语言的起源

The Summary of the Origins of Human Language

曾晓莉2016201133

Language, as an important medium for human beings to communicate,has almost the same long history as the origin of human. However, as to how languages come into being, different people have different stories.

In the ancient Europe, almost everybody believe in God, they thanked the god for everything they enjoyed, including their language. According to the Bible, human language is endowed by God, who imparted the language to Adam, which was recorded in The Garden of Eden in Genesis. Later, as to why people speak different languages, another story, The Tower of Babel in The Old Testament, gives people the answer. This version still influences many scholars during the 17th and 18th century.

In the middle of 18th century, a great many scholars started to explore the origins of language in Europe including the well-known linguists Condillac, Rousseau, Herder and so on. And in 1769, Berlin Royal Academy of Sciences set up awards for the best answer of the origins, which contributed to some achievements. Condillac and Rousseau agreed with the Social Convention, and held the idea that language use, as a rational choice, is influenced by society. However, Herder argued that the origin of human language lies in their nature, and this ability is inherent.

However, in 1860s to 1910s, ban on papers on the origins was set up. The endless speculations, conjectures and theories kept unfounded. This prohibition remained influential across the western world until late in the 20th century.

Later on, in 1922, the Danish linguist Otto Jespersen summarized the Invention Theory of the origins of human language, which includes the bow-wow hypothesis, the pooh-pooh hypothesis, the ding-dong hypothesis, the yo-he-h hypothesis and the la-la hypothesis.

In 1960s, another great linguist Chomsky insisted on linguistic endowment, and held that men are created with the language acquisition device. In his words, language is inherent from the parents. However, this is self-paradoxical, because Chomskyan scholars were reluctant to solve how linguistic know is invoked for use, and why most of people cannot study well their second language.

Nowadays, an increasing number of linguists, archaeologists, anthropologists and psychologists are trying new methods to solve these problems.

To sum up, linguistics has no end. There is a lot to be found. And we are on the way.