Language and the mind Prof. R. Hickey WS 2007/08 Origins of Language - Part One

1. Language and the mind Prof. R. Hickey WS 2007/08 Origins of Language- Part One Julia Ludwig (LN, Hauptstudium) Christiane Wiemann (BA Anglophone Studies, LN)Julia Großkopf (LN, Grundstudium)Sophia Pfeiffer (TN, Grundstudium)

2. Introduction The most distinctive feature in which animals differ from human beings is Language.

3. Introduction In the Land of the Bumbley Boo You can buy Lemon pie at the Zoo: They give away Foxes In little Pink Boxes And Bottles of Dandylion Stew. (Spike Milligan)

4. Introduction Language is an extraordinary system which allows us to communicate about anything whatsoever, whether it is present, absent, or even non-existent. Communication systems of other animals are mostly confined to messages about everyday events, such as food, danger, mating and territorial rights.

5. How did language begin? “The origin of language is criss-crossed with controversy and befogged in mystery.” (Jean Aitchison)

6. How did language begin? • The earliest written records are around 5,000 years old. • It is possible to reconstruct what some languages may have been like up to 10,000 years ago. • BUT: language must have evolved at least 50,000 years ago, most researchers even propose a date around 100,000 years ago!

7. Theories about language origin John Webb, 17th century: “An historical essay endeavouring the probability that the language of the Empire of China is the Primitive Language.” • Supposition that Chinese was probably the primitive language of humankind. It was spoken by Noah and his family in the Ark, and so survived the flood.

8. Theories about language origin James Burnett Lord Monboddo: “The origin and progress of language.” (1773) • Humans learned how to spin and weave from spiders, how to construct dams from beavers, and how to sing and speak from birds. Human articulation is supposed to be the result of imitating birds, like the raven or the parrot.

9. Theories about language origin Abbe’ O‘Donnely, mid 19th century: • Claimed to have deciphered the hieroglyphs on an Egyptian obelisk: ‘new and prodigious discovery of the original universal language.’

10. Theories about language origin As further absurd ideas arose, the ‘origin of language’ became a dubious field of interest. • In 1866, a ban on the topic was incorporated into the founding statutes of the Linguistic Society of Paris: “The Society does not accept papers on either the origin of language or the invention of a universal language.” Inquiry into language was considered a waste of time.

11. Theories about language origin Today, theorigin and evolution of language has become a respectable topic. • Religious dogmatism has declined. • Sufficient progress has been made in the study of humans and their place in the animal world to be able to approach the topic in a useful way.

12. Human language and birdsong Similarities • Like humans, birds have an ability to make distinctive sounds that is rare in the animal world – even though the method used to produce them is rather different from that used by humans.

13. Human language and birdsong • Emission of two types of sounds: - Innate calls - “Songs”, involve learning • Birds and humans share a double-barrelled system, with one part in place at birth, and the other acquired later.

14. Human language and birdsong In both birds and humans, the output only makes sense when sounds are strung together. • Double-layering, duality or double articulation • Sound segments are fitted into an overall rhythm and intonation pattern.

15. Human language and birdsong As with humans, the song of a single species of bird may have different but related ‘dialects’.

16. Human language and birdsong Both birdsong and human language are normally controlled by the left side of the brain, even though the mechanisms by which this control is exercised are quite different.

17. Human language and birdsong Young birds have a period of sub-song, a type of twittering which emerges before the development of a full song = Babbling phase of human infants. • Like birds which undergo a ‚critical‘ period in which they acquire their song, humans acquire language best during a ‚sensitive period‘ in the first few years of life.

18. Human language and birdsong Differences • Mostly, only male birds sing. • Considerable variation is found between the songs of different birds, more than between different languages. • Bird communication is a long-distance affair # intimacy of human language.

19. Human language and birdsong The purposes for which birds vocalize are narrower than those of humans: birds sing in order to attract a mate, or to repel trespassers. • Humans use language for many more purposes than birds use song.

20. Human language and birdsong • The similarities between birdsong and human language show that parallel systems can emerge independently in quite different situations.

21. The origin of language – a puzzle “The origin of language is like a vast prehistoric jigsaw puzzle, in which numerous fragments of evidence must be painstakingly assembled.”

22. The origin of language – a puzzle The pieces of the language puzzle are of two main types: • External (non-linguistic) – clues from outside human language. • Internal (linguistic) – information from other languages.

23. The origin of language – a puzzle Fields which provide external evidence: • Evolution theory • Anatomy and physiology • Ethology (animal behaviour) • Psychology • Anthropology (human societies)

24. The origin of language – a puzzle Internal evidence is provided by linguistics: • Pidgins and creoles are particularly valuable sources of information: they may show how humans ‘naturally’ devise and elaborate a simple system.

25. The origin of language – a puzzle External and internal fragments overlap and interweave. • Evidence has to be gathered from both outside language, and inside it. • In research, it’s important to have a theory, a framework into which to place the pieces.

26. Key questions The amoeba question “An amoeba named Sam, and his brother Were having a drink with each other. In the midst of their quaffing, They split themselves laughing. And each of them now is a mother.”

