Language and Culture
Prof. R. Hickey
SS 2006
The evolution of language
Melanie Lüth (Hauptstudium, TN)
Ivo Tateo (Hauptstudium, TN)
Brigitte Knocke
Martina Kleinebreil (Grundstudium, TN/LN)
Frauke Skrobaschewsky (Hauptstudium, TN/LN)
Table of Contents
1.
2.
3.
The Study of Language
Language Origin
The Evolution of Language


4.
The Emerge of Rule
The Expansion of Language
Diffusion of Language
The Study of Language
Melanie Lüth
Theories
•
•
language must have evolved between 100,000 to 50,000
years ago; some researchers date the evolving around
250,000 years ago
Different ludicrous views:
1. Noah’s Ark view: Chinese as primitive language was
spoken in the Ark and so survived the flood
2. Lord Monboddo: people learned different skills from
different animals → to sing and speak from birds by
imitating
Theories – a bird-like skill
→
only shows that parallel systems can
emerge independently
Evidences
•
external – clues from outside human
language
→ evolutionary theory, archaeology, anatomy and
physiology, ethology, psychology, anthropology
•
internal – information from languages itself
→ provided by linguistics
→ pidgins and creoles are valuable sources
The Amoeba Question
•
•
Did language elaborate from a simple outline?
Did a mish-mash become neat and orderly?
•
bow-wow theory
hunters imitated the sounds of animals they wanted to
track down
•
Rousseau/ Jespersen
first languages were singable and more passionate –
became simple and methodical
•
spaghetti junctions
various possibilities existed and were used – in the long
run certain features were more likely to be chosen
The Rabbit-out-of-hat problem
•
language emerged fairly suddenly (like a rabbit out of a
hat)
• mutation in hominid gene pool
• extra use for already enlarged brain
but:
• language evolved slowly over millennia
Why do languages differ?
•
new appearances could not be handled with properly
(e.g. (new) thoughts could not be expressed properly)
•
differences between and within languages are signs of a
flexible and adjustable system
•
‘Tower of Babel’
Why do languages differ?
•
‘Swiss army knife’ view: specialized linguistic system, which
allows variation
• human mind as gadget with numerous specialized devices
• humans acquire language through a language-handling
mechanism
• difference of language according to an inherited degree of
flexibility
•
‘Auntie Maggie’s remedy’ view: languages differ because
human general intelligence
produced them
• language is one of many different tasks children have to
encounter – use the mind to sort out the way it works
• tasks can be encountered in different ways
Why do languages differ?
•
hard-wired:
- pre-programmed
- do not have to be learned
- instinctive
- (Swiss army knife)
•
soft-wired:
- can be acquired
- have to be learned
- Auntie Maggie’s remedy
•
past: nature – nurture; hard – soft; instinct – learning
controversies
present: ‘innately guided behaviour’
•
Conclusion
•
many theories – scientific or non-scientific – were
propounded
•
Amoeba Question and the rabbit-out-of-hat problem
•
differing: -
Swiss Army Knife vs. Auntie Maggie’s
remedy; hard-wired vs. soft-wired;
innately guided behaviour
The origin of language
Ivo Tateo
The Human’s history of evolution
175,000 BP
Homo sapiens sapiens
(modern humans)
300,000 BP
Archaic Homo sapiens
1,5 m
BP
Homo erectus
(upright man)
2m
BP
Homo abilis
(handy man)
3m
BP
Homo
(man)
4m
BP
Australopithecus afarensis
4,5 m
BP
Australopithecus ramidus
The principle of Natural Selection
In 1859 Charles Darwin published the book “On the origin
of species” in which he demonstrated that Humans are
the result of a long evolution.
He explained the principle of Natural Selection with these
words:
“Any variation, if profitable to an individual of any species
will tend to the preservation of that individual, and will be
generally inherited by its offspring. I have called this principle
by the term of Natural Selection ”.
How did Language emerge?

Language emerged
suddenly, as a rabbit
out of a hat. This
would be possible
because humans are
endowed with an
innate language
faculty (Chomsky).

Language is the result
of a long process,
creeping upwards in
complexity over
millennia, like a snail
creeping up a wall.
Language capacity
increased very slowly.

Language evolution
alternated between
periods of stasis
(stagnation) and
periods of fast
development (Eldredge
and Gould).
The most accredited theory is that of a ‘language bonfire’.
After this theory, sparks of language have been flickering for
a long time before language begun a fast evolution and
then stabilized around 50,000 years ago.

