ORIGINS OF LANGUAGE_Eva Cuji

Theories of the origins of language

The divine source of language

• Argues that Language is a present of God because he created all living things.
• It's a theory accepted mainly by religious people.

The natural sound source

Initial words probably are the result of the imititation of the natural sounds. Humans imitated animals sounds to identify specific creatures

The bow-bow theory

Human languages originated from onomatopoeic words that mimic the sounds of entities or actions to which they refer.

Social interaction source

YO-HE-HO theory

• Language was develop in social context
• It's born from the need of human beings to communicate with others

Physical adaptation source

• Humans communicated as a result of an evolutionary process.
• The speech organs evolved over time and that is how languge originated

The genetic source

• Humans born with the capacity to speech
• This ability is innate
• Chomsky argues that language is partly innate and partly acquired.