoma de Aguascalientes

Origins of language

Language is the main mean in which we can establish communication.

But, when did language started? To answer this question we must know first its

definition. Language by the literal definition means: a system of communication

with other people using sounds, symbols and words in order to express some

meaning, ideas or thoughts. According to W Nelson Francis, at his publishing of

“The structure in American English” language is: “An arbitrary system of

articulated sounds made use of by a group of humans as a means of carrying

on the affairs of their society” As said before, the language is can be used in

many forms and to state several things. Using sounds we can affirm some

opinions. The body language is another manner of communications, which

leads us to the main topic of this essay.

Throughout the years, we as humans have been in the necessity to

generate a system in which we can communicate. At certain age, the humans

are able to figure out written messages; such ability accentuates the difference

between animals and humans. Back in the time when the humans were still

developing their minds, they communicate each other by grunting, hitting logs,

nodding heads, grimacing and even we can thought about hitting with clubs in

the others head to express that you want the same thing.

This is when we start to talk about the beginnings of language. There are

several sources that might prove their point about the origin of language. The

first source that we are going to talk about is, “The Divine Source”. This source
Running Head: Origins of Language

establishes that god, as well as he created the man, he also created the

language. In the biblical tradition, God created Adam and “whatsoever Adam

called every living creature; that was the name thereof”. Alternatively, following

a Hindu tradition, language came from Sarasvati, wife of Brahma, creator of the

universe. In most religions, there appears to be a divine source that provides

humans with language. If we put a child in a scenario in which he would not be

able to talk with any other human, he will, spontaneously; will learn how to talk

and to express himself. Several years ago, a pharaoh named Psammetichus

made an experiment with a pair of newborn babies. After a couple years that

the children spent with goats and a mute shepherd, they were able to speak a

word that sounded like bread. However, as incredible this might sound; it seems

impossible to happen.

Numerous years later, another experiment of this kind took place in the

year of 1500 by the king James the Fourth of Scotland. The children started to

talk in Hebrew. But all other children who were living in the same situation did

not confirm the results that the “Divine Source” explains. These children were

living in conditions which involve isolation and had no contact with human

speech.

This source gives place to “The Pop Theory”. Since nobody knows how

many languages exist in the world with precision, due to the difficulty of

distinguish the dialects, sub-languages from the main language of each zone.

Also when the “Divine Source” topic is placed on the table, the Babel’s Tower

comes to our minds too. The Babel’s tower’s history explains that when a
Running Head: Origins of Language

generation rejected God’s instructions to spread out over the planet, God

miraculously intervened and started the major language groupings of the human

race. And what does the “Pop Theory” has to do with the Babel’s tower? Well,

during that day, several languages emerge from the God’s intervention.

Restating the point that the couple of children that were living in

seclusion and apart from human contact, we can pass to the next source. When

we talk about “The Natural Sound Source”, the first thing that comes to our

minds is that the language began when our ancients imitated the animal

sounds. But this source makes clear that the ancient men imitated sounds from

the nature such as “splash, boom, buzz or even screech”. For example, if some

animal pass by a human and made certain sound, the human would try to

imitate the sound that the animal did. And if another object passed by the

human making a different sound the human would try to imitate that sound

making emphasis or pointing the object, stating that the sound belongs to the

object and not to the animal.

This is when the “bow-wow” theory takes place. This theory states that

language began when the humans imitated natural sounds and the sounds from

the animals like: moo, choo-choo, crash, clang, bang, etc… in other words, this

theory is referred as onomatopoeic or echoism. Another theory that can be

related with the “Natural Sound Source” could be the “pooh-pooh theory”. Such

theory establishes that the language was originated from the ancient humans’

emotions such as anger, joy and sadness. The sounds were initiated when the

ancient humans used the interjections to communicate with each other. By

using the instinctive emotions such as fear or pain, the interjections like “oh!” or

“ouch!” appeared.

Although that another theory called “The Yo-he-ho Theory” is quite

different from the “Bow-wow Theory” the latest might be a derivation from the so

called “Bow-wow Theory”. The “Yo-he-ho Theory” establishes that the language

was created from rhythmic chants or even from the grunts from the heavy work.

To state a point from the “Yo-he-ho Theory” we have the movie snow white in

which the dwarfs came out from the mine singing.

The “Oral Gesture Source” affirms that the human language began when

the body, hands and face was the instrument to communicate with each other.

The “Oral-gesture Theory” by Sir Richard Paget (1930) says:

“Movement precedes language. Language began as an unconscious

vocal imitation of these movements.”

Placing us in a scenario in which there is no language at all, take us to

the necessity to express ourselves. Maybe, back in the days when the ancient

humans were carrying some hard duties they moved their mouth trying to catch

the attention of the surrounding mates. For example; when a child moves his

mouth while cutting something with the scissors or when somebody moves his

mouth when playing the drums, we can see how the “Ta-ta Theory” acts in this

examples.
Running Head: Origins of Language

But when did language started? No one knows for sure how the

language was created, why it was created or even if language meant something

else in the past days. Something that is for sure is that spoken language

developed the written forms of communication. There are a lot of theories that

might guess where the language came from. We sure know that language is a

system created for the purpose of communication between humans. But what

we don not know for sure is “when”.

Reference list:

Schendl H., 2003. Historical Linguistics: Oxford Introductions to Language

Study. Oxford University Press. p: 6-34, 76-85.

Jenkinson E. B., 1967. What is Language? And another teaching units for

grades seven through twelve. Indiana University Press. p: 6-19.

Disney W., Hand D., 1937, Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs. USA:

Walt Disney Studios

Foster D. & Turman L.,. Gottlieb C., 1981, Caveman. USA: Metro

Goldwyn Mayer.

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