Representation of the
‘Language Bonfire’ on a graph
Complexity
of
language
250,000 BP
100,000
BP
75,000 BP
50,000 BP
Years
BP
The development of Language
Key properties of Language
Interaction
Persuasion
The Grooming Theory: grooming is for animals a factor of social
interaction as language for humans.
Maybe language is a substitution for grooming, since:
- Humans are ‘naked apes’ with little hair for grooming
- Great groups of primates tend to abandon grooming
The development of Language
Key properties of language
Interaction
Persuasion
The theory of mind
The ability to deceive may be an important prerequisite for
language, which is not only confined to humans.
This process (we may also talk about ‘lying’) implicates that the
individual is able to put himself into another person’s shoes and
act to his own advantage.
The search for the missing link
How did language get started? Many support the gestural
theory, which claims that sign language is the missing link
between the primate communication and human language.
These supporters emphasize four reasons:

The gestural origin of
speech

The idea that gestures are
universal

Sign language is easier
than speech

Neurological connection
between speech and
movements
Basic requirements for human
language
ƀ
Sound-producing
ƀ
ƀ Sound-planning
Sound-receiving
ƀ Sound-interpreting
The human voice-box or larynx is more streamlined than that of
other primates; it is also positioned lower than in other primates.
The particular position of the larynx, the complexity of the
muscular tongue and the possibility to produce vowels via
mouth, allow the human beings to produce three fairly extreme
vowels:
[i]
[a]
[u]
Conclusion
Language appeared about 200,000 years ago and developed very fast
between 100,000 and 75,000 years ago (language bonfire theory)
Language probably emerged to satisfy a need of interaction or to influence
other individuals
Language probably developed from gesture. Sign language has been the
intermediate between the two:
Primate communication
Sign language
Human language
Sound-producing, sound-receiving, sound-planning, sound-interpreting
mechanisms and the particular position of the larynx, among others, allow
the human beings to produce sounds which are unique to our species.
The evolution of language
The emergence of rules Brigitte Knocke
The emergence of rules

A language needs ‘rules’. Communication would break down if there
were no agreed ways of combining linguistic units.

In theory there are nearly endless possibilities to combine words and
sounds. However, any full language has narrowed down the range
of possibilities to a few allowable combinations
=> the grammar.
How could grammar have arisen in
the evolution of language?
Simple rules have two requirements:
1.
2.
different types of basic units must exist
ways of combining the units must be agreed
Different types of basic words

Nouns are the basic words, which arose before
other types of words were developed

Nouns and verbs together constituted the first ‘grammar’ => humans
could mentally distinguish things and people from actions and
events for a long time before establishing them as nouns and verbs.

Nouns and verbs are regarded as the universal categories of all
languages.
The combination of words as a requirement for
the emergence of grammar

Grammar emerged when noun-type words were combined with
verb-type words.

Two possible ways by which nouns and verbs could have been
combined:
1. ‘build-up’-route
2. ‘re-analysis’ -route
The build-up route
....assumes that a large number of single words accumulated. These
were words of different types, some involving things, others actions.
At a later stage these words were combined.
e.g. child: “mummy open” as a request for “Mummy
this”
please open
The re-analysis route
...assumes that words, mainly nouns, were already being combined,
but that sometimes more than one interpretation was possible
e.g. the word ‘singsing’ in Tok Pisin (pidgin, Papua New Guinea)
(singsing = any festival which involves dancing and singing)
ð “mi singsing” means “I went to the song and dance festival” or “I
sang and danced”
Consistent ordering of words
There are several possibilities as to how a firm word order might
have happened in the evolution of languages



the signing of chimps
the utterances of Vincent, a child of deaf parents
the predispositions of the human mind
1. The signing of chimps - Nim
Chimpsky

At first sight Nim’s signing was quite unordered.
However Nim had some preferences:
-- food was placed first: “grape eat, banana Nim eat, apple
me eat”
--“more” at the beginning: “more eat, more tickle, more drink,..”
--his own name at the end
--repetition of words: “eat Nim eat, Nim eat Nim”

ð Nim’s ordering resembles the process found when a language acquires
new word-order rules:
mild stylistic preferences change into strong preferences which
stabilize, become a habit and form a pattern which influences the
formation of others.
2. The utterances of Vincent, child of
deaf parents

Vincent: hearing child of deaf parents who taught him sign language.
He did not speak and heard sounds only by watching television. He
was first exposed to speak English when he was over three years old.

at first his speech was barely intelligible and only slowly his speech
became clear
short utterances: “You –uh-oh”
limited vocabulary: „puter“ was a general, all-purpose verb.
“You”: several meanings: you, he, she
tendency to “copy-around” a word, to put one form on both sides of
another “You house you”





The way Vincent put words together was bizarre.
However when his repeats and copying around were omitted, a
clear word ordering preference appeared
=> he constructed many sentences according to a basic, but private,
plan
=> Both the chimp and the child show that an optional word order
can become a preferred order which later becomes a certain rule.
3. Human mind set
Our human-mind set dictates how we see the world and create the language.
‘Ontological categories’, such as people, things, actions, events, provide a
universal initial structure of the language of thought on which language is based.
The innate thought structure also covers the way in which words may be
combined.
e.g. The cat sat on the mat. The dog lay under the table.
not: The mat lay under the cat. The table stood over the dog.
=> The location of ‘small onto large’ may be due to the human mind-set. Human
thoughts run along certain routes, which are likely to affect the order of
participants in a grammar.
Preferences and pre-linguistic rules

‘animate first preference’:
It is more normal to say “Patsy was hit on the head by a ball” than “A
ball hit Patsy on the head”
=> The ‘animate first preference’ is not due to any obvious linguistic
factor, but the human mind-set plays an important role.

