Date: 13.1.2009
Title: First Forum
What is language?
Can you explain the origin of language?
Can you imagine a world without language?
please go to http://mail.google.com/ and set up a gmail account before you comment.
and remember to log in before you comment! :)
Subscribe to:
Post Comments (Atom)
hi everyone!
ReplyDeletei dont want to nag much..so,this is my opinion about what is language.=)
language is the tool of civilization,a way of communication to project your thoughts and express your feelings or emotions. we use verbal and non-verbal language methods to do this.for me personally,language symbolize power.pretty odd huh?well,look at the world today.people are trying hard to learn foreign language such as mandarin,for instance,shows china is one of the most fast-paced developing country in the world.in order to catch up and compete with them,knowing how to communicate in the chinese language it self is vital.the americans,take classes in school on foreign languages such as spanish and french.knowing just 1 or 2 type of language is not enough because language gives you the power to control.
knowing a language does not simply mean you know how to speak and write, but also know how to acquire the language. in other words,knowing a language does not mean u acquire it. language is a process of learning it self,developing from time to time.
there are many theories on where language are originally from.theories which stuck in my head are the most popular theory-the innatist position or innatism.
According to Chompsky,'humans are biogically programmed for language and that language develop in just the same way that other biological funtions develop',pointed out that human language are fundementally innate the same universal principle underline all of them.'in other words,its natural for us to learn how to walk when we were a child,it not need to be taught because we will simply know how to do it. another example is that we get hungry if we don't eat and fill our stomach. tha same thing goes with language,its a natural process or bahaviour.
world without language will just be boring and silence,as if a catastrophy has happen.there will only be the sound of the environment and people will probably die due to madness. history will not be able to be recorded and the generations of future people will not be aware of the history it self.history will just be history.eventually,someone will start a language of its own and hence, a civilization will arise due to the power of language.
What is language? A simple definition would be that language is the way we, humans, communicate with each other. We can communicate by speech or visually. I said visually because, deaf and mutes can communicate with each other using sign language, which is a visual form of language. So, to communicate with each other, we need the vocal chords for it, as well as a complex brain to understand and comprehend the meaning of a sentence.
ReplyDeleteThe origin of language is something that we cannot really put in one strict theory or concept. There are various beliefs and theories, some are heavily influenced by religion, while other are carefully crafted using scientific research. However, the one theory I find the most believable is the Gestural theory. The gestural theory states that humans first started to communicate through gestures. It is logical that when we did not have the brain capacity to speak, our ancestors used simple gestures to communicate. Gesturing requires that the communicating individuals can see each other. There are many situations in which individuals need to communicate even without visual contact, for instance when a predator is closing in on somebody who is up in a tree picking fruit. The need to signal for help would force a person to use his or hers vocal ability, and words started to form from there.
A scientific method to trace the origin of language that I like is the one where researches predict whether humans could speak or not from their skull size and the tools that they used. When scientist find an archeological place, with humans bones and the tools they used to use, they will then carefully weigh, measure and record their finds. Then they will compare the skull size from the site to modern age human’s skull. If it’s smaller, it is understood that the people from that particular age and place did not have the brain capacity to understand complex language. If the skull size is nearly the same, they will look at their tools. If the tools is crude stone tools, without any specific purpose of use, it is understood that the humans from that age had the brain capacity to understand language, but they had not yet develop their thinking and language skills. Only if the skull size is big enough and the tools are developed enough do the scientist label the humans from that age as language users. The artifacts from this age is usually easily sort able into many different categories based on their function, such as projectile points, engraving tools, knife blades, and drilling and piercing tools. Teaching offspring or other group members how to manufacture such detailed tools would have been difficult without the aid of language.
Imagining a world without language is hard, really hard, especially since language is something we take for granted and use everyday. Language is the way we communicate with each other, either through vocals or visually. So if there is no language there will be no songs, no books, no movies and no education since teachers would not be able to communicate with students. Personally, imagining a world without language is quite a depressing thought, especially since I just realized everything I love either listening to music, learning, reading books, writing, or talking with family members and friends are all done through language. I guess it would be a more isolated world, where people would be more immersed with themselves. Language is such a BIG part of us that I find it hard to imagine a world without language, so, I am very grateful that we have language in our lives.
