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Five Theories on the Origins of Language. Pedro Saura. By. Richard Nordquist. Updated on June 29, 2020. What was the first language? How did language begin—where and when? Until recently, a sensible linguist would likely respond to such questions with a shrug and a sigh.
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.
Investigating in depth the mechanisms underlying human and non-human primate intentional communication systems (involving gestures, vocalisations, facial expressions and eye behaviours) can shed light on the evolutionary roots of language.
