Scribd
Upload
1K views9 pages

Origin of Language

The document discusses several theories on the origin of language: 1. The Bow-Wow Theory proposes that early words imitated natural sounds like animal cries or water rippling. However, it does not explain most words or how language became articulated. 2. The Ding-Dong Theory suggests that early humans expressed impressions from nature like trees swaying or water flowing through vocal sounds. 3. The Pooh-Pooh Theory traces words to basic human emotions expressed through noises in response to pain, pleasure, or shock. 4. The Gesture Theory argues that gestures evolved into spoken words through corresponding mouth movements. 5. The Yo-He-Ho Theory proposes that group

Uploaded by

lisona.robin
Copyright
© © All Rights Reserved
We take content rights seriously. If you suspect this is your content, claim it here.
Available Formats
Download as PPTX, PDF, TXT or read online on Scribd
1K views9 pages

Origin of Language

The document discusses several theories on the origin of language: 1. The Bow-Wow Theory proposes that early words imitated natural sounds like animal cries or water rippling. However, it does not explain most words or how language became articulated. 2. The Ding-Dong Theory suggests that early humans expressed impressions from nature like trees swaying or water flowing through vocal sounds. 3. The Pooh-Pooh Theory traces words to basic human emotions expressed through noises in response to pain, pleasure, or shock. 4. The Gesture Theory argues that gestures evolved into spoken words through corresponding mouth movements. 5. The Yo-He-Ho Theory proposes that group

Uploaded by

lisona.robin
Copyright
© © All Rights Reserved
We take content rights seriously. If you suspect this is your content, claim it here.
Available Formats
Download as PPTX, PDF, TXT or read online on Scribd
You are on page 1/ 9

Language

Theories of Origin
Bow-Wow Theory

 States that language is an imitation of natural sounds


 Sounds heard in nature- cries of animals, sounds of natural phenomenon,
movement of wind, ripple of waters
 Onomatopoeic words
 Eg:- puff, rattle, crash etc
 Valid and reliable theory to explain the formation of a few words
 Drawback – silent about the majority of words
unable to answer questions like language acquired its
articulatory nature
how language signs have become arbitrary in nature
Ding-Dong Theory

 Associated with the name of the German scholar and philologist


Max Muller.
 Stresses the rhythmical nature of the universe and the sense of
rhythm innate to all human beings.
 Believes that every impression that man received from nature
found expression as vocal sounds or ding dongs
 Early man ding-donged phonetically to the swaying of the trees
in wind, flow of water in the stream etc
Pooh- Pooh Theory

 Traces all human speech utterances to the basic emotions


of man- those evoked by pain, pleasure, excitement,
shock etc
 Believes that the words we use now are only a refined
form of the brute noises which earlier man made in
response to situations evoking them
 (pooh-pooh means to belittle somebody or something/
implying contempt or dislike)
Gesture Theory

 Believes that every human gesture is followed by


movements of the tongue, the lips and the jaws
 Initially signs and gestures employed for communication
 Later replaced by corresponding movements of the
tongue, lips and jaws
 Sign language to spoken language
 Put forth by Wilhelm Wundt and Sir Richard Paget
Yo-He-Ho Theory

 Put forth by the 19th century scholar Noire


 Stresses that language has been formed from the words
uttered by groups of people engaged in joint labour of
some sort
 Can be understood when we observe people engaged in
group work like pushing a heavy object, cutting a tree etc
 A way of unburdening themselves to a certain extent
 Involuntary sounds; result of the sudden release of the air
accumulated in the lungs
Musical Theory

 Put forward by Swiss linguist Otto Jespersen


 Sees the origin of language in music
 Believes language originated in the form of songs; as
reactions to emotions, especially love and joy
Is there one plausible theory ?

 No one complete theory


 No theory conclusively proves how language originated
 All theories sound plausible but no one theory accounts for all the
words of a language/ languages
 Still a debatable topic : Was there one common original language
or were languages invented at different places at different
periods?
Thank you

You might also like