Interesting...here's another one,'What's your mother tongue?'What's the origin of your mother tongue?Research,research,research and all your answers will be there...
ReplyDeleteI'd like to discuss your presentations in the next class(10/2/09).How you intend to do it,etc,etc,etc.Hopefully,the discussion will help fine tune your presentation.So come prepared.
ReplyDeleteThis is a bit old and off topic… but I figure better late than never…
ReplyDeleteI was somewhat sceptical during the early class of ‘Language & Linguistics, particularly to the topic comparing animal and human ability to speech. I found it discomforting to sum up that animals are not capable of language merely because us humans have these two trump cards; ‘vocal chords’ and ‘brains’. By this definition alone, I can say that animals have the ability for language as well because they have their own unique vocal chords capable of sound that us humans are not able to produce, for example in different decible range. Plus some animals can be considered ‘smarter’ than us, or having the ‘brains’ because certain species are capable of creating things that humans are not able to.
I was especially sceptical since I recall an episode on National Geographic about scientists observing whales communicate with each other. Whales communicate via loud whistling that is inaudible to the human ear because it is beyond our decible range. The scientists’ conclusion was that the whales were communicating to each other in a form of whale language that us human could not yet comprehend. (refer http://www.newscientist.com/article/dn8886--whale-song-reveals-sophisticated-language-skills.html ) .
Furthermore, there are millions of species of animals in the world, many more discovered each year. How can we possibly assume to know enough of the animal kingdom to come to such a conclusion? Could it be that, in our definition of language, we have failed to acknowledge some, perhaps unique form of communication in animals, that is beyond our comprehension?
I gathered the answer lies in our definition of language. We understand it simply as “a system of symbols of communication” or the more vague “a tool of communication”. What I discovered (below) finally convinced me that humans are (so far the only known creature) capable of languange. Besides the definition of language, here are some characteristic of human language;
1. Displacement – means communication with displacement of time or space. For example, a human can talk about what he did yesterday but an animal can only communicate in the now like a cat meowing to show it is hungry.
A creature that initially convinced me that animals have their own form of language is the humble bee that can organize itself to find nectar and make a bee hive. An experiment on bees however, showed that bees have llimited displacement capabilities, being able to alert each other to food but not being able to give its exact location. (The Study of Languages, George Yule pg21).
2. Arbitrariness – means ‘based on random choice’ or in this context, no natural connection between word or sound to meaning.
Humans can make words that has no clear link to its meaning (eg; ‘small’ looks nothing like the meaning it carries).
3. Productivity – refering to human’s ability to form new words.
Humans can create new words to mean new things (example; ‘air-conditioner’ is created from the word ‘air’ and ‘condition’) but animals do not show this ability to produce new words in their animal vocabulary. Human words can also change meanings.
For example, the English word "nice" now generally means pleasing, agreeable, polite, and kind. In the15th century it meant foolish, wanton, lascivious, and even wicked. Languages evolve in response to changing historical and social conditions. (http://anthro.palomar.edu/language/language_2.htm ) Animals have fixed reference; once a term means something in animal language, it cannot change definition.
4. Cultural transmission –
A baby Korean if transplanted to US will pick up English instead of its mother’s tongue but a kitten that is transplanted to a tigeress can’t growl like a tiger but will instinctively meow. It cannot learn another ‘language’.
5. Discreteness –
The sounds used are meaningfully distinct. Meaning ‘pack’ and ‘back’ though sound very similar are distinguished from the letters ‘p’ and ‘b’.
6. Duality – two levels
Our human language differs in that a word and its alphabets carry different sounds and therefore functions on two levels, producing distinct sounds and meanings. Eg NET is pronouned and mean one thing but the other way round; TEN gives a different meaning and pronounciation based on the arrangement of the letters. An animal cannot duplicate this.
Language belongs only to the “Human Beings ". Because Language in Itself is a concept, and a conception. Language whether verbal and non-verbal is the tool that we use for interaction with other human being in which gives us our identity as Individual human beings.
ReplyDeleteThe original sounds of language came from natural cries of emotion, such as pain, anger and joy.
