The History of Language
The history of language is a contraversial topic. There is much debate over how language began and how it has developed over time. Watch the following video clip from a series that was filmed to try and explore the histroy of language. After you watch the video comment below in reguards to your opinion on this topic or anything you found intriguing in the video. You should also ask at least on question that you would like to discuss based on this topic. After you have posted you must respond to your classmates posts and answer any questions they post. Remember you are graded on your post content, frequency, clarity, follow up posts, etc. Please see rubric for more detail. I will be checking the blog all week for participation and next Friday you will have a new blog.
EPISODE 1:
Speaking in Tongues: The History of Langauge - Episode # 1 - Let There Be Words preview. What precisely is language, and how did humans acquire it? In an effort to answer those essential questions, this program journeys back to prehistoric times in search of languages origin. But this is not a passive discussion, as scholars and others passionately defend their points of view. Additional topics include distinguishing features of human communication and what humankinds first utterances may have been. The early evolution and migration of humans is also considered.
AS THE BLOG HAS DEVELOPED MANY OF YOU HAVE ASKED SOME GREAT QUESTIONS AND PROVIDED GREAT INSIGHT. TO FURTHER THE DISCUSSION, BELOW I HAVE POSTED MORE EPISODES FROM THIS SERIES ON THE THE HISTORY OF LANGUAGE. READ THE SYNOPSIS BELOW EACH VIDEO BEFORE WATCHING TO GAIN A BETTER UNDERSTANDING OF WHAT EACH VIDEO IS ADDRESSING. FEEL FREE TO COMMENT ON ANY OR ALL VIDEOS.
EPISODE 2:
Speaking in Tongues: The History of Language Episode #2 Constant Change preview. In this program, scholars examine factors that contributed to the diversification and spread of languages, including early migration, the introduction of agriculture, and genes. Language transfer from mother to child and from one population to the next is also investigated, along with the concept of dialects and commonalities among the worlds more than 6,000 languages.
EPISODE 3:
Speaking in Tongue: The History of language Episode # 3 Mother Tongue - preview. This program travels the globe as it surveys a large portion of the worlds languages—25 percent of which are spoken by a mere 0.1 percent of the Earths population. Moving from Africa to Oceania and up to Asia and then west to Europe and across the ocean to the Americas, the program assesses how many languages are spoken in each region, the characteristics they share, and misconceptions about them. Historical background on some of the key languages of the regions is included as well.
EPISODE 4:
Speaking in Tongues The History of Language Episode # 4 Civilization to Colonization - preview. Writing is a relative latecomer to the history of language. This program tracks its emergence in Mesopotamia, China, and Mesoamerica and its spread down through the millennia via conquest—usually violent, sometimes benign—and colonization. The creation of creoles and pidgins resulting from the interaction of specific populations is also addressed, and speculation is made about the first things to be written down.
EPISODE 5:
Speaking in Tongues: The History of Language Episode # 5 Life and Death - preview. It is predicted that within a century more than half of the worlds languages will become extinct, but as languages are lost, new ones emerge naturally or are constructed. In this program, Noam Chomsky; Esperantist Thomas Eccard; endangered languages researcher Peter Ladefoged, who has since passed away; and others provide insights into the language life cycle. Topics include constructed languages such as Esperanto, language endangerment and preservation, and the role of globalization in language obsolescence. The experts also discuss current language trends and offer their opinions on which languages may emerge as front-runners of the future.
One thing that struck me about the video is that they think that there are languages that have become extinct over time. Another thing I thought was interesting is that they think that the first form of oral communication between humans were a series of "clicks". I always that that language had delveloped from grunts and groan that slowly matured into words.
ReplyDeleteOne question that I have pondered is that in the next couple thousand years, how will language have changed then?
Personally I like to think that we (the human race) will have developed some sort to telepathy, were there is no need for a language, at least as we know it, but rather a constant transferrence of ideas and concepts directly from one mind to another.
-Kyle
kyle. i do like your idea about the telepathy.... i also think that we have kind of already started doing that to a certain extent... well no not really but i think we have learned to communicate without using words. for example, i dont know if this has ever happened to you, but i've had instances where a friend and i would here something and look at each other like "are you thinking what im thinking" and then mention it later and be like OMG yeah we were on the same page.... do you follow. and even like i could take on look at my mother and know what shes think generally but i also think that might be because when you live with someone for a long time you get to know them real good and you get to know what the approve of, disapprove of, like, hate, political veiw points, and so-on.
DeleteKyle, I like the idea of telepathy. I do think that we will use that as a new way of communicating. To answer your question I think well still be using some talking like we do today, but I also think it would also be just a pinch of telepathy
DeleteKyle, I feel that telepathy would be the coolest thing that has ever happened in this world. I will work on trying to become telepathic now. I believe that this is possible though, considering all of the things that we have done to change language. I mean, sometimes I can just look at one of my friends and they know exactly what I am about to say before I can even open my mouth to say it. I guess that could be considered a development of telepathy. What do you think?
DeleteGood initial post Kyle. Those are very intriguing points you make. Students are always surprised to hear that the language we speak today has not always existed and that languages become extinct. To better your initial post I would suggest offering a link or web source that you researched that maybe shows the life span of languages through out mankind and civilization just to get you in that excellent range on our blogging rubric.
ReplyDeleteAlso the clicking language is intriguing. You should research it and learn why the groans and grunts are not considered the first forms of a language. (Hint animals groan and grunt too).
Your question was excellent and very thought provoking. I really liked your idea that we will have developed so much in the future language wise that we will be able to communicate via telepathy. In fact, I do not think we are too far off from your hypothesis. Take a look at this aricle: http://www.telegraph.co.uk/science/science-news/9051909/Mind-reading-device-could-become-reality.html.
That article was very eye-opening. I did not realize that we were that close. I thought it was very interesting that the way the brain processes our hearing is similar to how we process thoughts. It makes me think about the way twins are so perceptive of each other to the point that they finish each other's sentences. I have a feeling that if we can focus the technology enough, telepathy will be here before we know it.
DeleteWhen I was watching this video I was amazed at how much the language that we speak today has evolved ever since time began. The language that people used to speak consisted of grunts and groans, yet now we speak in complete sentences. I had never been aware of how many different types of languages we have today. We communicate many different ways in this day and age. Some people speak to others through music, some people use hand-signals, others use art work, yet others use the verbal language. I had never realized this before; but depending on what our interests are, is how we communicate with other people. Take musicians for example, they communicate to other people using instruments and rhythmatic tones. Deaf people have to talk using hand-signals because they cannot hear spoken language(s). Artists use paintings to communicate with other people. We all have certain ways that we communicate with other people; it’s just another way that our earth has grown to be diverse.
ReplyDeleteThe question that I have cannot be accurately answered by humans today; what will the language be like 50,000 years from now?
Well i personally hope that there will be a common language amongst all people and the current languages amongst our population will be history.
DeleteNermin, I am not sure I quite understand what you are talking about. Are you implying that you want everyone to speak one language?
DeleteAmber,i believe that is what Nermin is saying about having everyone speak one language. i believe that will never happen because humans are not meant to fully understand one another,they are just not capable.Nermin why do you hope that there will be a common language amongst people and that our current ones be forgotten?
DeleteI can sort of see what Nermin is talking about. After watching the latest three videos, I can see where we could eventually go back to one language. The video spoke of people speaking Swahili because that is the language that schools and business in their area use. There are several major languages in the world today such as English and Spanish that are widely spoken by people even if it's not their native language, especially in business and education settings. This article talks about some of the most popular languages: http://www2.ignatius.edu/faculty/turner/languages.htm
DeleteI've also seen an example of this recently on Twitter. Someone who is originally from Portugal but now lives in Spain posted a tweet in English. He did this because many people in both countries, as well as everywhere else in the world know both languages. I think it's very likely that within the next few centuries, we could go back to one language.
