AN APPROACH TO

LANGUAGE AND
LINGUISTICS
U Paing Hmuu Thu
Tutor
Department of Oriental Studies
University of Yangon
What is Language?

■ Language means that people use voice and direct

communication to exchange information/feelings between
people that has enriched vocabulary and emerged as
language in order to interact with each other.

■ It is estimated that there are more than 7,000 spoken

languages in the world.
Language and sound

■ In the early days, it is considered completely different in

terms of application and structure in spoken language and
body language; and research studies are defined separately.

■ In recent times, it has come to a state where the structure

and the vocabulary used can be explained, just like the
spoken language, which is defined as a language such as
body language.
■ Therefore, a plan has been drawn up to present in television
as the body language along with the spoken language.

■ More broadly, if body language can be used to communicate

with each other, it can be regarded as a language.

■ For example. Beckoning. shaking his head Passing in front of

people with a bow.
Human language and animal language
■ In the animal world, there is language that communicates with each
other. For example, the baby bees often let each other inform with a
movement where the honey is.

■ An interesting point is that if we compare it with human language, like

humans, if they see an apple, they always have the ability to reason
with their senses, which can be defined by the pronunciation of the
word apple but animals are more able to communicate with expressive
wisdom without teaching at a moderately high level, which is reflected
in the brains of those who live in a wild environment.
■ For example, a dog can distinguish enemy or friend by
brushing teeth. The fact that this is not an definite rule,
just a general phenomenon, is deeply meaningful.
The origin of language
■ How does language arise and where does it arise from anywhere in the world?
There are various assumptions that started from many causes. Among them, the
presentation of the Danish linguist Jens Otto Harry Jespersen can be found below.

■ The Pooh-Pooh Theory

Forming words that communicate feelings from unintentional sounds. For

example: haha Words like ha ha to Laughs.

■ Bow Bow Theory

The emergence of the name of animals from their sound. For example: Wolf
from Woo--.
■ Ding-dong Theory

The emergence of words from echoes and sounds. For

example, Thunder

■ Yo-he-yo Theory

The emergence of words from a chorus of calls to work to

each other. For example: Work from (Wooh!).
■ From a biological science point of view, the origin of
language can be studied through research experiments.
According to modern molecular biology research, there may be
a connection between the difference in the type of gene
called FOXP2 and the difference in language learning ability.

■ The difference between modern humans and Homo

neanderthalensis has been researched since 30 to 40 years
ago.
■ At the beginning of modern humans, language can be
thought to be used as a natural feature among humans.

■ However, FOXP2 is also present in most animals that lack

the ability to learn language. There is still no clear evidence
that FOXP2 variation is a necessary condition for language
acquisition, and it remains to be proved off.
Language family

■ A language family is a group of related languages that are

descended from a single ancient common language.

■ The original common language is called the proto-language

of that language family.
■ According to the nature of the word 'family', in the study
of linguistic history, the Tree model, which describes the
relationship between the origins of languages, is similar to
the Family Tree, which shows how the people who speak
those languages are genetically related.
■ However, it cannot be assumed that linguistic affinity and
genetic affinity are the same.
■ It is estimated that there are 5,000 to 8,000 living languages in
total.

■ However, the definition of a language as a language isolate or dialect

varies from person to person and cannot be given a precise number.

■ A living language is one in which a group of people uses that

language as the primary language of communication.

■ There are many dead and extinct languages. Also, some

languages have not been studied enough to be classified, and some
languages are not even known by outsiders to exist and are being
spoken.
■ The comparative study of languages defines the grouping of
the member languages of a family.

■ Sister languages are often referred to as being genetically

or genealogically related.

■ However, in recent years, the terminological definitions have

been revised to better distinguish between the relatedness
of languages and the genetic relationship of people.
■ Evidence for linguistic affinity is found in common
characteristics between languages.

■ By homology we mean similarities that are not language

contact or language borrowing.

■ For example, Burmese words for “Arr Luu”, “Saung”, “Chapati”

are borrowed from some languages in India, so taking them as
evidence, we cannot assume that these Indian languages are
related to Burmese.
■ Genetically related languages are found to share the same
remaining features of the proto-language.

■ These similarities are neither coincidence nor borrowed

language.

■ The member languages of a branch or group of a language

family have the same evolutionary characteristics from the
original proto-language.

■ The same developmental characteristics within that group are

not seen in other successor languages of the language family.
■ For example, the common vocabulary and grammar of
Germanic languages is not thought to have been present in
Proto-Indo-European.