)There are many theories about the origins of language. Some of the theories are as followed.
a) The mama theory in which Language began with the easiest syllables attached to the most significant objects.
b) The bow-bow theory tells that Language began with imitations of natural sounds, moo, choo-choo, clang, buzz, bang, and meow
c) The yo-he-ho theory in which language began as a rhythmic chants, perhaps ultimately from the grunts of heavy work.
d) The ta-ta theory. Sir Richard Paget believed that body movement preceded language. For example, like the way a child mouth will move when they use scissors .This evolved into the popular idea that language may have derived from gestures.
In my point of view, without language there would be no culture, No poems, epics, stories, histories, myths, legends, jokes, no values beliefs, because all of these need expression and the only way to express our feelings, emotions, opinions and ideas are by using language. And above all, there would be no interaction and exchanging of ideas among people. Language is a powerful instrument and a beautiful one as well.
G,Vijaya
ReplyDeleteLanguage belongs only to the “Human Beings ". Because Language in Itself is a concept, and a conception. Language whether verbal and non-verbal is the tool that we use for interaction with other human being in which gives us our identity as Individual human beings.
The original sounds of language came from natural cries of emotion, such as pain, anger and joy.
)There are many theories about the origins of language. Some of the theories are as followed.
a) The mama theory in which Language began with the easiest syllables attached to the most significant objects.
b) The bow-bow theory tells that Language began with imitations of natural sounds, moo, choo-choo, clang, buzz, bang, and meow
c) The yo-he-ho theory in which language began as a rhythmic chants, perhaps ultimately from the grunts of heavy work.
d) The ta-ta theory. Sir Richard Paget believed that body movement preceded language. For example, like the way a child mouth will move when they use scissors .This evolved into the popular idea that language may have derived from gestures.
In my point of view, without language there would be no culture, No poems, epics, stories, histories, myths, legends, jokes, no values beliefs, because all of these need expression and the only way to express our feelings, emotions, opinions and ideas are by using language. And above all, there would be no interaction and exchanging of ideas among people. Language is a powerful instrument and a beautiful one as well.
G.Vijaya
ReplyDelete1) Language (verbal and non-verbal) is the tool that we use to interact with other humans. Interaction gives human being their identity as an individual. In other words, we can say that Language is a city to the building of which every human being brought a stone.
2) There are many theories about the origins of language. Some of the theories are as follows. Natural sounds used as interjection began to take on more generalized meanings.Let say For example , the English word ‘ouch’ may be expressed by someone who has just been hurt but may then be used to mean “pain” or “the act of hurting oneself” or even “watch out!”. Early languages might have been formed through such expansions of meaning. Natural sounds might have been added to interjections, and these sounds might have developed into vocabulary which was shared by a group of people
But this theory just touches on the real question of the origin of language..
A second theory suggests that language might have been derived from children’s games.
For example, children involved in make-believe battle or hunt may have created new sounds. These sounds could have taken on special meanings for the children, just as you and your playmates probably had what you called “secret codes” used as signals for certain activities or objects. As the children grew up, the sound would have become more useful in actual hunting or in battle, and spread to other members of the group, gaining standardized meanings in the process. Although this is just a guest, it is a plausible explanation of how meanings were assigned to sounds. It is easy to imagine how, once the usefulness of this type of communication was evident, it would have been expanded to include a large number of sounds with different meaning.
3) In my point of view, if there is no language on one hand there would be no war between countries and people. It is because sometimes people talk anything they want without thinking whether the words will hurt anybody. In other words, language is used for spreading hate.So, it is rightly said that sometimes language affects our life negatively. Politicians and religious leaders abuse language and use it as a tool for manipulation
Furthermore, with the existence of language, problems may crop up because conflicts may arise between countries and their people. These situations may occur due to the fact that people will tend to gossip and pass rumors about each other.
On the other hand, if there is no language, it would be difficult because there is no possibility for us to transfer our Ideas, mentality and many other expressive things in which ,we will not able to enjoy our life to the fullest extend.
Based on my view,language is a symbol of communication and also refers to the use of such systems as a general phenomenon.Speaking is considered to be an exclusively human mode of communication.Although other animals make use of quite sophisticated communicative systems,none of their communications considered as a language.
ReplyDelete