Amber I agree with what you were saying about how language has evoloved overtime. I disagree with your statement that language began with moans and grunts because no one really knows the first form of language, but we asume that it started off with moans and grunts. I would really like to know what the first form of language sounded like, but like Noam Chamsky said in the first video majority of all past languages has simply disapeared. Even though our language has evolved over time, I still think that now in this day in time language is starting to become “dumbed-down “. I guess that partialy answers your question, “what will the language be like 50,000 years from now?”. I think that our future language will consist of more slang words, more abriviations, and will be less sophisticated. Like I said in my blog the dictionary is being filled with more words such as ain’t and yolo becuse our generation uses more slang than we did hundreds of years ago. I remember a time were we could’nt even say the word “ain’t” without being corrected, but now it’s in the dictionary? I guess this proves that language is just like natrual selection becuase words that we most comonly use will survive while the more sophisticate words will be left behind to perish. I find myself to continue to ponder upon this question,”when exactly will our English language only consist of abriviations and slang?”
DeleteDonya; I believe that the English language will consist only of abriviations and slang within the next few years. I do not know that as a fact, but that is my opinion.
DeleteI agree with you Amber, when you had made the statements about languages involving over time. I also agree with the man on the video that was speaking upon the fact that languages has changed over time because of the fact that people are issolated. I think this is a great hypothesis becuase if your surrounded around the same people that are only speakening a specific language you will also grow and deveople knowing that language. If your unable to have contact with certain people that speak the national language you will then grow your own language. I believe this theory is true because if your not esposed to certain things in this case another language over time you will adapt to that current language or learn another. Thats why there are more than a thousand languages in certain areas especially in small villages. But I would like to know what the very first offical word was in history. I also think our language has evolved over time, but our current generation is starting to make the english language sound less intellegent. That then makes me transition into the thought of how generations 500 years from now will sound/speak. Another thing I found interesting is that the man had said that were all creatures but what makes us unique is our formation of languages. I also like that the man idea of language was just a pure invention. I like the idea was it was unique and indeferent train of thought.
DeleteI agree with you Amber because I too would really like to know what will the language that we speak today be like in a matter of time. Going on to Nermi's comment I hope that if the language barries or changes over a period of time, either way humans will have to all speak the same language or manage to speak the same language in order to comminicate with eachother. Amber I dont necessarily think that the english language will consist of only slang and abriviations, because you gotta think about all the other people not everybody that speaks english speaks slang. Think about all the business people or the president I dont think that we will be hearing them speak slang. Most business people talk in a very professional manner.
DeleteKayleigh, I am also amazed on how many ways we have of communicating with each other. We have so many different ways!! Do you think we use more than one way of communicating sometimes?
DeleteNermin, I could see where you are coming from with that comment. It seems that a global language would make things more simple and less complex, but really, it will only cause more conflict. There are countless amounts of languages around the worlds. How would one go about choosing an ultimate language and enforcing it? Several countries would fight and argue about whose language should be dominant and if a language is chosen, then all of the other language speakers would fell discriminated against. You can’t force someone to willingly give up their language, culture, and identity. Needless to say, imagine how long it would take for every single language to die out. Languages are what makes the world diverse and more interesting. If everybody spoke one language, the world would be dull with everybody able to do the same things. Therefore, I disagree with your statement and do not wish for only one language to be available to the universe.
DeleteAs much as I'd like to be able to understand what everybody is saying no matter where I go, it would be kind of sad to see all these different languages disappear. Each language holds a whole different culture. I may not be able to learn every language out there, but it's still a lot of fun getting to learn about the culture and linguistics of the ones that I do decide to look into!
DeleteI thought that it was interesting that they said that humans are the only creature that uses language (:56 seconds in) because I know that we have different types of languages and we are much more complex in our languages than other creatures but I do believe there are other creatures that use sounds, (not necessarily languages) to communicate. But they do however have certain sounds that represent things like tigers for example.... they have certain growls and moans that could represent pain, excitement, surprise... http://www.seaworld.org/infobooks/tiger/commtiger.html .... And the moans and growls are consistent throughout the species.... so that makes me wonder what exactly the definition of language is... and if this verbal communication is considered language, where that woman got her info from. I like the man’s idea that language may just be pure invention because it seems out of the box and I think it’s an interesting way of looking at it. I noticed also that this kind of ties into what we sophomores are learning in world history and how it relates, I think that the idea that Mrs. Hazelwood had about fire is a pretty good example of when and why language started. I also like what the last guy said about how people can all have different ideas of what the first and oldest languages are but that in the end, we really just don’t know.
ReplyDeleteHi Kayleigh I totally can agree with you but only to an extent. Everything you mentioned helped me view this video a different way, but one comparison you used confused me just a little. When you gave the example of how fire was the ignition of language I thought, correct me if I am wrong, but I thought that it was something else in particular that was more of an ignition of language in the Stone Age. Even though I found it to be a great example I just could not fully agree with it because I figured that we took notes on how either the scribes or the grunts and moans they performed at that time was what started the language. Like I said before please correct me if I am wrong. I read the article you provided on how tigers had their own growns and moans, it interested me how even the volume of the tigers may represent for two completely different things. It is very similar to what we do as humans, just by the tone or volume in our voice when we are speaking can give off different moods or meanings of the words or phrases. If you would like you could look at this PDF I found, the exact page you may want to view would be Pg.5 it talks all about the volume loudness and adding emphasis when talking.
DeleteI was thinking the same thing about what the video said about humans being the only creature that uses language. Right after i looked up the word language
Deletehttp://dictionary.reference.com/browse/language?s=t
and what i found is that one of their definitions stated "any system of formalized symbols, signs, sounds, gestures". Animals use sounds and at times gestures so they should be considered creatures who use language. I was also thinking of monkeys who are taught sign language so i think they should re-think their comment in the video
Thank you Branden and Dulce for your comments. Branden you are probubly right I just assumed that because it was mentioned in Mrs. Hazelwoods class that it was correct but I must have mixed up my information since we discussed it in the same time period. I didn't mean that it was the main point, I just suggested that it was a point in the creation of language.but it probubly didn't come across that way... sorry!
DeleteKayleigh, I really like your initial post about how we all have different types of languages including forms of communication that animals have. We really don't know how far our languages and forms of communication can go, but I do like that you took into consideration with animals and how they communicate. I do think that Dulce was right when she said that we should not be the only creatures considered to be using language. This was a very good point in all things language oriented.
Deletehttp://www.toastmasters.org/199-YourSpeakingVoice here is my PDF I could not post because of technical issues.
Deletehttp://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/language websters dictionary definition of language..... food for thought.
ReplyDeleteThat was interesting (especially the one that said, "The way in which animals communicate").
DeleteThat is pretty interesting. Zach that one was kind unique and i didn't think that would be a way to define language.
DeleteI have to agree with Zach, but that definition for language is somewhat contradicting the first video. When it says that language the way animals communicate, I generally think of animals such as monkeys, horses, dogs, etc. But in the video, it says that language is only unique to humans. So, what would the ways that animals, besides humans, communicate be defined as?
DeleteI enjoyed the video, but I wish it had been longer. Controversial topics can be some of the most interesting. I was interested in the debate over the clicking language. I think it will take a lot of evidence though before anyone can claim that a particular language was the first. I've heard several theories about language, and most are intriguing. One that particularly strikes my interest is that singing could have been used to communicate in early times. I have somewhat of a bias to this because I like to sing, but it was fascinating to me.
