MS Applied Linguistics Program Humanities Department-NEDUET

Course: Introduction to linguistics (HS-410) Course Instructor:Ms. Sidra Awan Week 01

1. Enlist different views of the origin of language with specific reference to the divine source.
S.no. Title Details

1 Biblical God created Adam and whatsoever Adam called every living creature that was
tradition the name thereof.
2 Hindu Language came from Saravati wife of Brahma creator of universe.
tradition
3

2. Mention different experiments which have been conducted to explore the divine origin of language.
S.No. Title of the Experiment Procedure Result

1 Egyptian Pharaoh He kept two new born babies in Children never uttered any word
Psammetichus isolation with the company of except the word ‘bekos’ meaning
goats and mute shepherd. bread.

2 King James Children spoke Hebrew when left Hebrew was language of garden of
isolation Eden , that is why they started
speaking Hebrew

3. Write down the details of different theories which suggest that language has a natural-sound source.
S.no. Theories Details

1 Bow-wow theory
2 Yo-heave-ho
It says that first human language from natural sounds which they heard
around them. Example bird making caw-caw sound, splash, bang described
as onomatopoeia.
And Language have come from natural cries of emotion, pain , fear and joy.
Examples : wow, uh, oh, ah!, yuck!
Language has come lifting heavy objects or doing any physical work which
required a lot of efforts.

4. Write down the details of oral-gesture theory.

Title Specified physical and oral gestures Example

Oral-gesture It says that evolution of sounds involves connection Waving hand while saying
theory between physical gestures and orally produced sounds. goodbye.
Most of our physical gestures are means of
communication .

5. How did Yule (1996) refer to the some distinctive physical features which enable human beings to
talk?
MS Applied Linguistics Program Humanities Department-NEDUET
Course: Introduction to linguistics (HS-410) Course Instructor:Ms. Sidra Awan Week 01
Humans have upright posture with two feet and a revised role for front limbs.

6. What are the functions of the following articulators?

S.no. Articulators Functions
1 Teeth Ripping or tearing food and for chewing it.
2 Lips Flexibility in making sounds like ‘p’ and ‘b’
3 Tongue Shape a wide variety of sounds
4 Larynx It is voice box.
5 Pharynx Acts as resonator for increased range and clarity of sounds.

7. Which two functions of language use are described by Yule (1996)? How do they differ from each
other?
S.no. Functions Difference
1

8. Discuss the analogy of language-using as a tool-using. Why did Yule (1996) assert this comparison?
Human hands and manual gestures may have been ancestor of language , humans developed right
handedness and had become capable of making stone tools. Human brain is divided into two hemispheres
one controls the motor movements.

9. What are the reasons behind the following sources as being insufficient in terms of the exploration of
the exact origin of language?
S.no. Sources
1 The divine source
2 The natural-sound source
3 The oral-gesture source
Reasons
It is practically impossible and if it is so then no human can learn a
language without interaction . This is just what people believe to be and
can’t happen in real world.
If languages developed by natural sound sources then how come can
there be such unique words and sounds in many different languages ?
why don’t a language have limited words then?
Just gestures aren’t enough and one gesture can mean two things
simultaneously too.

4 Glossogenetics
5 Physical Adaptation
It is only true for humans because larynx of animals differs from that of
humans it has upright posture that moved the head more directly above
spinal column and larynx dropped a lower position.
Humans have different physical features from animals e.g humans are
bipedal