Submitted by: James Alexander M.

Deza Subject: Introduction to Linguistics

Submitted to: Dr. Myra O. Medrano Date: April 6, 2024

Week 4 Reflective Essay

Divine Theory, Oral Gesture Theory

It is interesting to discuss the theories on how human speech originated while discussing
the beginnings of language. Each interaction and aspect of daily life for humans depends on
language. Imagine a society in which there is no language; people would be deaf and unable to
communicate with one another. Humans differ from all other animal species in that they can
develop ties with one another through language. And language gives us unique and diverse
characters to each of us. As we pointed out, language helps us to create and understand the world
around us, gives meaning to everything, and gives birth to emotions and feelings; a world without
language would be meaningless and very lonely.

The first theory under the report of group 3 is the Divine Source, in most religions, it is
believed that language is a God-given gift to the human species. In Christianity, God gave Adam
the kingdom of all animals in the Garden of Eden and the first thing Adam did was to name these
animals. That is how language started according to religious sources. Today people speak many
different languages rather than only one language because ancient humans became too proud,
and they tried to build the Tower of Babel to reach God. So, God punished them by separating
their languages. People tried to discover the original divine language which was spoken by our
most ancient ancestors. They assumed that if a child was brought up without hearing any
language, the first word the child would utter would be in this divine language.
On the other hand, The Gestural Theory states that human language was developed from
gestures that were a primitive form of communication, as opposed to the vocal signals that might
have been adopted by non-human primates. It points out the sources of language. People who
are deaf or blind can benefit significantly from this theory's logic because it uses gestures and
motions to convey information. Furthermore, the "gesture theory" holds for any word that is
said. It has been noted that when we say "I" and "me," our lips move inward, seemingly
suggesting toward the speaker, whereas when we say "you" and "thou," our lips move outward,
seemingly hinting at the person being addressed. In this manner, the lips are pulled inside for
"here" and outward for "there" during their respective utterances. For example, we wave hands
to say goodbye; we nod our heads to show our approval or to mean 'yes', we produce a sound by
our tongue when we mean 'no'.
There is nothing more powerful on earth than the human language, and we still do not understand
everything about it, but we know that it makes us who we are. The ability to speak and communicate with
one another. Language is an aspect of social life, and it changes and develops.