ReplyDeleteStudying language can be enthralling because it is part of what makes us who we are. But what would life be like if we didn’t have language? I just watched this video, “Evolutionary Origins of Language 1” (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=maUN3asrHAo). It was absolutely incredible to me that the kids created their own method of communication. And I really felt for the woman who could hardly exchange information at all. Amazingly, it all took place in Managua, Nicaragua- a Spanish-speaking area.
Zach, I wish the videos had been longer as well. I can see why you felt that the singing was really intriguing and I felt it was quite interesting as well. I think that life would be much more difficult without language but I think that if we had to find ways of communication, it would come back around to language. I think that no matter what, we will always find ways to share our thoughts.
DeleteI agree that the video should have been longer. I was hoping for a lot more information. I agree that the video needs more evidence. Without evidence this is just another theory and it will be categorized as just that.
DeleteAn interesting point that was addressed by Noam Chomsky in the video was that language defines humanity. I always thought tools use defined humans, but then it dawned on me… monkeys use tools too. Therefore language does separate us from the primates and makes us human.
ReplyDeleteAnother thought-provoking point that was said in the video (1:42 into the video) was people developed and the population grew because of language. This led me to this conclusion, the reason why humans are the dominant specie is because humanity has developed a sophisticated and efficient way to communicate known as language.
Since language distinguishes us from animals, then I think the Planet of the Apes movies were not so far-fetched. In the movie “Rise of the Planet of the Apes”, the apes’ brains are enhanced with a gas that makes their intelligence increase significantly, also the benefits of the gas can be passed to their offspring if the parent inhaled the gas. Anyways, this gas is exposed to group of apes that are in an ape sanctuary. The apes using there “enlightened” minds break out and escape to a wildlife preserve which ends the movie. To continue, in the movie “Planet of the Apes” the earth is ruled by apes that communicated using English. Now how did this happen? This happened because the apes that escaped into the wildlife preserve reproduce and raged war against humanity. Apes being stronger than humans have the advantage of strength but humans are smarter that apes, until the apes are exposed to the gas, which then makes the apes as smart as humans. In summary the apes dominated the planet because they both had the “bronze and brains”. In conclusion it could be possibility that if another species develop a language or learned an existing language that species could threaten humanity’s dominance.
Now here is more practical conundrum. There are hundreds of languages within the world and not enough time to learn them all, so what can we use to solve this problem? What humanity needs is a universal translator and don’t worry there is an app for that. In the USA Today article “3 Translation Apps You Can Use Offline” describes an app called “Jibbigo” that uses voice recognition software to translate languages. Although this may seem like something Captain Kirk would use it is not as advance as Star Trek. The app can’t recognize the language unless you have downloaded the dictionary for that language which cost extra. Moreover, the app sometimes does not correctly recognize voices. This may be a setback, however the app does have the option of typing in what you are trying to say in your language and then translate it to the chosen foreign language. To find out more about “Jibbigo” and other translator apps check out the article at: http://www.usatoday.com/tech/products/story/2012-08-18/tecca-offline-translation-apps/57120152/1
Thats an interesting thought. If other animals were capable of complex thought, would we still be the dominant species? Take a look at this article. You might find it interesting. http://www.thisdishisvegetarian.com/2011/02/1346new-study-shows-sheep-capable-of.html
DeleteWow that is interesting, I originally thought sheep and all other animals relied solely on instinct, but they are clearly capable of complex thought. This opens a new field of research for scientist. We may be able to cure countless neurological disorders through the process of inserting genes from other animals that have similar brains as humans into our DNA. If it is found that sheep have almost identical minds to human, then potentially we could find a cure for Huntington’s disease as mentioned in the article. I guess Mark Twain’s quote does have some truth to it. Mark Twain stated "It is just like man's vanity and impertinence to call an animal dumb because it is dumb to his dull perceptions." Thank you Devin for researching the article and posting it to the blog.
DeleteI found this video very intriguing because it spoke of language in a way I never thought of before. It’s something that people really take for granted. The ability to communicate with each other is the reason that the complex societies and inventions that we have today are possible. For a society to function, people have to be able to effectively communicate their ideas and collaborate. This connects to what we learned in World History about the five characteristics of civilization. Writing, which comes from language, is one of the characteristics, so even the simplest civilizations would be impossible if language didn’t exist. In the video, one of the experts said that human language is unique. I understand that the way the humans communicate is much more sophisticated than the way animals do, but many animals (like bees and howler monkeys) have complex systems of communication. I would like to know why this isn’t taken into consideration. Another very interesting part of the video is when they said that all of the languages spoken today are relatively new. The video went on to say that all of the old languages are completely gone and there are no traces of them. If there are no traces of the ancient languages, how can we know that they really existed? Also, many modern languages have pieces of other languages in them, so wouldn’t it make sense for modern day languages to have at least traces of those older languages?
ReplyDeleteI thought it was intriguing that they said language is unique to humans as well. Several animals do communicate in complicated ways, so why isn't it considered language?
Delete"Another very interesting part of the video is when they said that all of the languages spoken today are relatively new. The video went on to say that all of the old languages are completely gone and there are no traces of them. If there are no traces of the ancient languages, how can we know that they really existed?" Marissa Blackman
DeleteGood question Marissa. They know via fossil records that language first appeared between 30,000 and 100,000 years ago in the species Homo sapiens. As humans evolved, our throats got longer and our mouths got smaller — physiological changes that enabled us to effectively shape and control sound. Looking back at human evolution, it's evident that after humans diverged from an early ape ancestor, the shape of the vocal tract changed. Over 100,000 years ago, the human mouth started getting smaller and protruding less. We developed a more flexible tongue that could be controlled more precisely, and a longer neck. According to fossils, the first humans who had full anatomy capable of speech patterns appeared about 50,000 years. (http://www.npr.org/templates/story/story.php?storyId=129083762) Of course no one is certain of what the language was like or how it came about because there is no written or verbal record of these ancient languages.
Also, we definitely know there were languages that existed that have now become extinct even though we do not have written or verbal records of this language. We know they existed via ancient text who reference ancient tribes of people who spoke unknown languages that yet no one knows or has record of. Overtime, their culture or civilization became extinct for a variety of reasons and along with it their language which was never recorded or if it was all evidence has been destroyed or lost in time with the downfall of their tribe. Some causes for language loss can e noted here: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Endangered_language#CausesEven
Even today some languages face extinction and are labeled endangered languages.An endangered language is a language that is at risk of falling out of use as its speakers die out or shift to speaking another language. The Hawaiian language, Native American languages of Oklahoma and the Sicilian language of Italy and Sicily are a few of examples of languages that may be loss. Language loss occurs when the language has no more native speakers, and becomes a "dead language". If eventually no one speaks the language at all, it becomes an "extinct language". While languages have always gone extinct throughout human history, they are currently disappearing at an accelerated rate due to the processes of globalization and neo-colonialism, where the economically powerful languages dominate other languages.
The more commonly spoken languages dominate the less commonly spoken languages and therefore, the less commonly spoken languages eventually disappear from populations. The total number of languages in the world is not known. Estimates vary depending on many factors. The general consensus is that there are between 6000 and 7000 languages currently spoken, and that between 50-90% of those will have become extinct by the year 2100. The top 20 languages spoken by more than 50 million speakers each, are spoken by 50% of the world's population, whereas many of the other languages are spoken by small communities, most of them with less than 10,000 speakers.(http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Endangered_language)
http://www.npr.org/templates/story/story.php?storyId=129083762
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Endangered_language#cite_note-Handbook-0
Ms. Strawn...is latin a lost language? I know my pepe had to learn it as an alter boy or something and i believe thats the language they use in like the doctor jobs...latin roots and stuff... but i thought it was suposed to be extinct or something... im confused.
