What Is Language? Exploring Its Origins and Importance
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What Is Language? Exploring Its Origins and Importance
- 2. What Is Language? • A system for the communication, in symbols, of any kind of information. • Through language, people share their experiences, concerns, and beliefs and communicate these to the next generation.
- 3. The origins of language • No one knows exactly when or how human beings came up with spoken language. • One postulate is that language began between 100,000 and 50,000 years ago, with the advent (arrival) of modern man. • This is well before the invention of the written language, about 5,000 years ago. 01/20/17 3
- 4. • We do not know for sure when or why language originated in human beings. • There are different competing theories about its origins, some more reasonable than others. • We know that humans have the necessary physical characteristics to produce speech sounds and a unique ability to learn language. 01/20/17 4 The origins of language
- 5. The origins of language • Ability to produce sounds is located in an ancient (early) part of the brain which we share with all vertebrates (fish, birds, animals) • Spoken language probably developed between 100 000 and 50 000 years ago while writing only dates back to about 5 000 years ago => no direct evidence about the development of speech • A lot of assumptions about the origins of language.
- 6. The origin of language Theories Arguments for Arguments against Development The divine source (monogenetic) Suddenly The natural sound source (bow- wow/pooh-pooh) Existence of onomatopoeia Soundless things and abstract concepts Produced with intake of breath Gradually The social interaction source (yo-he-ho) Early humans lived in groups Other primates also live in groups and use grunts Gradually The physical adaptation source (teeth, lips, mouth, larynx & pharynx) There’s evidence for the evolutionary changes These changes would not themselves lead to speech production Gradually The tool-making source (brain) Accounts for structural organisation of language Gradually The genetic source (innateness theory) Automatic set of developments in young children Suddenly
- 7. • Physical features that distinguish humans from other creatures may have supported speech production • Evolutionary development resulted in partial adaptations making speech possible for early humans: – Teeth – Lips – Mouth – Tongue – Larynx – Pharynx The physical adaptation source
- 8. The Importance of Language • There are approximately 6,000 languages. • All languages are organized in the same basic way. • Spoken languages use sounds and rules for putting the sounds together. • Sign languages use gestures rather than sounds.
- 9. Why is language so important? • Because everybody knows that only we talk • Language makes long-term cumulative (growing) cultural evolution possible. • Language guides thinking and behavior by affecting people to see the world in a certain way. • A language is not simply an encoding process but is rather a shaping force.
- 10. • What is communication? – transmission of information – Suggesting, understanding, meaning – maintaining social contact • What is language? – a system of human communication using words Relationship of Language in Communication
- 11. Relationship of Language in Communication • Language is a vehicle of Communication. • Communication is the act of using language in order to convey a message, from one person to another, in an attempt to understand its meaning. Is the way of sending information between places, using computer telephones radios, etc.
- 12. Have something to say and say itHave something to say and say it as clearly as you can, that is theas clearly as you can, that is the only secret of style.only secret of style. -- Matthew ArnoldMatthew Arnold
Notas del editor
- The question of when and how language began is not an easy one to answer. We simply don’t know when humans invented language and started speaking. However, there are a significant number of theories as to what prompted our ancestors to have language. One of the widely accepted ideas/claims is that language came into existence between 100,000 and 50,000 thousand years ago. This is the time that marks the emergence of the modern man, homo sapiens sapiens. We know that spoken language existed long before writing (written language) was invented. The good thing about writing is that we have concrete evidence on when it began; however, it is not possible to find conclusive evidence about when humans started to speak. So there is no consensus on its ultimate origin or age. That means we will never find any fossilized words buried somewhere, nor will we find our ancestors in graves buried with recording devices. It is probably for this reason that the hypotheses about the origins of language are abundant. Some of them are amusing and rather baseless while some others are more serious and scientific. Let’s have a look at some of them. Cro-magnon man: It is an informal name used to describe the first early modern humans (i.e. homo sapiens sapiens). The earliest known remains of Cro-Magnon-like humans are dated to 43,000/30,000 before present time. One of the earliest and best established fossils is at least equal in physique and brain capacity to the modern man. They were skilled hunters, toolmakers and artists famous for the cave art. Did they also have language? Another hypothesis is that humans started speaking before they left Africa. Click languages are regarded as the earlier forms of languages. If so, language dates back to at least 100,000 or 150,000 years ago.
- To give a snapshot of what we have seen so far; 1. We simply don’t know when language began, nor could we be sure of the conditions that caused its emergence. 2. We have talked about various theories that account for the origins of language. We have not seen an exhaustive list of what language origins may be. There are other theories to consider. 3. However, we do know that human beings are endowed with the necessary physical and mental capacity to learn and speak a language.