THE ORIGINS OF LANGUAGE

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                                                              THE ORIGINS OF LANGUAGE

 We do not have any definite information about the origin of language. What we have only speculations about the origin of language. Human language must have originated during some period between 1,50,000 to 50,000 years. The Hindu belief is that language originated from Goddess Saraswathi. These are the divine source theories of language. There are also certain other theories about the origin of language. 

1. Bow-Wow theory: According to this theory, language began when our ancestors started imitating natural sounds. This based on onomatopoeia or sound suggesting the meaning.

 2. Ding Dong theory: According to this theory speech started in response to essential qualities of objects in environment. This theory was supported by Plato and pythagorus. 

3. La La theory: This was supported by Otto Jesperson. According to this theory, language developed from sounds associated with love, play and song. 

4. Pooh Pooh theory: According to this theory, human language began with interjections of natural cries of pain like oh….ouch….ah! etc., 

5. Ye He Ho theory: According to this theory language evolved with grunts and groans as part of physical labour. 

LANGUAGE AND ITS FEATURES:- One way of understanding what language is by identifying the special features of language. The following are the special features of language 

 Means of communication 

 Arbitrary nature

 A systems of systems 

 Primarily spoken 

 Different from Animal communication 

 A form of social behaviour

  Symbol system 

 Productivity 

 Interchangeability Six properties of core features of the human language: 

 Displacement 

 Arbitrariness

  Productivity 

 Cultural transmission 

 Discreteness

  Duality

 DEVELOPMENT OF GESTURE, SIGN, WORDS, SOUNDS, SPEECH AND WRITING:- 

Gesture:-

 It is reasonable that physical gesture involving the whole body was a means of showing a wide range of emotional states. Many physical gestures using body, hands and face are means of non-verbal communication or body language. Sign:- If we did not have the ability to speak. We would make signs like the deaf. Sign language uses the visual, manual, modality to convey meaning. We should not confuse between sign language and body language. There are three parts in sign language. They are: 

 The shape of the hands. 

 Position of the hands. 

 Movement of the hands. Words: Babbling by babies is an aspect of word development. The babbling shifts towards meaningful speech as the infants grow and produced their 1st words around the age of one year. Sounds:- The first sounds are heard on the early infancy. The ability to produce sounds develops gradually from birth to seven or eight years. After six months it turns to sounds and after six months it becomes babbling.

 Speech and Writing:-  

            The 1st evidence of writing goes back to 3200 BC in Sumerian civilization, Mesopotamia, Iraq. Speech has many dialects but modern writing has a single written form. Spoken language has continuous changes. But written language is slow in changes. Animals and Human language:- Human language is different from animal language. It is superior and the unique form of communication other creatures will not be able to develop and understand the special human language. Non-humans do not have a physically structured vocal tract which is suitable for producing human speech sounds. They cannot connect to the past and future.

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