THE

ORIGINS OF
LANGUAGE

Nilayda Karakılıç
2019172042
 THE SOCIAL THE PHYSICAL
THE MUSICAL
INTERACTION ADAPTATION
SOURCE
SOURCE SOURCE
In the beginning was the voice.
The audible indication of life, a
voice is a breath.
 The Musical Source
What is the Musical Source of Language?

• The musical source of • It implies that there

language theory proposes
are underlying
that the rhythmic and
melodic aspects of music musical principles
influenced the evolution and in human language.
structure of human language.
• Mario Vaneechoutte and his students suggest that language comes from music,
with some assitance from gestures and dance. Music is what is innate, not
language.

• Because our larynx is lower in the throat, our tongues are free to move around
inside the mouth more and our ability to hold our breath means we can control our
exhaling and inhaling.

• We are born ready to make music and so speech.

• In fact, music and speech use the same areas of the brain, including Broca's area
(a key component of a complex speech network).
CHARLES DARWIN
• One well-known scholar
supported this idea with his
proposal.
• It's possible that the ancestors of humans,
both male and female, utilized music and
rhythm to communicate their affection
before evolving the capacity to articulate
it verbally.
BABIES
During early baby development, adults and newborns
communicate using single sounds, followed by longer
sound sequences as the child uses intonation for non-
verbal communication.
 From Melody to Meaning
Infant humans acquire intonation and melody-
making skills before they acquire other linguistic
skills. One could argue that the human voice, or the
ability to control the vibration of the vocal folds,
served as our first musical instrument.
It was also necessary to control the
respiratory system in order to produce
prolonged sound. According to
studies, newborns are most able to
identify and orient to their mother's
voice than any other due to her
distinctive intonation.
• Even when spoken by others, they exhibit
a preference for the intonation of their
mother language.
• These findings imply that, before adding
words to their songs, early humans may
have mastered melody as a means of self-
expression. But other animals, like
humpback whales and songbirds, can also
sing. We must ask ourselves what drove
people to go beyond melody to more
complex forms of interpersonal
communication.
THE SOCIAL INTERACTION SOURCE
• The "yo-he-ho" theory, as Jespersen
called it, is another term for this
proposition.

• Language is formed through sounds

made during physical activity.

• Physical work in the past required the

cooperation and involvement of several
persons.
WORK SONG
• Therefore, while lifting and
carrying heavy loads of trees,
etc., early humans utilized
grunts, hums, groans, and curses
since they had to live in social
groups for protection and would
have had to create certain
communication rules.
PROBLEM OF
T H I S T H E O RY
• Early primates and other animals
also lived in social groups, but they
had not seemed to develop the
speech like humans. Can animals
speak human language?
 W H Y ?
• One of these is the level of development of our brain. It is a
fact that we are more intelligent than other creatures.
Human beings have improved their living conditions since
their existence. Different cultures communicated with each
other and advanced technology. All of this happened
because of the development of the human brain.

• Another reason is our larynx, palate, tongue and teeth

structure. These features, which highly developed compared
to other living creatures, help us have different abilities in
speaking. Since animals’ breathing patterns are different,
their ability to speak is almost impossible.
 In reality, a number of animals exhibit
traits that resemble certain features of
human language. It is possible to teach
talking birds, like parrots, to accurately
mimic words and phrases, but this does
not imply that they have picked up
human language. Words learnt by rote a
parrot may practice, but talking is not
always to converse, as poet William
Cowper once said: “Words learned by
rote a parrot may rehearse; but talking is
not always to converse.”
 TEETH AND LIPS