DeleteFrom what I’ve read, Latin is considered a dead language because it isn’t spoken. It’s still considered a very important language though – as you said, Latin roots are used in many ways, particularly the scientific and medical fields. Lawyers also use many Latin phrases. Many of the languages spoken today are based in Latin (including English, French, Spanish, and most of the other romance languages). This article (http://joinmartin.wordpress.com/2009/05/30/the-top-4-modern-uses-of-latin/) talks about the most common modern uses of Latin, some of which really surprised me.
DeleteThank you for the explaination and the link... I understand it like a lot better now.
DeleteYes. Jade is correct. Latin is not spoken therefore it is a dead language but it is not extinct because it is still used. The primary use of Latin in this time era is religious. The Catholic Church ordained it as the universal language for Catholic Churches. Considering that the Roman Catholic Church is the world's largest single religious body and the largest Christian church, comprising over half of all Christians (1.1 billion Christians of 2.1 billion) and nearly one-sixth of the world's population, Latin will not become extinct for a while.
Deletehttp://www.tldm.org/news5/latin.htm
Well I was confused about something now that you brought up Latin. Now please correct me if I am wrong, In the video part of the theory was that languages evolve from dead or extinct languages? So wouldn't that be kind of wrong because English has Indo-European roots, such has French which is still spoken today or Latin which is still used, like you already said. So wouldn't their theory about languages evolving be flawed? or did I just over think it?
DeleteThis site has a chart of languages that English has roots in.
http://www.englishclub.com/english-language-history.htm.
I agree with you Marissa after seeing this video it changed my perspective on how people communicate and it makes me think how language evolved. Yes, in order for socities to communicate language had to be borned and without it we would'nt be so far in life as we appear to be today. A question that I do ponder is that since everybody is learning new languages if people continue to do so will the most popular or common languages slowly fade away like english or spanish.
DeleteMarissa, i founda link where it talks about the way that languages can be lost, how when people move to different places their kids will adapt to their new language and those children then will speak to their children in that language, their children then will not speak their grandparents language making their indigenous language extict.
Deletehere is the link; http://io9.com/5442321/90-percent-of-languages-will-be-extinct-next-century-+-and-thats-good
Marissa, I found your question to be very poignant. While I'm sure there are very early languages that have been lost, it does seem difficult to determine the specifics. But there are still traces of "dead" languages, even today. For example, Latin is no longer considered a vernacular, but it went on to be the base for the romance languages (Spanish, Italian, French, etc) which are used in modern times.
DeleteAfter watching this video i can honestly say that my perspective on language and the way we communicate has completely change. I never knew that the languages we speak today only go back 50,000 years and many languages have been lost and erased without leaving a trace. I also learned that language is a biological tool , when you think about it sounds more like common sense but without we wouldnt be able to do much. Something that realy stuck to me through this video was when they mentioned that "Language is only available to human species and enables species to communicate". This phrase is basically saying that without language species wouldnt have a form of communicating. Towards the end of the video a gentlemen said that there has been arising edvidence that shows that the Khoisan people are the oldest people. This left me pondering, who are the Khoisan people and where did they come from ? After reading this article: http//manfred.hubpages.com/hub/The-Khoisan-people" I learned theat they were some of the first people that lived in Botswana. After researching what was the meaning of "Khoisan people in the encyclopedia at this link: http://www.britannica.com/EBchecked/topic/316787/Khoisan I learned that the people who spoke the Khoisan language lived in Botswanna for thousands of years during the time from 17000 BCE to 1650 CE.
ReplyDeleteYou raise an intriguing thought about our inability to communicate without a shared language. It makes me consider how different the world would be if we still used only the most basic forms of interaction, and I've never even thought of language as being a tool before. I was also unaware of who the Khoisan people were, or that Botswanna was a location. I appreciate how in depth you went with your research.
DeleteDuring this video, there were some interesting things that those people talked about. One of the things I liked was when they said that nearly everything that defines the human race has language involved in it. I liked that part because it is stating a true fact about language. Another part of the video that I liked was when the lady said that language is biological, and is only available to the human species. I liked that part because she made the point that without language, humans wouldnt be able to communicate. I also agree when the guy said that he thinks that language was invented. I believe that language grew/evolved and more words were invented over time. I think that language will become more complex over the next couple of years.
ReplyDeleteOne question that I have: How did the people communicate before language? Did they use grunts?
To answer your question Romello, I think that language wasn't so much invented but more biological. There is no proof of how people communicated but there are dozens of theories. There are theories that language started through fire, and there's the theory about the story of Babel. So, I will leave you with this we will never really know how people communicated but there are some ideas of how it originated. I hope I helped!!!
DeleteTo answer you question Romello, people communicated by clicking sounds. Towards the end of the video it tells your more about the clicking sounds. Also here is an article bout clicking sounds. The article should help a lot.
DeleteVideo: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OuUAPVFFCRQ or you can watch above
Article: http://www.dailymail.co.uk/sciencetech/article-1377150/Every-language-evolved-single-prehistoric-mother-tongue-spoken-Africa.html
I agree that we are defined by language. I feel that we are not the only ones that have a language.I've always wondered what animals are thinking, but they always seem to understand each other. Is it possible that they are speaking a language all their own.
DeleteTo answer your question, I don't think that we started with grunts. I do, however; believe that we essentially began with sounds.
Gaahhh videos like these are such cliff hangers!
ReplyDeleteAnyways, how we speak and why we speak is not something you typically stop to think about everyday. The origin of language is something very controversial, considering that many people have different theories according to personal belief or religion. The "clicks" idea from this clip was appealing to me because, like other students, I thought groans and grunts had slowly evolved into spoken words. I also didn't know that linguist predict there were languages that became extinct leaving no way of tracing it back. There is insufficient documentation of whom were the first people to start using spoken words. Despite the little evidence of what language was the first and who used it, we can all agree that communication is what has made society so diverse and perhaps, civilized.
-Vanessa Urquilla
Vanessa, I thought the same things about how language exolved from groans and grunts. When you think about it, we don't really have any evidence of how language evolved into spoken words. Even though we don't have evidence on whether or not language has evolved from clicks, groans or grunts, we do have evidence on how language has made society more diverse as you had stated. I agree that the communication that has evolved over time has made society a lot more civilized, and it has made communication a lot easier. I like the points that you made, and I like that we have the same thoughts on how language evolved.
DeleteSame here I always thought that the way people communicated first started by groams and grunts as we had disccused in Ms. Hazelwoods class when we were learning about the Paleonithic and the Neolithic era. As it appears from what I have seen and heard the first human beings comunicated through clicks. I also agreee with you Vanessa it amazed me to know that the languages that we speak today only go back 50,000 years or so. To know that many languages have been lost or erased is sad because we didnt have an opportunity to get know what other languages other humans expierienced or learned in the beginning of human life.
Deletevanessa i know what you mean, i also found it pretty interesting when it talked about how 90 percent of the languages that are spoken now will be extinct.The reason is children may use their parents' indigenous languages at home. But they never know those languages as part of their public life, and will therefore be more comfortable with the official language of the world they grow up in. For the most part, they will speak this language to their own children. These children then will not know the indigenous languages of their grandparents, and thus pretty soon the language will not be spoken making the language dead.
Deletelink:
http://io9.com/5442321/90-percent-of-languages-will-be-extinct-next-century-+-and-thats-good
The video was very brief, but thought provoking. The theory about clicking sounds being the first form of language was quite interesting. However, I have to agree with the counter argument that there is no proof behind this theory. Just because this form of communication can only be found in one area, does not necessarily mean that it was the first. Personally, I believe language was born from people trying to imitate natural sounds such as the call of an animal or the sound of a tree crashing. Then, those sound imitations evolved into complex language over time. This is called "The bow-wow theory".
