The Origin of Language (Summary)

Kartika Cahyaningrum / C0314018 Qudwatu Nabila Rodhiya / C0314031 Rafika Arimbi / C0314033 The Origin of Language A. Why do we study history of the English language? 1. As language department students, studying the history of the English language can help us to recognize more of English words based on the languages linked to it. 2. We can explain the “irregularity” found in the language by tracing back to the history of the language. In Morphology course, for example, we have learned about some English words that cannot be attached to suffixes or probably prefixes. The reason is that they are originated from different language. 3. Language is a part of culture and society, thus studying the history of language shows our culture awareness. Moreover, since language is constantly evolving, when we find some language problems, tracing back to the history may help us find the solution. B. What is language? According to W. Nelson Francis in his book The Structure of American English, “A language is an arbitrary system of articulated sounds made use of by a group of humans as a means carrying on the affairs of their society.” From the definition above, we can conclude that: 1. Language is an arbitrary system. It means that there is no natural connection between the sound or form of a word and its meaning. For example, when someone say “apple,” what popping up in our head is a kind of fruit. However, if we didn’t have the same cultural understanding, we might not think about any object when we hear the word. 2. Language is used by humans. Animals make sounds too, but it is hardly considered as language. That is because language is a complex system, not only a tool of communication. It means that human language is unique in the sense that it is not only to make us able to communicate to each other, but also to build infinite variety from the system. 3. Language is always developing in accordance with the society’s needs. Before humans learn to write, they have used spoken language (it can be seen from how

Kartika – Qudwatu - Rafika illiterate people can speak), but of course the development of written language is essential for the society. Then, we can also see how the language we use today is different from the language used in the past. It means that as the society is changing, the language may change as well. C. Theories of the origin of language Before discussing about the theories, we must first understand that the question about language’s origin has always been asked. Since language is related to the society, the perspective of the origin of language is also influenced by the society. That is how the traditional and mythical theories, which came from human’s legends and beliefs, emerged. Besides the traditional theories, which credibility questionable, there are also rather scientific theories. 1. The Bow-wow Theory The name of the theory comes from dogs’ bark in the ears of Western, or English speaking, people. According to the theory, language is emerged as humans tried to imitate the sounds of the nature. This way of acquiring language can still be seen from how parents speak to their children, which is by imitating animals’ sounds. However, some people object this theory. The reason is that the way to interpret the same sound may be different from one person to another. Therefore, when a dog barks, English people imitate the sound with “bow-wow,” while Indonesian people think it is more like “guk-guk.” 2. The Ding-dong Theory The Ding-dong theory is similar to the Bow-wow theory. It states that humans in the past had already had the awareness of rhythm in the nature, like in the flowing river or the waving trees, thus they started to mutter some sounds based on it. Starting from that, the primitive utterance developed into chants. Therefore, the theory relates the origin of language with human impulse to imitate the rhythm of the nature. However, the theory also has the same objection as the previous theory mentioned. 3. The Pooh-pooh Theory

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The Pooh-pooh explains that language is influenced by emotional feelings. They can be the expressions of happiness, pain, adoring something, etc. The theorists believe that language is derived from the euphemism “screams” of emotion. At first, “pooh-pooh” is a term to express the annoyance or disagreement.

4. The Gesture Theory  The Gesture Theory by was stated Wilhelm Wundt, then repeated by Sir Richard Paged in his book, Human Speech  People communicated by making signs and motions.  This still can be found until now, such as using hand when calling someone, express agreement/disagreement, or asking something.  People use their hands to express their intentions, followed by tongue and lip movements  This indicates that humans used sign language before they have spoken language. D. Language Family •

Classifications are based on the similarities and differences.

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Similarity makes the languages into one language family.

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Difference is used to separate one language family from the others. 1. Afro-Asiatic  Used in Northern Africa and Southwest Asia  Branches: Semitic, Egyptian, Berber, Cushitic, Chad  Semitic is the most popular. Branches: Arabic, Hebrew, a part Ethiopian  Egyptian has Coptic as the branch. Coptic became the liturgy of Christianity in Egypt.  Berber’s branches: Kabyle, Shilh, Zenaga, Fuaren. Spread in Eastern Africa.  Chad has Hausa as the most popular language, because it is the trade language Western Africa. Chad is used in Middle and Northern Nigeria.

2. Sino-Tibetan  Used in Eastern Asia  Main branches: Tibeto-Burman and China  Tibet language is not only used in Tibet, but also along the frontier.  Burma language is used in Burma, but other type of Tibeto-Burman is used by mountain people.  Other language family: Malayo-Polynesian, Papua, Dravidian, and AustroAsiatic.

Kartika – Qudwatu - Rafika o Malayo-Polynesian has two sub-branches: Western/Indonesian and Eastern Western: Malay, Bahasa Indonesia, Javanese, Sunda, Balinese, Tagalog Eastern: Micronesia, Polynesia, New Zealand, Tahiti, Hawaii, Samoa o Papua family language is used in Papua and New Guinea o Dravidian is used in Southern India o Austro-Asiatic is spread in Southeast Asiasuch as Khmer, Vietnam, and Santali. 3. Language Family in America Language family in America is divided in accordance with the regions where the native use it. In North America, the most common languages used are rooted from Indo-European language, such as English, Spanish, Portuguese, and French. In northern Canada, there are Eskimo, Athabaskan, Algonquian, Mosan, and Iroquoian. In Central America, there are some kinds of Indian languages, like Yucatec, Kekchi, Otomi, and Zapotec. Navaho is used in northern Mexico. In South America, there are 4 prominent languages, which are Guarani, Paraguay in southern Brasilia, Quechua of Inca Empire – which is still use by Peru, Ecuador and Bolivian natives – and, finally, Tupi-Guarani – the lingua franca language in Amazon Brasilia. 4. Indo-European Language Family This language family is the largest and most important as perceived by linguists. The linguists have managed to establish a family tree of it and many people can see it acceptable. The evidence of how one language connects with another in this language family can still be found in the similarity of certain words – for example, words used for expressing family relationship, like father, mother, and sibling. The relationship of languages in Indo-European was also studied by Jacob Grimm, a German intellectual on 19 th century. He saw that if one word in Latin is paralleled with the same words of Germanic language family, it can always be guaranteed that the letter p in Latin is parallel with the letter f in Germanic. This Grimm’s study is the continuity of what was done by Rasmus Rask on 1818 (Danish), collected to be First Germanic Consonant Shift or what is commonly known as Grimm’s Law. The exception or deviation in Grimm’s Law is studied

Kartika – Qudwatu - Rafika by Karl Verner, a Danish, on 1876. Thus, Verner’s Law arose, explaining the deviations of Grimm’s Law.