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Chapter 1  What is language?
[A] The origins of language
Some speculations of the origins of language:
¢Ù The divine source
The basic hypothesis: if infants were allowed to grow up without hearing any language, then they would spontaneously begin using the original god-given language.
Actually, children living without access to human speech in their early years grow up with no language at all.
¢Ú The natural-sound source
The bow-wow theory: the suggestion is that primitive words could have been imitations of the natural sounds which early men and women heard around them.
The “Yo-heave-ho” theory: the sounds produced by humans when exerting physical effort, especially when co-operating with other humans, may be the origins of speech sounds.
Onomatopoeic sounds
¢Û The oral-gesture source
It is claimed that originally a set of physical gestures was developed as a means of communication.
The patterns of movement in articulation would be the same as gestural movement; hence waving tongue would develop from waving hand.
¢Ü Glossogenetics£¨ÑÔÓïÒÅ´«Ñ§£©
This focuses mainly on the biological basis of the formation and development of human language.
Physiological adaptationàdevelop naming abilityàinteractions and transactions
Physical adaptation:
Human teeth are upright and roughly even in height.
Human lips have intricate muscle interlacing, thus making them very flexible.
The human mouth is small and contains a very flexible tongue.
The human larynx is lowered, creating a longer cavity called the pharynx, and making it easier for the human to choke on the pieces of food, but making the sound speech possible.
The human brain is lateralized. Those analytic functions (tool-using and language) are largely confined to the left hemisphere of the brain for most humans.
Two major functions of language:
Interactional: a social function of language.
Transactional: a function involving the communication of knowledge and information
[B] The properties of language
Language is a system of arbitrary vocal symbols used for human communication.
a) System: combined together according to rules
b) Arbitrary: no intrinsic connection between the word “pen” and the thing in the world which it refers to
c) Vocal: the primary medium is sound for all languages
d) Human: language is human-specific£¨½»¼ÊÐÔÓëÐÅÏ¢ÐÔ£©
Communicative vs. Informative:
Communicative: intentionally using language to communicate something
Informative: through/via a number of signals that are not intentionally sent
Design features (unique properties): the defining properties of human language that distinguish it from any animal system of communication
¢Ù Displacement£¨¿çʱ¿ÕÐÔ£¬ÒÆλÐÔ£©
Language can be used to refer to contexts removed from the immediate situations of the speaker (refer to past and future time and to other locations)
¢Ú Arbitrariness£¨ÈÎÒâÐÔ£©
There is no logical or natural connection between a linguistic form (either sound or word) and its meaning.
While language is arbitrary by nature, it is not entirely arbitrary.
a) echo of the sounds of objects or activities: onomatopoeic words
b) some compound words
¢Û Productivity£¨ÄܲúÐÔ£¬´´ÔìÐÔ£©
Language is productive in that it makes possible the construction and interpretation of new signals by its users. (Creativity or open-endedness)
¢Ü Cultural transition£¨ÎÄ»¯´«µÝÐÔ£©
While human capacity for language has a genetic basis (everyone was born with the ability to acquire a language), the details of any language system are not genetically transmitted, but instead have to be taught and learnt.
¢Ý Discreteness£¨¿É·ÖÀëÐÔ£©
Each sound in the language is treated as discrete.
¢Þ Duality£¨Ë«ÖؽṹÐÔ£¬Á½ÖØÐÔ»ò¶þÔªÐÔ£©
Language is organized at two levels or layers simultaneously. The lower or basic level is a structure of sounds which are meaningless. The higher level is morpheme or word (double articulation)
The above six properties may be taken as the core features of human language.
Vocal-auditory channel, reciprocity, specialization, non-directionality, or rapid fade, these properties are best treated as ways of describing human language, but not as a means of distinguishing it from other systems of communication.
[C] The development of written language
¢Ù pictograms & ideograms£¨ÏóÐÎÎÄ×ֺͱíÒâÎÄ×Ö£©
Pictogram: when some of the pictures came to represent particular images in a consistent way, we can begin to describe the product as a form of picture-writing, or pictograms.
Ideogram: the picture developed as more abstract and used other than its entity is considered to be part of a system of idea-writing, or ideogram