ReplyDeleteAnother theory that sounds logical to me is "The eureka theory". This theory implies that someone consciously invented language by assigning different sounds to certain things. After this, the idea caught on and began to be used by more and more people. What I wonder is how there came to be so many different languages. There are many interesting theories about how language was created, but lack of proof makes it hard to be sure of any of them. This link gives a brief explanation of some of the theories about the origins of language: http://webspace.ship.edu/cgboer/langorigins.html
The video was interesting in that I found out that words came from clicking and constant repeating of those clicks until they were used for that object. I agree with Devin's idea about the "bow-wow" theory and how maybe they really formed communication from animals and trying to mimic their sounds. The clicks sound to intelligent to be the first communication to be formed because it is even hard for you or me to do several clicks over and over. But without communication there would be no civilization just chaos because we would not know how to trade.
DeleteYes, indeed Devin having many language theories and no proof is keeping us from knowing the truth and backgroung information on how each language came to be. I really like your comment beacuse you gave interesting theories that could possibly be the reasoning on how communicating actually came to be. Thinking about the theories that you provided actually makes me want to consider that as how language and speaking evolved.
DeleteThey say that only humans speak different languages but language to me is a form of communication. Therefore humans are not the only life forms that speak different languages. Animals have their own way of communication as well. Language has developed very well but how exactly do you define something as a language. It doesn't make sense that they say only humans can speak multiple languages I feel like an animal could learn multiple languages just as well as a human. Even though language has come a long way who knows if we will need it in the future. If in future time we don't need different languages then the amount of time we took developing languages will be time wasted that could have been used on finding a cure for a disease or something more relevant. All languages were derived from one basic language.What is the point in wasting time to form more languages? Language is an important aspect in life but it is not the only important aspect. The orgin of language of could have came from anywhere you wouldnt know unless you was there.
ReplyDeleteYou asked the question "What is the point in wasting time to form more languages?" This is my personal theory on that topic: I think the first change in languages from that first original language was purposefully done for a reason. After that, I don't thikn any new languages were intentionally made. As people moved, the languages probably mixed together. Also, the way people spoke the language could've changed over time. For example, a few hundred years ago, people spoke English, but they used Elizabethan terms. We speak the same language (English) today, but that way we speak it is nothing like the way it was spoken a few hundred years ago.
DeleteI agree with Marissa as well on this. My personal quote that I use is communication is the key. Like I mentioned in my comment near the bottom I said "language equals communication, without communication come no understanding". Even though it may seem that we are wasting time, I believe we are not. I think with our developed/developing language skills will come more greater and better things in the future. I hope I did not go off onto a tangent but that is the way I would answer your question.
DeleteI do agree with Kyria that we are not the only animials that use language. By definition, language is the use of sounds, gestures, symbols, and signs to communicate. The thing that makes humans unique is that we have a word system. Your right. We dont really have much proof about how language developed. There was no technology to record these types of things in that time period. Have you ever thought that maybe different languages were developed in different areas rather than all of them branching off of one basic language?
DeleteTo be honest I really didn’t find anything intriguing about the video because I could barley understand what the speakers were saying. In addition to my conflict I took it upon myself to watch all five videos on the topic to understand it better. You can find these videos on YouTube just by typing the name in YouTube, and it is a five part series. In episode 2 it talked about how many people believed that the spread of language was through the story of Babel. In addition, something I found interesting from the second episode that I didn’t get from the initial video is that back in the earlier years it was considered racist to talk about how genes were connected to the spread and change of language. This was because people talked about it and referred to primitive people. From episode three I took that there are over 6,000 languages in the world and 2000 of them derived from Africa. Besides, the videos one question that I have is: I understand that there are many theories that link to the origin of language, but what I want to know is how did people develop to understand each other?
ReplyDeleteMyeshia I agree completely. lol I could not understand a word that the video was talking about. Regards to you watching the other videos, I personally think that was a great idea so that you could understand the first video better. I think I should have done that too because I'm still a little clueless. As far as your question, i would really like to know this also. I read that it started with sounds, but i just can't help to wonder how exactly sounds turned into works, how words were made to describe somethings like a tree or animal, and then of course, how they were able to get a understanding of words and one another. It really makes you think.
DeleteI really do like the video but some of the information shocked me. If anything shocked me it is how recently humans where able to communicate in the video it says language has only been around for approximately 50,000 years I thought it may have been a bit earlier. Within the 50,000 years what we call modern language has recently developed in the last few thousand or so years. I don’t believe that human language started by clicking noises I think this would have been too complex at the time to just spring up it had to have had some sort of catalyst for it to come to that form of language, even if the clicks where simple something had to have happened before it, it could not have just been this click or assortment of clicks will represent this or this item. If anything the video did shock me.
ReplyDeleteThe only question I really have is how could they trace the click sounds so far back into a tribe’s history?
Nermin; I was also very surprised when I found out that languages started being verbally spoken only 50,000 years ago. To answer your question, read this link, I thought these facts were pretty cool. http://www.nytimes.com/2011/04/15/science/15language.html
Deletewow amber great minds think alike... i've been typing a post a few down from this one for about 20->30 minutes and i found that article and kinda went off from it... i guess it's a good one if both of us found it!
DeleteKayleigh, that was a great article! What did you particuraly like about that certain article?
DeleteYes, language is a form of communication, but I did find some of the information that was provided in the video to be a bit shocking. It stated that language has only been around for about 50,000 years. When you think about how far language has come since then, today our language is very complex compared to the clicks and sounds that they used to communicate years ago. In the video, it stated that modern language has only recently developed in the last few thousand years. What about newer languages? How did they come about? Yes, humans have developed more with communication, but what about up and coming languages and other forms of communication? This video was an eye opener on language for me, and I hope to learn more about languages, and how they came to be.
ReplyDeleteJulia, I like that you brought those two questions up. Those are two questions that I myself wonder about. To answer your two questions to the best that I can will be very simple. I personally believe that just how you stated our language today has become very complex compared to the clicks and sounds, the same will happen in the future. The newer language will be even more complex and sophisticated, but for it to do so time will be required and needed. Language will evolve just as it did about 50,000 years ago. To answer your second question, I would relate that back to when Ms. Hazelwood taught us in class on how fire could have been the ignition of language. Also there are theory's that state language may have came from grunts and moans. Why don't you read this website I found it may help you. http://www.peterrussell.com/Odds/languageorigin.php
DeleteBrandon, thank you for the website. It cleared up some of my questions, but the fact that we do not have any evidence of how language came about is still a very intriguing thought. I understand that in history people have thought that language has evolved from clicks, but do we really know that for sure? Yes, language has become more organized, but how exactly did it start to get organized? As it stated on the website that you posted: "So the question is: How did these complex grammatical structures arise? Where did the eight cases of nouns in Sanskrit come from? Or the variety of verb endings? I have posed this question to various linguists, historians, and intellectuals of various persuasions, but no one has been able to give me a satisfactory answer." It is not something that we are able to prove, and I would really like to look into how we actually came about studying languages and why exactly we think that it started from clicks. Thank you for the article, it cleared up a lot of unanswered questions that I had.
Deletehttp://www.nytimes.com/2011/04/15/science/15language.html
ReplyDeleteThis link doesnt answer your questions directly about how we know the clicking was the first language but i do think its an interesting look on how we may know that its one of the first languages.... this is an excert from the article....“What’s so remarkable about this work is that it shows language doesn’t change all that fast — it retains a signal of its ancestry over tens of thousands of years,” said Mark Pagel, a biologist at the University of Reading in England who advised Dr. Atkinson.
I do think that its an interesting way to look at language and how it relates to the first peoples origin. What i mean by that is the peice in here on Africa and how we believe the first people came from there, and stemming off of this is a thought i have that if the first people came from Africa, then why wouldn't the first language.
