THE ORIGINS

OF
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Chewing ,licking and sucking are extremely widespread

mammalian activities, which , in terms of causal
observation , have obvious similarities with speech.

-MacNeilage(1998)
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TRUE OR FALSE
Humans and animals produce
sounds which is located in an
ancient part of the brain.
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TRUE
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• Ability to produce sounds is

located in an ancient part of the
brain which we share with all
vertebrates (fish, frogs, birds,
mammals)
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• 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
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• A lot of speculation about the

origins of language, but little
known about the topic
little physical evidence on
language our ancestors used
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TRUE OR FALSE
Languages originated from a
single source and are thus
monogenetic theories of
language origin
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FALSE
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Where do you think

language
comes from?
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The Divine Source

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• In most religions, a divine source gives

language to the humans
• Nearly all divine theories believe that
languages originated from a single
source and are thus monogenetic
theories of language origin
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• Over the ages, people carried

out experiments to rediscover
this original, God-given
language
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TRUE OR FALSE
If human infants grow up in
isolation, they will automatically
begin to use the original God-
given language.
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FALSE
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-Egyptian Pharaoh-Psammetichus
-experiment-two new born babies -2,500 years ago

Phrygian word
“bekos”-bread
BEKOS
Be
bed
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Psammetichus (Egyptian pharaoh) let two newborn

babies grow up in the company of only goats and a
mute shepherd 2 500 years ago
– they are reported to have started saying the
Phrygian (Turkey) word ‘bekos’ (bread) = original
language?
– however, it is more likely that the children imitated
the sounds they heard the goats make
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King James of Scotland carried out similar

experiment around 1 500
– the children are reported to have started
speaking

Hebrew = original language?

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BUT: Children discovered

living in isolation do not
confirm these findings but
grow up with no language at
all
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• Criticism: Divine source is

impossible to prove/disprove
and the ‘first language’ is
impossible to reconstruct!!
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• Plato argues that a legislator gave

the correct, natural names to all
things
• In many religions, only “special”
languages may be used in prayers
and rituals
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Imitations of natural sound

which early men and
women heard around them
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Natural Sound
Source
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The Natural Sound Source

-primitive words Coo-coo-cuckoo
could have been
imitations of Splash
natural sound Bang
which early men Boom
and women Rattle
heard around Buzz
them Hiss
-Bow-wow
theory
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-The imitations of sounds were then used to

refer to the things associated with the relevant
sound (onomatopoeia still exist in our
language today: splash, rattle, boom, ...!)
• For example, when a bird flew by making the
sound ‘coo-coo’, it would be called ‘cuckoo’.
• Criticism?
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Criticism: how would soundless things

and abstract concepts have been referred
to??

Criticism: Language is more than only a

set of names
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Original sounds may have started as

natural cries of emotion such as pain,
anger and joy (pooh-pooh theory)

• Criticism?
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Original sounds may have

started as natural cries of
emotion such as pain, anger
and joy
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pooh-pooh
theory
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Criticism: these are produced with sudden

intakes of breath, which is not the case for
ordinary speech!! emotional reactions
contain sounds not otherwise used in speech
production
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The Social Interaction Source

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1. yo-he-ho
Language arose out of the
rhythmical grunts of people
working together, involved in
physical effort that has to be
coordinated
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yo-he-ho
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1. yo-he-ho
• Language arose out of the
rhythmical grunts of people working
together, involved in physical effort
that has to be coordinated (yo-he-ho
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• Early humans may have developed a set of grunts,

groans and curses used when lifting and carrying
trees/mammoths
• Makes sense as early humans must have lived in
groups, which require some form of organization and
hence communication to maintain
 development of language placed in a social context
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Criticism: apes and other

primates also live in groups
and use grunts etc without
having developed the capacity
for speech!!
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Language originated from

song as an expressive
rather than a
communicative need
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la-la
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2. la-la
• Language originated from song as an
expressive rather than a communicative
need
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The physical adaptation source

Early ancestors
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Homo erectus (from Africa to

Europe & Asia) – originated 1.8
million years ago – extinct 0.5
million years ago
– hunter-gatherer – tool-making
– able to control fire
– brain size increased
– not capable of producing sounds of
complexity comparable to modern
speech
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Homo Neanderthalensis
– Brain size increased
– average 1412 c.c. (homo sapiens;
1487 c.c.)
– consonant-like sound
distinctions
– 35 000 years ago
– features emerge that resemble
homo sapiens
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• Answer question by looking at physical features

that distinguish humans from other creatures
• Transition to upright posture & bipedal
locomotion => front limbs free
• Differences between skull of gorilla and
Neanderthal => Neanderthal may have been able to
produce some consonant-like sounds
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• Fossilised skeletal structures that begin to

resemble modern humans => partial adaptations
that appear relevant for speech => features are more
streamlined compared to other primates

• Features themselves may not have triggered

speech but give good indication that the creatures
possessing them were capable of speech
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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
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TEETH
• Upright position, not slanting outwards like those of apes
• Roughly even in height
• Good for grinding and chewing
• Very helpful in making sounds such as ‘f ’ or ‘v’
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LIPS
• More intricate muscle
interlacing
• More flexible
• Capable of a wider range of
shapes
• Suitable for making sounds
such as ‘p’ or ‘b’
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MOUTH AND TONGUE

• Relatively small mouth compared to
other primates: can be opened and
closed more rapidly
• Smaller, thicker and more muscular
tongue that can be used to shape a
wide variety of sounds
• Airway through the nose can be
closed off to create more air pressure
in the mouth
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LARYNX AND PHARYNX

• Larynx is “voice box” in
your throat containing the
vocal folds or vocal chords
• Due to upright position,
head moved directly above
the spinal column and
larynx dropped to a lower
position
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• As a result, the pharynx

(cavity above the vocal
folds, acts as resonator)
became longer
increased range and
clarity of sounds
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• Disadvantage: due to lower

position of pharynx, humans
may choke more easily on
food
ability to speak must have
outweighed this
disadvantage for humans
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Criticism: Certain birds and

parrots are able to also produce a
wide variety of sounds
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The Tool Making Source

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1. hands
• Humans started making tools and manipulating objects
using both hands

• Manual gestures may have been a precursor of language: oral

gesture theory

• Bringing words together like bringing two rocks together to

make a tool
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2.brain
• The functions for object manipulation and for speaking are very
close to each other in the left hemisphere of the brain
(lateralization)
 there may have been an evolutionary connection between the
use of tools and the use of language in early humans
• This theory allows for structural organization inherent to all
language (even sign languages), not only articulation of sounds to
denote objects
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The Genetic Source

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• Young babies go through developments: small brain, larynx

higher in throat => changes take place => Almost automatic set
of development

• Even children who are born deaf become fluent speakers of a

sign language claim that human offspring are born with a special
capacity for language (innateness theory)

• Capacity for language genetically hard-wired into newborn

humans?
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• This applies to all language in general, not one

specific language
• Crucial mutation in human genetics, special
“language gene” that only humans possess
• This would mean that language did not result
from a gradual change but happened rather quickly
as a crucial genetic mutation (unlike physical
adaptation, for example)
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• No certainty when this genetic change

might have taken place and how it may
relate to physical adaptation
• If we have a special gene for language, can
other creatures also learn language?
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