■ These characteristics are thought to have originated from

the Proto-Germanic language that succeeded the Proto-
Indo-European language.
Linguistics
■ Linguistics is a science that compares and examines the
languages of the world in a systematic and scientific way. This
kind of study is also a subject covered in the science of word
origin called Etymology, can be divided into three parts namely;

■ 1) the study of the physical structure of language;

■ 2) studying the meaning of language;

■ 3) the study of language depending on the context.

■ Studying the body of language means studying the
structure (grammar) of languages.

■ In other words, it is learning the rules to follow in speaking

and writing languages. how words are formed; including the
study of sentence structure and phonetic systems.

■ This subject has been systematically studied for more than

200 years ago.

■ The discovery of the Sanskrit language by European

scholars helped a lot in the comparative study of languages.
■ According to linguistics, there are more than 6,000
languages spoken in the world.

■ It is said that these are derived from the original major

languages and are usually related to each other.

■ The Greeks were the creators of various ancient cultures

■ As Christianity spread, the study of languages developed. Greece
broke down barriers like the class distinction between the civilized
and the barbarian like the Romans for the spread of Christianity.

■ Then they began to understand other languages apart from their

own language, but they still did not scientifically study how
languages relate with each other.

■ After the advent of printing, it became easier to compare

languages with each other. However, it was only in the 18th
century that languages were compared and analyzed
systematically.
■ Scholars who study linguistics also discover the rules of
language.

■ By studying them, they also found that many languages were

separated from the original main language.

■ In particular, these scholars research the origin of Indo-

European languages.

■ Then Sanskrit, Greece, Latin German and English are related

languages derived from the main Indo-European language.

■ There are still numerous other Indo-European languages that

they have never observed.
■ Spoken words of the same origin are found in these languages.

■ Scientists hypothesize that once upon a time, there was a single

group people in Central Europe who spoke an Indo-European
language.

■ As the population increased, they migrated to different for their

livings and occupations. Some went to Greece, some reached
French, England etc.,.

■ The original language seems to have gradually changed over a

long period of time along with the generations of the children
and grandchildren of the groups that split up.
■ Therefore, words with the same origin but with changed sound
and appearance are found.

■ In the Sanskrit language, the word "Pitar” is the same as

“Pater” in Latin. In German, it is called "Vater" and in English, it is
also called “Father”.

Sanskrit Latin German English

Pitar Pater Vater Father

§ Europe and Asia Minor; In North India, some languages of
Indo-European origin were spoken in Europe and North
India.

§ Later linguists have come to realize that the world's

original language family is not a single Indo-European
language.
■ According to linguistics, there are more than 6,000 languages
spoken in the world.

■ It is said that these are derived from the proto languages and
are usually related to each other.

■ The Greeks were the creators of various ancient cultures.

■ However, in the study of etymology, thy went the wrong way in

the way of communicating with each other.

■ Believing that other languages are the language of barbarians,

they did not study languages other than their own local
languages.
A map showing the distribution of major languages in the world
■ These are Indo-European language; Hamito-Semitic language,
Indo-China or, Tibetan-Chinese language and the Euro-
Altantic language.

■ The major Indo-European language lineages include many of

the most important languages in the world today. I

■ In the Hamito-Semitic language, Yiddish, Virginia, Syria Arabia

and Egyptian are included.
§ In the Tibetan-Chinese language, Chinese, Thai, Yoda, Tibet,
Burmese and other languages are included.
§ Estonian, Turkish, Mongolian and Manchu language are
included in the Euro-Altantic language family.
■ The ethnic groups of the American speak different languages, and
there is no contact with each other.

■ There are no signs of derivation from a single original language.

■ The Americas have the most linguistic diversity.

■ In Africa, short language expressions are very unique and can be

divided into at least 5 genera.

■ Many interesting problems are encountered in the study of African

languages. how language develops; how to grow.

■ Scholars say that it could be studied how words change, how

language develops; how to grow up.
■ It is found thar some languages still belong to any
language group or any species especially Japanese
language, some languages spoken in the southern part of
France, and the Basque language spoken in the northern
regions of Spain.

■ A language does not stand still it alone and is evolving in

various ways. Since the people have to deal with each other
because of the desire for war and for trade, words from
one country reach the other.
■ New words are added to the existing language. Later,
spelling of words, sounds, meanings have also changed.

■ When people are saying a word in difficulties, they try to

make it easy.

■ Difficult words are changed to easy ones.

■ Therefore, just as the Burmese writings of the Pagan

period and those of today are different. Modern English
writing and Old English writing are no longer the same.
■ People also invented new terms.

■ Advances in science and technology make enrich languages

with new vocabulary words.

■ Languages changed by means of words in past ages, still

has been a new growth and there will be new word
changes in the future.

■ While new words are developing, some words gradually

become less used and disappear into obscurity.