The video clip was very short but it gave you insight as to what many people think the English language developed from whether it was clicks or grunts. Personally I think communication was branched off of drawings. I believe people tried to tell thoughts and stories by drawing but not everyone was good at it therefore causing people to explain. For example say I am trying to tell my mom don't go in the woods I saw a tiger but I am terrible at making a tiger and she has no clue as to what I am trying to tell her so words and meanings for those words would need to be made so that the people could warn each other from danger, talk about feeling or even ask questions.
ReplyDeleteAlso one thing I don't about how click was the first language is that there are only but so many clicks you can make. Of course you can make clicks at different intervals but that still doesn't seem like a logical explanation. So one question I would defiantly have is: How a whole language would be formed out of clicks?
I could see exactly where you are coming from about communication being branched off of drawings, I thought that same exact thing. But to answer your question to the best of my ability, I personally believe that just like writing was formed from scribes and wall art, and what is now weapons were first formed from chipped stones. Language was formed from clicks, over time the clicks gradually changed into grunts which may have eventually changed into creation of the alphabet or words then phrases.
DeleteI agree Nadia, if I were one of the first humans trying to make a language I would not use a “clicking” language, but maybe it wasn’t logic that drove the first humans to use this language. In a New York Times article called “In Click Languages, an Echo of the Tongues of the Ancients” (URL at end of comment) describes genetics as one of the theories of clicks being the first language. The article briefly touches on that a genetic feature allows the first people to be more skilled at using the click language than we are because we don’t have the gene. Therefore, clicks could have been made a whole language because the first humans we more adept at clicking than speaking.
DeleteFurthermore, the article explains a theory by Dr. Knight (geneticists from Stanford) which implies that they used the clicks as a tactical advantage for hunting, because he thought the clicks would sound like a branch snapping. This theory however is deemed impractical by Dr. Anthony Traill, an expert on click languages at the University of Witwatersrand in South Africa, because he states “Clicks are acoustically high-impact sounds for mammalian ears, probably the worst sounds to use if you are trying to conceal your presence.”. Depending on if you agree with Dr. Knight or not, clicks may have become a whole language because the life’s of the first people revolved around the hunt since they were hunters and gathers.
Moreover, the clicking language could have been used and made because there may have not been much to say. The life’s of the first people was not filled with all this luxury that we have today and communication with other tribes was little to none. This means there wasn’t an extraordinary event to talk about all the time. In this modern age almost the whole world is connect by the internet, so there is always something to talk about, but back in the begin all the events that a tribe member would hear about occurred in the tribe you were in. In conclusion, life was very simple so the language may have not had a variety of adjectives, nouns or verbs, so there was no need for enormous amount of different clicks.
Link to Article: http://www.nytimes.com/2003/03/18/science/in-click-languages-an-echo-of-the-tongues-of-the-ancients.html?pagewanted=all&src=pm
Matt, i get where your coming from but now that i think of it im wondering HOW we went from clicks to grunts and groans to actual words/languages to more complex words/languages with words with more than one meaning. And who in the world ever thought of evolving our clicks into more complex communication and why... i mean like if we had a type of communication that worked well for us then why would we start new ones? its not like the evolution were learning about in world history because the people evolved because it benifited they're exsistence... how did changing the language benifit these early people????
DeleteNadia, I really like that you brought up the thought of language coming from a branch of drawings because I have never thought of language in that prospective. But now that you have brought that to thought, I can see how that could be true.
DeleteThank you Matt I can honestly understand where your thoughts are coming from. Also the way you explained it made a lot more sense than some other explanations. When you said that life back then was pretty simple with not much to say that was another thought that came to mind but you would still need a variety of clicks in order to have a language. The whole gene thing makes sense too that would explain why early people just didn't start out with grunts and groans.
DeleteKayleigh I also share your same questions; how did clicks morph to grunts and groans and then to words?
The comment about the tiger was quite interesting. Some people believe that language may have developed from natural sounds such as those of panic or anger. You should search for a list of the different theories of the origins of language if you havent already. There are some very interesting possibilities as to how language could have developed.
DeleteNadia and Kayleigh, the reason why language evolved from clicks to words is because simply the people wanted to change the language. In the second video called “Constant Change” it explains that languages gradually changes over time. Sam Mchombo from UC Berkeley explains that as people spread out they modify the language they speak and in time this creates a different language or different dialect of a language. In addition, Johanna Nichols from UC Berkeley describes the way languages transform is by how the next generation learns the native language. She continues to say it is how each child perceives the language that creates a gradual change in languages. For example the word “ain’t” used to be not considered a word, but since it has been used often by a large population it is become a slang word. Eventually it may be consider an actual word and put in the Standard English Dictionary depending on how the future generations will perceive the slang term, either to be a word or not. In conclusion, clicks developed into words because of people gradually altering the language because next generation learned the language slightly different than the previous generation. To find out more watch Episode 2 of Speaking in Tongues called Constant Change.
DeleteFor a minute this video kinda stumped me. I personally had to view it twice before grasping a somewhat understanding. I found it to be very interesting at the beginning. It starts off with the statement about how many of our aspects could not exist without language. This statement is very similar to one mentioned later on in the video. The second statement specified how nearly everything that defines us as humans has language. Language equals communication and without communication comes no understanding. If there was no development of communication how would the world be today? One thing that I could not grasp full knowledge of was when Mrs. Diane Massam started to explain about language being a mental contract with a set of rules and organizing principals as linguist were interested into (found at 1:08). Overall, I found this video to be an better way to understand language, wish there was more video to watch on this topic so I could maybe answer some of my own questions while watching it.
ReplyDeleteI found this to be intriguing because i had no clue that languages could become extinct. Recently, there are many languages going extinct. According to an article I found, half of all languages have gone extinct over the past 500 years. That is a lot of languages in a short period of time. I believe that people could not survive without language. Even is prehistoric time, the people had a communication system.I read an article and it helped me to understand the communication systems from prehistoric time.
ReplyDeleteI am surprised that verbal language has only been around for 50,000 years. I was sure that it would have been invented way before that. Without language, humans and even animals wouldn't be able to survive on this planet. I found it cool that language had rules and principals. How were words invented? That is a question that has bothered me for a long time and it still bothers me to this day. Once your group has developed a language, then you have developed more than the groups of people who have not developed a writing system.
Articles:
http://library.thinkquest.org/26890/prehistorictimest.htm
http://tech.slashdot.org/story/07/10/01/0221218/the-worlds-languages-are-fast-becoming-extinct
Joey A.... i see where your coming from in the comment you made..."Without language, humans and even animals wouldn't be able to survive on this planet." but i think we would STILL be able to survive it just would have been more difucult. I only say that because i think we as in the human race survived a while before figuring out we can use our mouth for more than just eating.
DeleteAs everybody has been saying this is a short video. I do not think you can put such a controverstial topic in just a 3:04 min. video. I somewhat get the idea of what they are talking about . Though i do not agree with them that language has been verbally spoken just 50,000 years ago. I think they have been here more than that. I agree with Peter Ladefoged from the video that there is no prove that language originated from clicks and grunts and i dont believe it did. I believe that language has always been around language as in words not clicks or grunts, even though that is what i have been taught recently in world history. Have people evolved and seperated? Yes, and with that so does language that is why there are so many different languages and why our modern language is different from old languages. But of course as Bernard Campbell states, in a article i found, "We simply do not know, and never will, how or when language began." http://grammar.about.com/od/grammarfaq/a/Where-Does-Language-Come-From.htm
ReplyDeleteThis article had very interesting theories. i do not agree with them but they are interesting to read about. I think everybody else will like to read about them also.My question is how language is going to evolve further, if at all.
