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Learn about the five most common explanations of how language began, from imitating natural sounds to expressing emotions, and their limitations and challenges. Find out how linguists and researchers are trying to discover the true origin of language with new insights and methods.
Much earlier, Medieval Muslim scholars developed theories on the origin of language. Their theories were of five general types: Naturalist: There is a natural relation between expressions and the things they signify. Language thus emerged from a natural human inclination to imitate the sounds of nature.
assume that a language is only a set of words used as “names” for things. The “pooh-pooh” theory Another of Jespersen’s nicknames was the “pooh-pooh” theory, which proposed that speech developed from the instinctive sounds people make in emotional circum-stances. That is, the original sounds of language may have come from natural ...
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- The bow-wow theory. The idea that speech arose from people imitating the sounds that things make: Bow-wow, moo, baa, etc. Not likely, since very few things we talk about have characteristic sounds associated with them, and very few of our words sound anything at all like what they mean.
- The pooh-pooh theory. The idea that speech comes from the automatic vocal responses to pain, fear, surprise, or other emotions: a laugh, a shriek, a gasp.
- The ding-dong theory. The idea that speech reflects some mystical resonance or harmony connected with things in the world. Unclear how one would investigate this.
- The yo-he-ho theory. The idea that speech started with the rhythmic chants and grunts people used to coordinate their physical actions when they worked together.
May 2, 2018 · Theories of language origin and evolution have been deeply influenced by this interdisciplinary discussion, making the notion of “action” a very important attractor in the theory space concerning how language emerged and evolved.
Sep 26, 2013 · Abstract. The most important is that it provides a good test for linguistic theories. It considers some current scenarios of the emergence of language. Some assume that language is a culturally evolved system of symbolic communication (Washburn; Dawkins; Byrne and Whiten; Donald; Deacon; Li and Hombert; Zuberbühler and Byrne; Dessalles; Kirby ...
