DEVELOPMENT OF

THE ENGLISH
LANGUAGE:
The Darwinian Perspective
 Human language evolves through a
modification process where major languages
gave birth to new languages similar to
biological species their language.
Darwinian or Evolutionary
Linguistics
It is a socio-biological method in
scrutinizing a language. Proponents of this theory
look at the linguistic field as a sub-umbrella of
evolutionary biology and psychology.
This is further linked to evolutionary
anthropology, biolinguistics and cognitive
linguistics.
It assumes that language is product of nature and it
centers on the biological nature of language.
 This research lacks
empirical data as proof.
● Researchers have not found any
archeological traces of language that
linked the existence of biology and
human language forms.
● There is no clear evidence that
language started from animals and
developed into a form which human
used even up to the present.
 It was in the late 1830s that
Darwin started searching at the beginning
of language.
His focus of inquiry lies in the
communicative abilities of animals and
their capacity to acquire new sounds and
associate them with human words.
He observed the proximity and
sameness between sounds of animals and
the different natural utterances and
gestures that human beings produce when
venting out strong feelings such as fear,
joy and surprise.
He focused on the observable interrelatedness
between words and sounds, shown in “crack”,
“scrape” and “roar” that appeared to be an
immitation of the things signfied.
Darwin admitted that language sets man apart
from lower animals; however, he went on
emphasizing the resemblance of animal and
human speech.
 Darwin’s in-depth beliefs
were anchored on his vast
knowledge of anthropology,
linguistic pathologies, language
learning and acquisition in
children and the wide range of
animal behavior both domestic
and wild.
Darwin correspondence Project,
2020
 Thank you!
Prepared by: Mark Vincent O. Pamplona
BSED 1 - English