Theories on the Origin

of Language
FROM ANIMALS TO HUMANS: LINGUISTICS FROM DARWIN AND
MULLER
Origin of Language vis-à-vis Evolution

“Language is the Rubicon which divides man from

beast, and no animal will ever cross it”

- Friederich Max Muller

Bow-Wow Theory (Echoic Theory)
Some key proponents include Jean-Jacques Rousseau and Johann Gottfried
Herder
From the sound that dogs produce
Language evolved from the imitation of sounds produced by man’s
surroundings
The early men used these sounds to refer to the specific source of the sound
The first speech was onomatopoeic
Evident also in child development
Bow-Wow Theory (Echoic Theory)
Onomatopoeic sounds bridge language barriers
Does not account for more abstract concepts
Does not also account why people of different nationalities
have different onomatopoeic distinction for certain animals
Ding-Dong Theory (Nativistic)
Favored by Plato and Pythagoras
Later named Ding-Dong, as in the sound of a doorbell
Posits that language is derived from “resonance”
Words are inherent in what they describe
The sounds produced form these natural phenomenon become the words themselves
Evidences include “cough” and “knock”
Another evidence is on sound symbolism
Itsy, bitsy, teeny, weeny
Moon
Yow-he-ho Theory
Posits that language evolved from reflex utterances like grunts, gasps, glottal contractions
These reflex utterances are evoked strenuous exertions such as hacking up a carcass or
dragging a heavy log
Pooh-Pooh (Interjectional)
Speech developed from the instinctive sounds people make in emotional circumstances
Original sound of language may have come from natural cries of emotions such as pain, anger
and joy
Accordingly, the very first words would have been an involuntary ha-ha-ha
Counter-evidence suggests that emotional exclamations are a very small part of language
Exclamations are also highly language specific
Sing Song Theory
Posits that human speech arose out of primitive, rhythmic chants
Two main proponents: Charles Darwin and Otto Jesperson
Primeval man or some progenitor of man, probably first used his voice in producing true musical
cadences, that is, in singing as do some of the gibbon apes at the present day, and we may conclude
from a widespread analogy that this power which would have been exerted, especially during the
courtship of the sexes as music is the food of love, would have expressed various emotions such as love,
jealousy, triumph, and would have served as a challenge to rivals- Charles Darwin in Descent of Man
Language was born in the courting days of mankind; the first utterance of speech, I fancy to myself, was
like something between the nightly love-lyrics or puss upon the tiles and melodious love songs of the
nightingale. – Otto Jesperson, 1922
Goo Goo Theory
Incorporates all previous theories in a single eclectic package
“All that is requisite for the beginning of language proper is that any sound comes to be
purposefully uttered, however vaguely and actually understood, and we have the premise and
potentiality of the most cultivated human speech” – George Lyman Kittredge
Darwin even mentioned the same conclusion
May not some unusually wise ape-like animal have imitated the growl of a beast of prey, and
thus told his fellow monkeys the nature of the expected danger? This would have been the first
step in the formation of language – Charles Darwin
Biblical Theory
The story of Creation in the Bible never outrights mention the origin of language
The Bible used words to create everything
“And God said, “Let there be light,” and there was light” (Genesis 1:3)

Adam, the progenitor of Man, already possessed language upon creation

The man said, “This is now bone of my bones and flesh of my flesh; she shall be called ‘woman,’ for she
was taken out of man.” (Genesis 2:23)

Man even had the ability to create new words

“So the man gave names to all the livestock, the birds of the air and all the beasts of the field” (Genesis
2:20)

Story of the Tower of Babel

Gestural Theory
Origin and Proponents
Can be traced back to as early as 1644 with Bulwer’s Chirologia, or The Natural Language of the
Hand and Cordemoy’s Physical Discourse on Speech
Charles Darwin also references signs and gestures in The Descent of Man as one of the origin of
language
Friedrich Nietzsche (1978) also cites in Human, All too Human how gesture is older than any
language
More modern proponents include Wilhelm Wundt (1900) who argues that a universal sign
language was the origin of all language
Gestural Theory at a Glance
Human language evolved from gestures that were a primitive form
of communication, as opposed to the vocal signals that might have
been adopted by non-human primates

People learn to gesture in synchrony with speech

Some Evidences
Visitors from foreign lands usually try to communicate using gestures
Apes were unable to learn to speak but could use manual gestures in a language-like way
University-level instruction at Gallaudet University in Washington, DC, is conducted entirely in
American Sign Language (ASL)
Children exposed to signed languages from infancy learn them as easily and naturally as those
exposed to speech learn to speak
Language, whether manual or vocal, is fundamentally gestural
Nonhuman primates have little if any cortical control over vocalization, but excellent cortical
control over the hands and arms
Mirror Neurons
Imitation of Gestures
Humans and animals have learned through imitation
Imitation is most often seen in children
Imitation is frequently seen in animals
One determinant factor for imitation to occur is the need for social learning
Imprinting
Mirror Neurons
Activated when an animal executes of observes a goal-related action
Found in the motor cortex of monkeys, known as F5
Activated when monkeys perform hand actions, or when they observe another individual
producing a similar action
Activation of the mirror neurons seems to have a direct correlation to the seen and produced
actions
In humans, mirror neurons are found in Area 44, in the Broca’s Area
Broca’s area is a region in the frontal lobe of the left hemisphere of the brain, responsible for language
processing and speech production

Both area F5 and Broca’s area were activated during the observation of hand and mouth
actions based on demonstrations by brain imaging experiments
Broca’s Area in humans and F5 in monkeys