The origins of language

Elaborated by:
Covali Cristina
Ghinda Cristina
Tarlapan Livia
What was language like in the very
beginning?
6000 years
Where do the seeds of human
language lay?
Countless theories
 Searching for answers...
• How did the language instinct in humans appear?
• Which are the main theories of language origin?
• The divine source
• The natural sound source
• The social interaction source
• The physical adaptation source
• The tool-making source
• The genetic source
• Did the languages of the world spring out from
one proto-language?
• Did the languages evolve simultaneously in more
than one place on earth?
The divine source
God given
language
Herodotus
c. 484 – c. 425 BC
2,500 years ago

“bekos”
bread
King James the 4th of Scotland
• If human language did
emanate from a divine
source, we have no way of
reconstructing that original
language, especially given
the events in a place called
Babel “because the Lord did
there confound the language
of all the earth”
• As described in Genesis
The natural sound source
 The social interaction source

“yo-he-ho”
 The physical adaptation source

Distinct physical features may have been able to

support speech production.
• Upright teeth

• Flexible lips

• Smaller mouth

• Shorter, thicker and more muscular tongue

• Extended vocal tract

• Lower position of larynx

The tool-making
source
 “an evolutionary connection
between the language-using and
tool-using abilities”
The genetic
source
“language gene”
Noam Chomsky
Hypotheses regarding Language
Diversity

Monogenesis
Polygenesis
Monogenesis (Out of
Africa Theory)
The belief that there was one original
language (monogenesis) is the older of
the two theories. It has been proposed
by believers that language was a divine
creation. Monogenesis is also the
preference of supporters of the Mother
Tongue Theory - associated with the
Out of Africa Theory (both based on
one human evolutionary origin from
Africa)
60000-80000 years
ago, Homo sapiens
all spoke the same
language
Polygenesis

The polygenesis theorists go against this singular origin

based on the high number of languages that are spoken
today as well as the diversity of location of the early
ancestors.
Homo sapiens had already started to
migrate to different areas before they
started to develop a language
6 main THEORIES
1ST THEORY God provided human
with language
• 2nd THEORY people started to use
language by imitating natural sounds
3rd THEORY language appeared in
a social context as a result of
working and living together
 4th THEORY Speech production
occurred due to physical evolution
5th THEORY Making or using tools enabled
the development of the speaking brain
6th THEORY People have an innate speaking
capacity
2 Hypotheses
1. Monogenesis
All languages
have the same
origin
 2. Polygenesis theory
Language developed from multiple
languages
Revising QUESTIONS
 Chose from the answers!!!
Because apes live in social groups yet haven't developed the ability to speak.

A lot of religions believe a divine source provided humans with speech.

The idea that early primitive words were imitations of the sounds they heard around them.

This revolves around the idea that sounds made while working could have been used to communicate

with and organize groups.

There's no physical evidence.

This is the idea that humans have a language gene.

Because those sounds are made with intakes of breath whereas we speak while exhaling breath.

They will begin to speak the ''True'' language, this has never been proven.

That the features of humans that are different to apes etc. could be the reason why they have

developed the capacity for speech and the others haven't.

The Divine Source, The Natural Sound Source, The Social Interaction Source, The Physical Adaption

Source, The Tool-Making Source and The Genetic Source.

The fact that all modern languages have words that echo sounds heard in nature.