Summary linguistics 3
Lerarenopleiding Engels, jaar 3
FLOT (Fontys Tilburg)
Book: The Study Of Language, 6th edition, George Yule
Samenvatting over de leerstof incl. voorbeelden, afbeeldingen en
begrippen.
Inhoud samenvattingen:
- Hoofdstuk 1 – the origins of language
- Hoofdstuk 2 – animals and human language
- Hoofdstuk 5 – word formation
- Hoofdstuk 6 – morphology
- Hoofdstuk 7 – grammar
- Hoofdstuk 8 – syntax
- Hoofdstuk 9 – semantics
- Hoofdstuk 10 – pragmatics
- Hoofdstuk 11 – discourse analysis
- Hoofdstuk 12 – language and the brain
- Hoofdstuk 13 – first language acquisition
- Hoofdstuk 14 – second language acquisition / learning
- Hoofdstuk 16 – written language
- Hoofdstuk 18 – regional variation in language
- Hoofdstuk 19 – social variation in language
- Hoofdstuk 20 – language and culture
,The origins of language – chapter 1
It is unknown how language is originated. What we do know is that the ability to produce sound and
simple vocal patterning appears to be in an ancient part of the brain that we share with all
vertebrates (fish, frogs, birds, other mammals). However, that isn’t human language.
We suspect that some type of spoken language must have developed between 100,000 and 50,000
years ago, well before written language.
The divine source
In most religions, there appears to be a divine source who provides humans with language. The basic
hypothesis seem to have been that, if human infants were allowed to grow up without hearing any
language around them, then they would spontaneously begin using the original God-given language.
‘Evidence’ points out that there is no ‘’spontaneous’’ language.
The natural sound source
The human auditory system is already functioning before birth. That early processing capacity
develops into an ability to identify sounds in the environment, allowing humans to make a
connection between sound and the thing producing sound. This leads to the idea that primitive
words derive from imitations of the natural sounds that early men and women heard around them.
The ‘’Bow-Wow’’ theory
In this scenario, when different objects flew by, making a caw-caw or coo-coo sound, the early
human tried to imitate the sounds and then used them to refer to those objects even when they
weren’t present.
Words that sound similar to the noises they describe are examples of onomatopoeia.
The ‘’Pooh-Pooh’’ theory
This theory proposed that speech developed from the instinctive sounds that people make in
emotional circumstances. That is, the original sounds of language may have come from natural cries
of emotion such as pain, anger and joy.
The expressive noises people make in emotional reactions contain sounds that are not otherwise
used in speech production and consequently would seem to be rather unlikely candidates as source
sounds for language.
The social interaction source
The ‘’yo-he-ho’’ theory; the idea is that the sounds of a person involved in physical effort could be
the source of our language, especially when that physical effort involved several people and the
interaction had to be coordinated. Thinks of hums, grunts, groans, curses, when people were lifting
lifeless mammoths.
The appeal of this proposal is that it places the development of human language in a social context.
Early people must have lived in groups for better protection. Communication is required in groups.
Sounds, then, would have some principled use in the social interaction of early human groups.
However, it does not reveal the origins of the sounds produced.
,The physical adaptation source
At an early age, ancestors made a transition to an upright posture, with pi-pedal (on two feet)
locomotion. This really changed how we breathe. Among two-legged creatures, the rhythm of
breathing is not tied to the rhythm of walking, allowing long articulations on outgoing breaths, with
short in-breaths.
Other physical changes have been found. They would not guarantee speech, but they are good clues
that a creature with such features has the capacity for speech.
Teeth and lips
Human teeth are upright and small. They are very helpful in making sounds such as f or v.
Human lips have much more intricate muscle interlacing. Their resulting flexibility certainly helps in
making sounds like p, b and m.
In fact, the b and m are the most widely attested in the vocalizations made by human infants during
their first year, no matter which language their parents are using.
Mouth and tongue
The human mouth is relatively small and can be opened and closed rapidly.
Humans have a shorter, thicker ad more muscular tongue than can be used to shape a wide variety
of sound inside the oral cavity.
Humans can close of the airway through the nose to create more air pressure in the mouth.
The overall effect of the small differences taken together is a face with more intricate muscle
interlacing in the lips and mouth, capable of a wider range of shapes and a more rapid and powerful
delivery of sounds produced through these different shapes.
Larynx and pharynx (strottenhoofd & keelholte)
The human larynx, or ‘’voice box’’ (containing the vocal folds) differs significantly in position to those
of other primates (aap achtige).
The assumption of an upright posture moved the head more directly above the spinal column and
the larynx dropped to a lower position. This created a longer cavity called the pharynx, above the
vocal folds, which acts as a resonator for increased range and clarity of the sounds produced via the
larynx.
One unfortunate consequence of the lower position of the larynx is the possibility to choke on food.
The tool-making source
A similar development to the physical adaption view is believed to have taken place with human
hands and some believe that manual gestures may have been a precursor of language. Things such as
tool making, or the outcome of manipulating objects and changing them using both hands, is
evidence of a brain at work two millions years ago.
The human brain
The human brain is not only large relative to human body size, it is also lateralized (it has specialized
functions in each of the two hemispheres).
, Those functions that control the motor movements involved in complex vocalization (speaking) and
object manipulation (making or using tools) are very close to each other in the left hemisphere of the
brain.
It may be that there was an evolutionary connection between the language-using and tool-using
abilities of humans and that both were involved in the development of the speaking brain. Research
has shown that the patterns of the blood flow to specific parts of the brain were very similar.
The human may have first developed a naming ability by consistently using one type of noise (beer).
The crucial additional step was to bring another specific noise (good) into combination with the first
to build a complex message (beer good). As far as we know, other primates are not doing this.
The genetic source
A baby goes through an automatic set of developments after birth ( the larynx descends, the child
assumes and upright posture and start walking and talking). Research has indicated that human
offspring are born with a special capacity for language. It is innate (aangeboren), no other creature
seems to have it and it is not tied to a specific variety of language.
The innateness hypothesis
The innateness hypothesis would seem to point to something in human genetics, possibly a crucial
mutation or two, as the source to the origins of language.
The study of human development has identified a number a gene mutations that relate to changes in
the human diet. These changes are believed to have enhanced blood flow in the brain, creating the
conditions for a bigger and more complex brain to develop.
The speculations about the origins of language are moving away from fossil evidence or the physical
source of basic human sounds towards analogies with how computers work (e.g. pre-programmed or
hard-wired). The investigation then turns into a search for the special ‘’language gene’’ that only
humans possess.