The Physical Adaptation Source

MOUTH AND TONGUE

L A RY N X A N D P H A RY N X
With the change in physical feature, adaptations
become necessary: water animal became land animal,
four footed animal becomes two footed. Most important
evolution was the four-footed animal becoming two
footed. The earliest fossil evidence of language is
available from 35,000 years ago, but in evolution
some partial adaptations appears relevant for
speech. These adaptations get streamlined in course of
time of development. Some of them lead to speech
production. Role of teeth and lips, mouth and tongue,
larynx and pharynx in sound production. All these are
called functional adaptation.
• Fossils of some 35 000 years ago resembling two Modern Men suggests that
it gives us clue that creature with such features may have capacity for
speech.
 TEETH and LIPS

In fact, the b and m

Human teeth are They are also very Human lips have much sounds are the most
upright, not slanting helpful in making more intricate muscle widely attested in the
outwards like those of interlacing than is vocalizations made by
sounds such as f or v
apes found in other primates human infants during
and their resulting their first year, no
flexibility certainly matter which language
helps in making sounds their parents are using.
like p, b and m
 Mouth and Tongue

1 2
Small as compared to Our mouth can close
other primates. and open rapidly.
4
3 To allow air to enter
Human tongue is more through the mouth, humans
muscular which helps to can seal their nasal passage.
adapt different shapes and
produce different types of
sounds.
When these minor variations are
added together, the result is a face
with more complex lip and mouth
muscle interlacing, a greater range
of shapes, and a faster and more
potent delivery of sounds created
by these various shapes.
L A RY N X & P H A RY N X
• The location of the vocal folds of the human larynx,
sometimes known as the "voice box," is very different
from that of other primates, including monkeys. With
change in physical features like taking an upright
position to stand and walk, there could have been
adaptation in vocal tracts of the early human. The
adoption of an upright posture during human physical
development caused the larynx to descend and the
head to become more directly above the spinal column.
 The larynx in humans is lower than that of other
primates, allowing more space for the the tongue to
move during speech production.The descended tongue
root allows additional degree of freedom for vocal tract
acrobatics during speech production. This mobility of
the tongue allows it to produce highly coordinated
motions, and therefore giving humans the ability to
produce consonants and vowels.
The evolution resulted in the creation
of a longer space above the vocal
folds called the pharynx, which
serves as a resonator for the larynx's
ability to produce sounds with greater
clarity and range. The pharynx is
nearly absent in other primates. The
bad result of this evolution is that
humans are considerably more likely
to choke on food particles due to the
larynx's lower position.
QUESTION 1
A The Ding-Dong Theory

What is the nickname

B The Bow-Wow Theory
of the social
interaction source? C The Yo-He-Ho Theory

D The La-La Theory

Ding Dong theory - words that imitate or Bow wow theory- imitations of natural
suggest natural sounds - and were used or animal sounds, such as moo, meow,
to describe events or objects. splash, cuckoo, and bang.

Yo he ho theory is a theory that human

language emerged from instinctive noises The La-La theory revolves around the
made by humans during physical fact that the origin of language
exertion, and especially while involved in revolved around playfulness, love,
collective rhythmic labor. song, or even a poetic sensibility.
QUESTION 2
Which area of the neck is known as the voice box and houses the vocal cords?

A Mouth B Pharynx

C The human brain D Larynx

 QUESTION 3
According to the social interaction theory, human language may have originated
from the sound of someone performing -------effort.

A Psychological B Physical

C The human brain D minimal

QUESTION 4
Which scientist support the idea of social interaction source?

A Darwin B Edward Sapir

C Leonard Bloomfield D Ferdinand de Saussure

 QUESTION 5
According to ......., some of the physical aspects of humans that make the production of speech
possible or easier are not shared with other creatures: Human teeth are upright and roughly even in
height. Human lips have an intricate muscle interlacing. The human mouth is relatively small, can be
opened and closed rapidly and contans a very flexible tongue.

A The divine source B The physical adaptation source

C The oral gesture source D The yo-he-ho theory

 The Physical Adaptation Source: based on
physical features human processes that are
distinct from other creatures (particularly non-
humans) which may have enabled speech
production.
Question 1: C
Question 2: D
Question 3: B
Question 4: A
Question 5: B
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