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re-do: week 6-7 lecture notes (pt. 1) - Coggle Diagram
re-do: week 6-7 lecture notes (pt. 1)
questions to note
is there a very first language?
is there a connection between human and animal communication?
or is human language completely unrelated to animal communication?
there are some religious explanations of the origin on human language
humans (with only one language) built the babylon tower (?) to try and reach god
god wasn't happy about that
he made it so that there were multiple languages, and the tower disappeared completely
religious explanations can be iffy because it's often that we can "talk" about it, but not discuss it
humans created the explanation; not god
linguistic society of paris decided to ban all presentations on the origin of human language in
1866
Noam Chomsky (1960)
regarded the origin of human language as something of "evolutionary biology"
so there would've been a time of no human language; according to him
remember for midterm 2: the paradox
human language is triggering cognitive development
however, human acquisition can be achieved by anyone; including people with low IQ
we can also learn human language through just interaction with family and friends; and that would be adequate
remember these hypotheses for the origin of human language (from the 19th century)
the "bow wow" theory
humans basically just imitated sounds from their surroundings - especially animals around them
however, the issue with this theory is that there are not many objects that produce sounds
"pooh pooh" theory
the theory that the origin of words is from "emotion-carrying" grunts, sounds of exertion, relief, etc.
some sounds may be universal
this is difficult to prove true because it doesn't explain any labeling of objects
"ding dong" theory
theory that the origin of words come from vocal expression
imitating sounds like a cat meowing, or when a tree falls; to describe events
"yo he ho" theory
humans were hunting animals that were bigger than humans themselves were
they were successful sometimes because they cooperated together
and cooperation needs language
cooperation needs communication
this explains why we might need language; but doesn't get to the core of where language came from (originated)
language coming from the need to communicate with each other to survive
"la la" theory
theory that says that language was first developed from song
reasons for song can vary from sexual attraction, and accompaniment to other physical activities
flaw: still doesn't explain how human language was created or developed
another flaw is that "song" can be made from no particular lyrics
sound symbolism hypothesis
has interesting rules
(maybe) each sound has (or referred to) its own meaning
certain combinations of vowels and consonants can be attractive
for example, for coffee shop names
there are some similarities between the vowels and consonants of successful coffee shop names
types of evidence (that is logical)
humans have a domed tongue in an L-shaped oral cavity
this is why humans can make a wide range of sounds
especially vowels
the downside is that humans are more likely to choke to death than other apes
baby apes cannot die of choking
so never lay down a baby on its back when it is breast feeding
they can choke
neanderthals could not make vowel sounds either
genetic evidence
the gene
FOXP2
was discovered in the late 20th century
this gene provides the ability to develop speech
also connects with the ability to understand and use the understanding of language
T
doesn't make us talk
if you inherit this gene in a bad way, you will have difficulty in:
giving a list of words that start with the same letter
because of the effects of the defects, people could figure out what is the function of the gene
making linguistic connections between words (like derivations)
for example: to teach - a teacher
moving facial muscles to produce fluent speech
developing the
broca's area
left side of broca's area is responsible for some functions of the human language
understanding and producing language
T
main idea of what this gene affects greatly
this gene is also responsible for the facial muscles
sign language cannot be taught as a "mother tongue" (very first language)
because it is practically a translation of vocal languages
a way to find the origin of a language is to look for primitive languages
for example, going to the jungle and searching for tribes
started huge research, going to the amazon river...
however, linguists were not successful
because
there are no primitive languages
turns out what we call "primitive" languages, actually have complex systems, like grammatical structures
"primitive languages" are as complex as "modern" languages
"primitive languages" can cope in the modern world
they can develop vocabulary to talk about anything (so long as both parties want to talk about a topic)
at least, no evidence
80% of words are borrowed
if you isolated a person from society and didn't speak to them, and only fed, and helped them physically survive, they would be practically speechless (experiment)
they wouldn't "discover" or create a new language
no communication
people had a mistaken belief that language is learned in isolation...
"pidgin" is created when two different cultures meet; and have no way to learn each other's languages