Presented by: Avinash Singh Bagri (2009MT50541) UG Student, Mathematics and Computing Department, IIT Delhi

By

age four, most humans develop an ability to communicate through oral language

By age six or seven, most humans can comprehend, as well

as express, written thoughts

These unique abilities of communicating through a native

language clearly separate humans from all animals

The obvious question then arises, where did we obtain this

distinctive trait?

 The origin of language, in linguistics is known as

glottogony
Refers to the acquisition of the ability to use language

by an earlier stage in the evolution of mankind

Presumes that Homo sapiens evolved from some non-

human ancestor who did not possess language capabilities

 Anthropological/ Linguistics Hypothesis 1. Thoughts of Various Linguists 2. Contrasting Theories

Mythical Beliefs
Many societies throughout history believed that language is the gift of the gods to humans.

 The body movements preceded

language. Language began as an unconscious vocal imitation of these movements humans, but it is definitely true that language and human society are inseparable

It can't be proven that language is as old as

Charles Darwin stated that as far as

concerns language, Shakespeare walks with the Macedonian swineherd, and Plato with the wild savage of Assam. languages

He indicates about the complexities of the

 Language comes into existence

suddenly as a mutation so it is not very important to talk about

One inherits it by default or

natural law
Noam Chomsky A linguist and Professor Emeritus of Linguistics at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology

Origin cant really be known

Syntactic structure is key

 Language as an innate

faculty of mind
Humans have a common

universal grammar
Language is an "instinct" or
Steven Arthur Pinker is a prominent psychologist, Professor in the Deptt. of Psychology at Harvard University

biological adaptation shaped by natural selection

 According to D. Bickerton, The

origin of Language seemed to many, a paradox.

D.

Bickerton suggested that the language was first and foremost a system of representation

Dr. Derek Bickerton A linguist and Professor Emeritus at the University of Hawaii, Manoa

To find out how language, with all its

complexities, evolved, it is necessary to look at how systems of representation evolved

 The

origin of multiple human languages is provided in the Tower of Babel

Following a Great Flood Noah and

his family stepped off the ark and spoke one language and passed it on further
The Tower of Babel

The Babel account suggests that

several languages came into existence as a miraculous intervention by the God Yahweh

 Like few other mythologies

they also talk of a Great Flood

Certain

Native American tribes tell of a deluge which came over the Earth and submerged every part of it the water subsides, various explanations are given for the new diversity in speech

Dor's The Deluge. Man and beast take refuge on an isolated rock during the Great Flood, a feature of creation myths from around the world

After

 Only a man, Coxcox, and a woman, Xochiquetzal,

survived
They begot many children who were at first born

unable to speak
But later were gifted with language by a dove Each one was given a different speech such that they

could not understand one another

 A similar flood is described by the Kaska people from

North America
Before the flood, there was all but one centre and

spoke one language

There are many different centres of population, the

many tribes and the many languages

They did not know where the other people lived. Long

afterwards, they discovered there are others who speak other languages

 In Ancient Greece myth Zeus ruled men for ages and

they spoke one language

The god Hermes brought diversity in speech and along

with it separation into nations and discord ensued

In Norse mythology, the faculty of speech is a gift from

the third son of Borr, who gave also hearing and sight

 In

Hindu and Vedic mythology, Saraswati Ji also referred as Vac is the goddess of language, writing and writing-systems

She is the source of voice

Created Vedic Sanskrit, one

of the oldest languages

 As

per Hindu mythology the creator god Bramha brought about the differences in language

The Knowledge tree which gave

shelter to all humans prevented from sepration

and

To punish the pride of a tree, he

cut off its branches which resulted in dispersion of people and distinction in languages

 In South Australia, people of Encounter Bay tell a story of

how diversity in language came about from cannibalism:

In remote time an old woman, named Wurruri lived

towards the east and generally walked with a large stick in her hand, to scatter the fires around which others were sleeping of Australia revelled and feasted on her flesh

When Wurruri at length died, people from different parts

Another group of Australian aboriginals, the Gunwinggu,

tell of a goddess in dreamtime giving each of her children a language of their own to play with

 Language is given by the god Pluga to the first man and

woman at their union following a great deluge

The language given was called bojig-yb

According to the inhabitants it is the "mother tongue" from

which all other languages have been made

Their beliefs hold that even before the death of the first man Puluga provided each of his offspring with a different

language when they left for different parts of country

 We discussed about two theories/ hypothesis/ beliefs Neither can be disproved or proved

Very debatable issue

Even anthropologists differ in their views

 http://thebrain.mcgill.ca/flash/capsules/outil_rouge0

6.html http://www.wikipedia.org/ http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Steven_Pinker http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Language_Instinct