Well Dulce,to answer your question. I believe that language will evolve into many other different languages that we do not have today. I also think that languages will become more developed and proper as time goes on.
Deletei feel like that languages did come from grunts and clicks becasue just like i said in my post you arent just born and now how to speak a language you have to learn just like when you were a baby
DeleteDulce, I was also wondering about that question. One theory is that English and Spanish could possibly mix. Another theory would be that we evolve and gain telepathy which I think would be awesome. Like Mary said, languages could become more developed or proper. That could happen but also the could become improper and/or less developed.
DeleteMary, your right,i can see different languages in the future beyond our language.
DeleteCody, i think i get where you are going with the clicks and grunts, thanks for the imput.
Joey,considiring your imput I think they will at first become furthur improper because there are many words being made up and because people are always saying them they are put into the dictionary for example "YOLO". Also spanish and english has already mixed and is officially a word it is called "espanglish" and was added into spain's dictionary as you can see in this link http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2012/07/19/espanglish-accepted-by-spain-dictionary_n_1686962.html
After a while though i believe somebody will do something about it and replace the ridiculous words like "yolo" with more proper/appopriate ones.
Dulce, I agree with you and Mary. Some of the languages that are spoken today have come from mixed languages such as Spanglish. I do think that our languages are becoming more diverse as well as more modern. I do think that our languages will become more diverse as time goes on, but I also think that we will always have some of the same words and phrases that we have come to know and love.
DeleteInitial post
ReplyDeleteIt amazzes me how humans have come along way since we inveted langauge. It surprises me that we have so many modern langauges. Whats even more surpisesing is all of them come from one superior language. According to Noam Chomsky (MIT) langauge is the distingtive feature of the human mind. What this means to me is that we are the only creatures who actaully use their brain to develop a langauge. The evolution of langauge is compared to the evolution of civilization. I learned in Ms. Hazelwoods class that people who lived in villages would break apart from their tribe to start new ones of their own.while the villagers broke apart the language did to. Most of the languages we speak are 50,000 years old. This gives us the understanding that languge has evovled from the slightest niose or hand movement to punctual and fluentlly speaking.
The video also told me that all the langauges today come from aceint languages but are all wipedout from exsistence. Were basically going off a geuss or theory someone has said that all langauge comes from an anceint one. The fact is wellnever trully knowourselves.We will never now for sure because we werent their in that time frame. We make all the assuptions we want about evolution and we evolved humans werent around when the langauge appered. If we were their we would have been civalized. We would have wrote it down and perserved at the time it was made.
I found the video very interesting because most of what they said I did not realize, such as that we do not know what earlyier languages were like. I was also amazed at how many new languages that have developed over time. I never realized that languages go back as far as they do because I always thought that language was someting that was more recently developed. I really liked the statement from Noam Chomsky, he said "language is the distingtive feature of the human mind. I liked his statement because I never realized that my mind has the instinct of language but I guess now that I think about it, once you learn a language it becomes naturel to you. Languages amaze me and I would like to learn a well amount of languages in my lifetime. I would like to know how my language came about and learn more about it. The questions I have are: What is believed to be the first language? Was language always instinctive?
ReplyDeletehttp://www.dailymail.co.uk/sciencetech/article-1377150/Every-language-evolved-single-prehistoric-mother-tongue-spoken-Africa.html This should answer your question Mary, clicking was the first language that us humans developed. I think that as we evolved, people started learning to use bigger and better words, I also think that language will become more complex over several thousands of years.
DeleteWhile I was searching for a logical answer to your question I came across a stumbling question myself. My question is what came first thoughts or language? when I went searching for what would be believed to be the first language I came across some website that stated the question. Romello I personally believe that clicking was the first language also. On the other hand I really did not understand completely the website you provided for Mary to read, I found it to be talking about something completely different. If I am wrong with my observations please tell me and point out what parts would answer her questions because I would love to know the answers to the two questions she asked.
DeleteBrandon that question is flawed. thought is simply defined as rational or reasoning; Reflective, having a plan. http://dictionary.reference.com/browse/thinking.
DeleteTo answer the question, thought comes before language. If you define language as process of communicating or speaking and thought with the definition from above, it is evident that thought comes first. For example think of a baby, crying and whining can be defined as a form of language, of course if you use that definition. So when they are crying they want something. So the plan is 1. I'm hungry 2. I want food 3. I shall cry. That is a plan, which is a ultimately a thought.
By the way i tried to give the most basic instinct we are born with for an example.
Brandon that is an invalid question because in order for their to be language you would have to think of it first.Thought is used to think of new ideas and without thought you would not have langauge.
DeleteThis video was intriguing. I think that this was definitly a possibility for how language got its start.My only thing is I really don't think this is what most people think. I'm refering to people who are strong christians and believe that everything that has happened in life they know through the bible.Also, a question arises. I'm just curious about well who started language and where did they start at when they came up with it? I ask this because did not see or here a strong and clear answer to this in the video.
ReplyDeleteThis video did not convince me. I am not sold on the theories presented. I certainly do not agree with any of these views, but I will say people are entitled to their own beliefs. With that said, I want to ask another question, Why are there so many theories and do they add to the confusion of how language got its start or do they lesson? That is certainly somethhing to think about.
there are so many theories becasue there are some many people that have different beliefs so there for there are more theories.
DeleteI completely agree with you I don’t think like others do. I am Catholic so I understand that you must have strong feelings to go with what the bible said. And I completely agree with you over where this is going. I mean they really never explained it to us, I know that they have many theories but they have no real proof behind it. They do drive confusion but I don’t think they do it on purpose. I hope that you do belief we started somewhere though.
DeleteThe video convinced me of the theories, at frist I was kind of unsure about the clicks but when they went on I understood it more and I believe it. But the one question i have is, if civilizations back then had one laguage then does that mean when thy came across others outside of their group, did they always understand eachother?
DeleteDestiny Tate
ReplyDeleteResponse Blog
Ms. Strawn
September 5, 2012
After seeing the blog video, my true opinion on how language was developed is no opinion at all. I’m religious, but i still feel as if language is a topic that no matter how hard we try, I’ll never be solved. Even though I really don’t have my own opinion about how language was created, I have researched it and I found really interesting information on how many believe it came about. One theory I thought was interesting was the Ding-Ding theory. The Ding-Ding theory said to be believed by Plato, was that speech arose in response to the essential qualities of objects in the environment. When I read about this theory I actually got a little irritated because it didn’t make any since. Another theory i read about that I thought made the most since was the Pooh Pooh theory. I have a funny name but it kind of made since. This theory states that speech may have come about beginning with spontaneous cries of pain. This theory action made me think. What if the first humans or whoever started the possibility of language got hurt in some way? As a human your first thought would be to make some type of sound to alert someone and even just to express your emotion. It goes farther, because many believe it started from the creation of sounds. Even if you believe it started from sounds like the “clicking” sound that the video talked about, how did these people notice that they were even able to make sounds? That’s where the Pooh-Pooh theory comes into place. Farther more, my question is look at the different theories of how language was developed, do you think we will ever be able to come up with one true theory?
I find that the video brought up several points of interests. One being the fact that early languages have gone extinct and that it's hard to say accuratly when man first started speaking in language. There is one point about the video that puzzles me,is that if language developed in east africa, then how come there are so many different languages today? Another question is that there is a story about the tower of bable which suggests that before multiple languages there was only one language. If the story is true then when did it take place? or if it was false why would the writer suggest that there was only one language before?
ReplyDeleteMegan Reid:
DeleteTo answer your question about the tower of Babel look in the Bible Genesis chapter 11 verse: 4-9.