27. Key questions Did language evolve like an amoeba, as a simple outline which was gradually elaborated? Or was it a sprawling mish-mash which slowly turned into a coherent system?

28. Key questions 19th century theories about language origin: • The ‘pooh-pooh’ theory – language was traced back to instinctive cries of pain or joy. • The ‘bow-wow’ theory – assumed that ancient hunters imitated the growls and squeaks of animals they planned to track down. • The ‘yo-he-ho’ theory – suggested that those words came first which originated in involuntary grunts.

29. Key questions BUT: Language need not have started with single words, it could have begun with whole melodies. • Rousseau:”…the first languages were singable and passionate before they became simple and methodical.” • Otto Jespersen: “The speech of uncivilized and primitive men was more passionately agitated than ours, more like music or song.”

30. Key questions Derek Bickerton: An innate ‘bioprogram’ caused simple basic distinctions to arise, both in the development of language in the species, and in creoles. • The bioprogram is supposedly part of the human mind.

31. Key questions The ‘spaghetti junctions’ view: Various possibilities were tried out until finally several factors converged to make speakers more likely to choose some options rather than others. • It may have taken generations till the chosen ‘route’ was fixed.

32. Key questions The rabbit-out-of-a-hat problem • Language is supposed to have emerged quite suddenly, like a rabbit pulled out of a hat. • Possible reasons: - A mutation in the early hominid gene pool. - The evolution of language was facilitated by an already large brain.

33. Key questions BUT: Others assume that language evolved slowly and piecemeal, over multiple millenia. • The amoeba question and the rabbit-out-of-a-hat problem cannot be solved in isolation. • It is essential to have more background information about the nature of language.

34. Language and the mind Prof. R. Hickey WS 07/08 The purpose of language Christiane WiemannBA Anglophone Studies, LN

35. Introduction ‘‘An important role of language is to influence others“ (Jean Aitchison)

36. Structure • What is language for? • Multiple purposes • What language is bad at… • What language is good at… • Conclusion

37. What is language for? • some elder approaches believe that the main function of language is the transfer of information ”information talking” • (but) it is not true that language always contains information • (and) even if information is transferred, it is not guaranteed that the information is correct (e.g. lies, misunderstandings)

38. What is language for? Example: “We are now at take-off”, said the pilot of a Boeing 747. He meant: “We are now in the process of taking off.” The air-traffic controller assumed he meant: “We are waiting at the take-off point.” In consequence, 583 people died as two aeroplanes collided on a runway in Tenerife.

39. Multiple purposes

40. Multiple purposes • Today language is used for many different purposes.You can find the following list in almost every introductury book: • providing information: The train at platform five is the London-York Express • giving commands: Don’t shout! • expressing feelings: Oh what a beautiful morning! • social talking: Hi, how are you doing? • word play and poetry: The apple made cider inside her inside. • talking about language (meta language): Donking isn’t a word!

41. Multiple purposes • Aitchison suggests to add even further purposes: • asking questions, getting rid of superfluous nervous energy, etc. • still the original role of language remains unclear, but needs to be identified to understand why language developed.

42. Traditional view of language functions Expressing feelings Giving commands Social talking Providing information Asking questions Talking about language Word play Etc., Etc.

43. What language is bad at… • in general language is good at transferring information • (but) there are some types of information which are not easy to transfer • e.g. spatial information (tying knots, following routes,etc.) • Hilaire Belloc (an English writer) once said: „If you can describe clearly without a diagram the proper way of making this or that knot, then you are a master of the English tongue.“

44. How to make a knot… • Pass the end of the rope over the standing part. • Take the end under the standing part away from the loop. • Bring the end of the rope back up over itself towards the loop. • Pass the end down through the loop. • Pull tight.

45. How to make a knot…

46. What language is bad at… • language is not only bad at handling spatial information, but also at conveying information about sensation or emotion • ‘‘There is no language for pain. Except bad language. Except swearing. There is no language for it. Ouch, ow, oof, gah. Jesus. Pain is its own language.“ (Martin Amis, ‘‘London Fields“)

47. What language is good at… • language is good at promoting interaction between people  it oils social wheels • Bronislaw Malinowski (anthropologist) talked about the social importance of ‘‘talking for the sake of talking“ • phatic communication • furthermore there are certain standard topics of conversation, e.g. the weather • Samuel Johnson (lexicographer) said: ‘‘When two Englishmen meet, their first talk is of the weather.“

48. What language is good at… • conversational interaction between friends often supplies a minimum of information, but a maximum of supportive chat • there is often a lot of repetition, both self-repetition and other-repetition • talking to maintain social contacts is important and widespread  solidarity talking

49. What language is good at… • language is a major tool in power struggles • the power of persuasion becomes quite obvious in advertising • Joseph E. Levine (American film producer) once said: ‘‘ You can fool all the people all of the time if the advertising is right and the budget is big enough.“ • the manipulating force of language can also be found in politics • according to George Orwell, political language ‘‘is designed to make lies sound truthful and murder respectable, and to give an appearance of solidity to pure wind“  language is very good at interaction and persuasion

50. Realistic view of language functions Interaction Persuasion Information Etc. Etc. Etc.