1 + 2 - Origins and Characteristics of Human Language

Question 1

What is the bow-wow theory for the origin of human language?

Answer 1

Words derived from humans imitating natural sounds

Question 2

What is the pooh-pooh theory for the origin of human language?

Answer 2

Speech derived from natural sounds expressing emotions such as anger, pain, joy (e.g. ouch, yuck)

Question 3

What is the social interaction (yo-he-ho) theory for the origin of human language?

Answer 3

Sounds derived from set of hums, grunts, groans etc involved in sharing physical effort to coordinate activities between humans

Question 4

What is the physical adaptation theory for the origin of human language?

Answer 4

• Physical features and capacity to produce sounds
• Teeth and lips, mouth and tongue, larynx (containing vocal folds/cords) and pharynx (cavity above vocal folds - resonator)

Question 5

What is the tool making theory for the origin of human language?

Answer 5

• Evolutionary connection between tool making, using 1 object to manipulate another and combining sounds to produce more complex messages
• 2 hemispheres of the brain with specialised functions - close proximity of brain functions controlling motor movements required for both vocalisation and object manipulation

Question 6

What is the genetic source theory for the origin of human language?

Answer 6

Innate hypothesis: humans born with capacity for language

Question 7

What is the human language characteristic ‘displacement’?

Answer 7

When people can talk about things and events not present in the immediate environment (in the past and future)

Question 8

What is the human language characteristic ‘arbitrariness’?

Answer 8

Connection between a linguistic form (word) and its meaning

Question 9

What is the human language characteristic ‘cultural transmission’?

Answer 9

Specific language not ‘inherited’ but acquired in specific cultural setting

Question 10

What is the human language characteristic ‘productivity/creativity/generativity’?

Answer 10

A property of language that allows users to create new expressions

Question 11

What is the human language characteristic ‘duality/double articulation’?

Answer 11

A property of language whereby linguistic forms have 2 simultaneous levels of sound production and meaning

Question 12

What is the human language characteristic ‘reflexivity’?

Answer 12

A special property of human language that allows language to be used to think and talk about language itself

Question 13

What is Grimm’s law?

Answer 13

Set of rules describing the regular patterns of changes in closely related languages

Question 14

What are cognates?

Answer 14

Words in different languages with similar form and meaning (e.g. English ‘friend’ and German ‘freund’)

Question 15

What is comparative reconstruction?

Answer 15

• Comparing cognates, sound reconstruction, word reconstruction
• Recreation of the original form of an ancestor language on the basis of comparable forms in languages that are descendants

Question 16

What is the majority principle?

Answer 16

Set of cognates: three words begin with a [p] sound, one with a [b] sound, we assume that the majority have retained the original sound

Question 17

What is the most natural development principle?

Answer 17

Certain types of sound changes are very common, changes in other direction unlikely

• Final vowels often disappear (vino -> vin)
• Voiceless sounds become voiced, often between vowels (muta -> muda)
• Stops become fricatives (ripa -> riva)
• Consonants become voiceless at the end of words (rizu -> ris)