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第1章 语言的起源
Study questions
1. Why is it difficult to agree with Psammetichus that Phrygianmust have been the original human language?
Key: Psammetichus left the infant togrow up among goats. This action caused the infant to imitate the sounds thegoats were making. Psammetichus interpreted this sound as an actual word whichwas in reality just a “be”.
2. What is the basic idea behind the “bow-wow”theory of language origin?
Key: The basic idea behind the“bow-wow” theory is the natural sounds. Primitive words could have beenimitations of natural sounds which men and women heard around them.
3. Why are interjections such as Ouch consideredto be unlikely sources of human speech sounds?
Key: Interjections contain soundsthat are not otherwise used in ordinary speech production. They are usuallyproduced with sudden intakes of breath, which is the opposite of ordinary talk,produced on exhaled breath.
4. Where is the pharynx and how did itbecome an important part of human sound production?
Key: The pharynx is above the vocalcords (or voice box) which acts a resonator for sound produced via larynx.
5. Why do youthink that young deaf children who become fluent in sign language would becited in support of the innateness hypothesis?
Key: If all children, including borndeaf can acquire language at about the same time they must be born with specialcapacity to do so. The conclusion is that it must be innate is to saygenetically determined.
6. With which of the four “sources” would you associate thisquotation?
Chewing, licking and sucking are extremely widespreadmammalian activities, which, in terms of casual observation, have obvioussimilarities with speech.
Key: a) The divine source: Language came from Saravasti wife of Brahma.
b) The natural sound: language camefrom imitations of heard sounds.
c) The physical adaptation source:language came from physical aspects distinct from other creatures.
d) The genetic source: languagecame from innateness hypothesis. Babies are sign language users or gestural. Humanare born with a special capacity for language.
Tasks
A. What is the connection between theHeimlich maneuver and the development of human speech?
Key: The connection between theHeimlich maneuver and the development of human speech is that both movementstry to push air out through the lungs. The former is a mechanical procedure todislodge any obstruction in the air passage while the later is a voluntaryprocess of vocalization required for speech involving the vocal chords, theoral cavity, the tongue etc. for speech output.
B. What exactly happened at Babel and why is it used in explanations of language origins?
Key: The Bible says that: “... thewhole earth was of one language and of one speech...” after the flood. Communicationamong men was good. Men could freely express their ideas, designs, plans andnotions with one another... and invent ways to implement them.
The indication of scripture is thatGod has put man on a 6000 year time schedule. One reason is to let man learnthat he is incapable of governing himself apart from the laws of God. Recenthistory shows how, with the language barrier less of a problem today than incenturies past, the communication between peoples, nations and cultures is “bringingthe world back to the time when the whole earth was of one speech”.
C. Whatare the arguments for and against a teleological explanation ofthe origins of human language?
Key: We look at evidence that language is an innate ability of the humanbrain, an idea linked to Noam Chomsky. But many linguists and psychologists seelanguage as one facet of cognition rather than as a separate ability. Since Chomsky and Gould have made a number of assertions thatlanguage (the communication system unique to human beings), could not haveevolved through natural selection, and natural selection has long been theprevailing theory in evolutionary biology, the challenge presented by Pinkerand Bloom was to develop a theory of language origin that was compatible withthe mainstream theory of evolution, the theory of natural selection.
D. The idea that “ontogeny recapitulates phylogeny” was first proposed by Ernst Haeckel in 1866and is still frequently used in discussions of language origins. Canyou find a simpler or less technical way to express this idea?
Key: Ontogeny is the course of development of an organism from fertilizedegg to adult; phylogeny is the evolutionary history of a group of organisms.The phrase “ontogeny recapitulates phylogeny” means that as an embryo of anadvanced organism grows, it will pass through stages that look very much likethe adult phase of less-advanced organisms.
E. In his analysis of the beginnings of human language, WilliamFoley comes to the conclusion that “language as we understandit was born about 200,000 years ago” (1997: 73). This is substantially earlierthan the dates (between 100,000 and 50,000years ago) that other scholars have proposed. What kinds of evidenceand arguments are typically presented in order to choose a particular date “whenlanguage was born”?
Key: There is no consensus on theultimate origin or age of the origin of language in the human species. Scholarswishing to study the origins of language must draw inferences from other kindsof evidence such as the fossil record or from archaeological evidence, fromcontemporary language diversity, from studies of language acquisition, and fromcomparisons between human language and systems of communication existing amongother animals, particularly other primates. It is generally agreed that theorigins of language are closely tied to the origins of modern human behavior,but there is little agreement about the implications and directionality of thisconnection.
F. What isthe connection between the innateness hypotheses, as described in this chapter,and the idea of a Universal Grammar?
Key: Universal grammar is a topicthat has been researched in linguistics since the mid-20th century. The basic,fundamental structure of all human languages is very similar, in spite of theobvious differences in vocabulary and sound. This basic structure is calledUniversal Grammar. The innateness hypothesis is the idea that this UniversalGrammar is present in all healthy human minds as a result of biologicalinheritance (in other words, grammar is innate).
