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J. JOHN SEKAR
THE AMERICAN COLELGE

Theories on the Origin of Language

1 Introduction
1.1 There had been innumerable stories about origin,
development and reasons behind diversity in languages today.
The myths have similarities, recurring themes, and differences
passed on to successive generations through oral tradition.
Recurring themes about language dispersal are floods and
catastrophes that caused the people to scatter over the face of
the planet. God’s punishment for wrong doing is another
recurring theme.
1.1.1 Christian myth
• The Hebrew Bible attributes the origin of language per se
to human beings. Adam was asked to name the creatures
God had created.
• The Tower of Babel from Genesis tells of God punishing
humanity for arrogance and disobedience by confusing
tongues. “And the LORD said, Behold, the people is one,
and they have all one language; and this they begin to do:
and now nothing will be restrained from them, which they
have imagined to do. Go to, let us go down, and there
confound their language, that they may not understand one
another's speech. (Genesis 11:5-6).
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1.1.2 Hindu myth

• God Brahma punished a proud tree and then differences in
language and diversity in culture and customs into being.
• Vāc is the Hindu goddess of speech, or "speech
personified." She is presented as the consort of Prajapati,
who is likewise presented as the origin of the Veda. She
became conflated with Sarasvati in later Hindu mythology.
1.1.3 Greek myth
• People had lived without law under the rule of Zeus and
spoke one language. It was gifted to them by gods.
• The god Hermes brought diversity in speech and along
with it separation into nations and discord ensued.
1.1.4 Native American myth
Native American tribes share the Great Flood stories of many
cultures and civilizations that after water subsided speech
was diversified.
1.1.5 African myth
In the beginning the peoples of the earth knew only one
language, but after a severe famine, madness struck the
people causing them to wander in all directions and this
brought about languages.
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1.2 Folklore myths

1.2.1 Bow-wow theory: Discourse emerged from individuals
mirroring the sounds that things influence. Language began
when our ancestors started imitating the natural sounds
around them. The first speech was onomatopoeic—marked
by echoic words such as moo, meow, splash,
cuckoo, and bang
Limitations
Relatively few words are onomatopoeic, and these words
vary from one language to another. For instance, a dog's bark
is heard as au au in Brazil, ham ham in Albania, and wang,
wang in China. In addition, many onomatopoeic words are of
recent origin, and not all are derived from natural sounds.
1.2.2 Pooh-pooh theory: Discourse originated from the
programmed vocal reactions to torment, dread, shock, or
different feelings. Speech began with interjections—
spontaneous cries of pain ("Ouch!"), surprise ("Oh!"), and
other emotions ("Yabba dabba do!").
Limitations
No language contains very many interjections, and, Crystal
points out, "the clicks, intakes of breath, and other noises
which are used in this way bear little relationship to
the vowels and consonants found in phonology."
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1.2.3 Ding-dong theory: Discourse mirrors some magical

reverberation associated with things on the planet. Speech
arose in response to the essential qualities of objects in the
environment. The original sounds people made were
supposedly in harmony with the world around them.
Limitations
Apart from some rare instances of sound symbolism, there is
no persuasive evidence, in any language, of an innate
connection between sound and meaning.
1.2.4 Yo-he-ho theory: Discourse began with cadenced serenades
and snorts individuals use to arrange their physical activities
when they cooperated. Language evolved from the grunts,
groans, and snorts evoked by heavy physical labor.
Limitations
Though this notion may account for some of the rhythmic
features of the language, it doesn't go very far in explaining
where words come from.
1.2.5 La-la theory: Discourse rose up out of the hints of roused
energy, adore, graceful sensibility and tune. The Danish
linguist Otto Jespersen suggested that language may have
developed from sounds associated with love, play, and
(especially) song.
Limitations
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As David Crystal notes in "How Language Works" (Penguin,

2005), this theory still fails to account for "... the gap
between the emotional and the rational aspects of speech
expression..."
1.3 Paris Linguistic Society
1.3.1 Such speculation was restricted when the Paris Linguistic
Society was established in 1866.
1.3.2 Shortage of empirical evidence treats such hypotheses as
unsuitable for serious study.
1.3.3 The Society banned existing and future debates on the subject
and it remained influential across much of the western world.
1.3.4 In the late 20th century, a number of hypotheses were again
proposed, of course with a lot of scientific basis.
1.3.5 a) mother tongues hypothesis, b) obligatory reciprocal
altruism hypothesis, c) gossip & grooming hypothesis, d)
ritual/speech co-evolution, e) humanistic theory, f)
Chomsky’s single step theory, g) Romulus and Remus
hypothesis, h) Gestural theory, i) motor theory, j) Mirror
neuron theory, k) putting the baby down theory, l) from
where to what theory, m) grammaticalization theory, n)
evolution progression model, o) self-domesticated ape
theory.
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1.4 Conclusions
1.4.1 As Peter Farb says in "Word Play: What Happens When
People Talk" (Vintage, 1993): "All these speculations have
serious flaws, and none can withstand the close scrutiny of
present knowledge about the structure of language and about
the evolution of our species."
1.4.2 But does this mean that all questions about the origin of
language are unanswerable? Not necessarily.
1.4.3 Over the past 20 years, scholars from such diverse fields as
genetics, anthropology, and cognitive science have been
engaged, as Kenneally says, in "a cross-discipline,
multidimensional treasure hunt" to find out how language
began. It is, she says, "the hardest problem in science today."
1.4.4 As William James remarked, "Language is the most
imperfect and expensive means yet discovered for
communicating thought."