The ‘animate first’ preference is linked to an ‘actor first’ principle,
because in real life animates act on lifeless things more often than the
other way round.

The preferences are based on pre-linguistic mind-sets, which explain
why so many languages show similarities.
Summary





Language began when words were combined.
There are several theories on how grammar could have arisen:
-out of ‘build-ups’: putting individual words together,
-out of ‘re-analyses’ of combined nouns.
At first many word combinations were possibly repetitive and
inconsistent.
The examples of the chimp and the child Vincent show how rules may
have became fixed: optional orders became strong preferences which
later became rules.
The original preferences were probably on pre-linguistic ‘mind-sets’ =>
explains why so many languages show similarities
The evolution of language
The expansion of language –
Martina Kleinebreil
First steps

- Humans named themselves
- parts of body
- the immediate environment
Inwards and Outwards

The human body, and the space surrounding it,
presumably formed the basis of further meaning
extensions.
Outwards:

Humans body-parts move outwards to features of
environment.
e.g.Tok Pisin (Papua New Guinea)

het = head
het bilong diwai - top of a tree
han = hand
han bilong diwai – branch of a tree
han bilong pik – front legs of a pig
Or even in English: head of state
Inwards:

Outer behaviour is a regular source for talk about the
inner mental self.
e.g. Physical sight expressions
I see what Helen means.
Peter is still in the dark.
Physical holding - mental grasping:

- Did you grasp what he meant?
- Did you get this?
- Paul hold on to his point of view.
Adpositions (Pre- & Postpositions)

- a limited number of prepositions
- re-apply of the old ones,
instead of inventing new ones.

Tok Pisin:
mi go long taun – I go to town
mi kam long town – I come from town
mi stap long haus – I stayed at home
mi paitim dok long stik –
I hit the dog with a stick

Nouns – durable: dog, sky
Verbs – rapid change: swim, go, hit
properties – hot day, green house
properties are less time-stable than nouns, but more
time-stable than most verbs
1st possibility

Subdivision into stative and non- stative verbs
non-stative: kill, shoot
stative: be-green, be-ill
(Mandarin Chinese, Yoruba)
2nd possibility

adjectives as an extra category
border-line between nouns/adj.
and verbs/adj. seems arbitrary
e.g. a gold watch  noun
a lasting peace  verb

In the early days verbs and adjectives were probably
indistinguishable.
To reach a clear distinction later word- endings were
added.

But a language is still not complete with just a few parts
of speech, and various attachements for its verbs.

So from this point on it´s still a long way to today´s
language
Diffusion
Frauke Skrobaschewsky
Moving outwards
roughly 75.000 years ago humans moved out of
Africa and into Asia
 first to Asia Minor
 then westwards to Europe
 eastwards to the Far East and Australia

the last continent to be populated was America
 crossed from northeastern Siberia into northwest
Alaska
 went by boat via the Bering Strait
 smalls groups
 probably spoke dialects of the same language

The hunt for Universals
language universals = features which occur in all
languages
 any human can learn any language, so
something must link all languages together
 a possible list of “narrow“ absolute universals:

All languages
1) have consonants and vowels
 2) combine sounds into larger units
 3) have nouns  words for people & objects
 4) have verbs  words for actions
 5) can combine words

All languages
6) can say who did that to who
 7) can negate utterances
 8) can ask questions
 9) involve structure-dependance
 10) involve recursions


finding absolute linguistic universals is hard
because they differ in details from language to
language
Constraints
language must have constraints which prevent it
from flying apart in different directions
 constraints are hard to find  promising
approach is the search for constraining links
 language constructions are often linked tp one
another in implicational chains
 Noam Chomsky‘s ‘paramter setting‘
 best known implicational theory

Chomsky‘s parameter setting
 children have an inbuilt knowledge of some
basic language principles
 in addition they are instinctively aware of some
key ‘either/or‘ options
 they need to find out which options their own
language selects
 the extra information follows automatically
The future
there are about 6.000 languages spoken today
 in this century 90% of all languages will cease to
exist
 3.000 languages are ‘moribund‘: no longer
learned as a first language by the new
generation of speakers
 the few languages that will remain will spread
across the world

Sources
Aitchison, John. The seeds of speech –
Language origin and evolution. Cambridge
University Press, Cambridge: 1996.
 http://www.ucl.ac.uk/alumni/getinvolved/world-map/world-map.gif
