سوري ع التأخير ::
Lecture 1 :
The origins of language :
n Darwin’s vision [ Early humans developed musical ability before language and were using it to charm each other ]
n No one is sure or knows exactly how language originated because of :
- the absence of direct physical evidence or artifacts related to our ancestors .
§ The ability to produce sound and simple vocal patterns ( a hum, Shsh, grunt,…. ) by humans is not considered as human language.
§ spoken language develop between 100,000 and 50,000 years ago .
§ Written language is believed to develop 50,000 years ago.
§ The different between language & a language.
§ - Language refers to human languages in general
§ - A language refers to a specific language
First sourse :
The Divine Source::
· In most religions, there appears to be a divine source who provides humans with language.
§ The basic hypothesis [ If human infants were allowed to grow up without hearing any language, they would spontaneously begin using the original god-given language]
§ Psamtik( an Egyptian Pharoh ) His experiment [ Two newborn babies were isolated for two years except the company of goats and mute shepherd .he said that Phrygian must be the original language .
§ Phrygian = An older language spoken in part of modern Turkey
§ James; the 4th said that in same experiment that the children began speaking “ Hebrew”, the language of the Garden of Eden.
§ If young children were living without access to human language , they’d grow with no language at all.
§ if human language did emanate from a divine source, we have no way of reconstructing that original language.
Second source ::
The Natural Sound Source::
The basic idea of Natural sound source:
· early people imitated the natural sounds they heard around them .
· All modern languages have some words with pronunciations that seem to echo sounds that occur naturally .
· - Bow-Wow Theory: Words with pronunciations that seem to echo sounds that occur naturally)
Onomatopoeia: Words that sound similar to the noises they describe “ hiss, Shsh, ouch, …
- Interjections : sounds produced with sudden intake breath such as “ ouch!, ah!, wow!, Yuck”.
Third source ::
The Social Interaction Source
“Yo-he-ho” theory”: The person’s sounds involved in physical effort and several people could be the source of our language where the interactions had to be coordinated.
· A group of people develop a set of hums, grunts, groans and curses when working ]
· Apes and primates live in social groups and use grunts and special social calls, but haven’t developed the capacity for speech.
4th source ::
The Social Interaction Source ::
people had to live in groups , and had principled and organized communication.
· - Apeslive in social groups and use grunts and special social calls, but haven’t developed the capacity for speech.
5th source :
The Physical Adaptation Source ::
This view concerns the physical features that humans possess which are different from other creatures and relevant for speech production.
· Human teeth:: [ not useful for ripping or tearing food but suitable for chewing.. making f & v ]
· Human lips:: flexible …p & b.
· Human tongue [ It is small, thicker and can be used to shape a wide variety of sound
· Human larynx or voice box :: It contains the vocal cords or vocal folds .
· Human Pharynx :: it is above the vocal cords .
6th source :
The Tool-Making Source ::
- The human brain is lateralized. That means each hemisphere or part of the brain dominates or has specialized functions .
· there is a connection between the language- using and tool-using abilities .
· humans produce single noises to indicate objects in their environment.
7th source ::
The genetic Source::
· The baby’s brain is only a quarter of its normal weight
· - The larynx is much higher in the throat
- Innateness Hypothesis :: means that human offspring are born with genetically innate capacity for language.
- There is a special “ language gene” that only humans possess.