And they said, Go to, let us build us a city and a tower, whose top may reach unto heaven; and let us make us a name, lest we be scattered abroad upon the face of the whole earth. And the LORD came down to see the city and the tower, which the children of men builded. And the LORD said, Behold, the people is one, and they have all one language; and this they begin to do: and now nothing will be restrained from them, which they have imagined to do. Go to, let us go down, and there confound their language, that they may not understand one another's speech. So the LORD scattered them abroad from thence upon the face of all the earth: and they left off to build the city. Therefore is the name of it called Babel; because the LORD did there confound the language of all the earth: and from thence did the LORD scatter them abroad upon the face of all the earth.
The tower of Babel was create 130 year after the flood with Noah and the ark. In a town called Shinar.
DeleteThis video did bring up few good points. I dont agree with Peter Ladefoged i think that language did start by clicks and grunt becuase you dont just start talking in a language like when you are born you dont just start speaking you talk like goo goo gaa gaa when your born then you learn to speak as you get older. also like they said in this video that there are lots of languages that have been lost and we will never find out what they were it would be amazing to find out all of those other lanuages that have been forgotten.
ReplyDeleteI dont think that the clciking and grunts were a language but it Definitely could have ment something. They didnt have words to say move or danger so it could have been for stuff like that.
DeleteI agree, I think those clicks and grunts are like sign language in our time. They are different ways of communication.
DeleteWhen I was watching the video one thing that caught my attention was that there were different types of people who obviously speak different languages and are from different places, but they all seem to have the same idea of how language came along. Language to me is something that could have started out as something such as movement. Then as time pasted different sounds came along like maybe the clicking sound, which is said to be the oldest sound, could have symbolized something. Language is something that you definitely have to develop. Depending on where you’re from or what your parents or grandparents speak has influence on your language.
ReplyDeletehttp://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Language (had a few good points and information)
ReplyDeleteDonya Hutcherson
ReplyDeleteSpanish 1 Blog
September 5, 2012
I found the video very interesting and intriguing,even though the video really didn't go into depth about the origin of language. I liked when the video said that language is a biological feature. Language is a biological feature because everyone has his or her own language and way of communicating. Without language we would not have been able to grow as a nation as far as diversity,nor be able to communicate with one another. I agree that no one really knows the first form of language because it has simply disappeared. We need to realize that the human language continues to evolve over time and soon the way we talk today will no longer exist. The dictionary continues to expand with many up to date words that are mostly used among us such as slang words. Words such as ain't and yolo has been added to the dictionary and I personally think that the English language is becoming more and more absurd. I say this because if you look back hundreds of years ago at the language used in the Bible you can clearly see that the way they talked then was way more sophisticate and complex. They used words such as doth, fighteth, hath, lest, thou, shalt, and verily. These words now mean does, fights, has/have, in case, you, shall, and truthfully. I think that the Bible is one of the most confound book there is today because of the way they talked. Basically if you look at language from then to now you can see that the human language has been drastically "dumbed-down". Everyday things that we do such texting which most tend to abbreviate majority of their words, gets people into the habit of reflecting the way they text into the way they write in English class. This is one of the reasons why most people really don't know how to write grammatically correct sentences or well thought out papers. Technology is getting smarter and we are getting dumber. Statistics show that people ages 8-18 spend more than 7 1/2 hours on the internet a day, that's more than what many students study a night. I came across this website and I think that it is very interesting and it talks about how language has "dumbed-down" over time.
http://blogskinny.com/?Are-We-Getting-Dumber-As-Technology-Gets-Smarter?-&AID=2803
I agree with you about how slang has been added to the dictionary more and more recently. The following links are to articles that have lists of slang words that have been put in the dictionary:
Deletehttp://www.merriam-webster.com/info/newwords11.htm
http://www.afterdawn.com/news/article.cfm/2011/03/29/oxford_dictionary_adds_lol_bff_other_slang
In a way these knew additions to the dictionary is making language less intelligent, but it's also making it a little more sophisticated. Some of these new words are simply slang or the result of people being to lazy to type a few extra letters, but some of them are actually clever. Some of these words show how are language is progressing, and as technology and society progresses, it makes sense that new words to describe new things are needed. At the same time, dictionaries are becoming more lax about slang. We moved from the days of people saying "Ain't is not a word." to people saying "Ain't is in the dictionary.".The second article in the links above said tht The Oxford Dictionary added several text message abbreviations and even the <3 symbol to the dictionary.
This comment has been removed by the author.
ReplyDeleteI think that the video picked up on some controversial topics. I do believe that language originated from grunts, clicks, or signals, but this is my own opinion. Christianity’s version of how language was created is a lot different than mine. In the book of Genesis 11: 1-9 the story states that the humans God put on earth decided to build a tower to reach the heavens. (They all spoke the same language) God didn’t want them to reach the heavens so he made them all speak different languages, so they couldn’t communicate with each other, therefore they would be able to make the tower. Although I am a Christian, and I have heard this story time and time again, I just don’t think it is realistic. I’m sure that every religion has their own theory of how language began. In the video it stated that language originated over 50,000 years ago and just before the clip ended it said that there is no evidence of how it was created, or that it even existed that far back. The Egyptian language is the oldest known language and was written before spoken; it is dated back from 3400 BC. The Egyptians had hieroglyphics which were symbols alphabets and pictures that told stories. My theory is that most every civilization had their own way of communicating, whether if it was with grunts and clicks or in a written language. Although there might not be evidence of all of the ways humans communicated that doesn’t always mean that it didn’t exists.
ReplyDeleteDo you think before having a language written or spoken that humans could still communicate?
Genesis Story
http://bible-christian.org/discussion/response96.html
Egyptian language
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Egyptian_language
Yes this is a very controversial topic. I guess like you said I do believe in the Christianity's version in how language was created, which is the same thing I told someone else. I may be wrong but to answer your question in my opinion, I do believe that humans could communicate before written or spoken language. I see it as this back then they had to communicate somehow, even if it was though body signal so certain gestured.
DeleteI do believe that before there was language humans still communicated, have you ever known what someone was saying without them having to speak? I like with a look or a hand gesture.
DeleteI can definitely agree with you that religion is a arguable subject because many of us are no Cristian, but we are all human. Being a human means that we all have different characteristics and point of views. I also think that before language was invented there had to be some way for to communicate whether it was body language, hand gestures or grunts. we are all allowed to have our own opinions on how the world came to be and how to speak.
DeleteI enjoyed watching the video on the History of Language. When I first started watching the video I was confused in why I was watching this and how it was going to benefit me in the long run. Now that I have watched the videos and taken time to watch others I essentially appreciate learning about language and how we communicate. I was not aware that languages have become extinct over time. And languages evolve when people go and insolated themselves from the rest of the society. From this video I have a better understanding on how language has had a major transformation since the beginning of when communication all started. I learned that there are more than 6,000 languages in the world, and 2,000 of those languages are in Africa. Surprisingly I found out that language is the only way humans can communicate.
ReplyDeleteSince our nation has been developed how many languages have originated since the founding of America or how many different cultures have migrated through our country?
I felt the same way. I have never been the great learner of languages because I sometimes become lazy. I did like this video because it not only gave you facts but it also made think of how do you think it came to be. I did not know that many languages did not exist anymore either and it make you think what happened to them... It was confusing when they said how many languages where in Africa because I just can’t put that in my mind, I mean imagine learning and knowing all of them in order to communicate. And you are right without language I could not share or express my thoughts the way I do. To answer your question there is a website that you might benefit from on the bottom. Hope you like it and I hope it answers all your questions.
Deletehttp://www.rapidimmigration.com/1_eng_immigration_history.html
This is a very thought-provoking video. As the video states, language plays a very important part in human life – it gives us the ability to communicate with others, learn new things, and even reshape the way we think.
ReplyDeleteI remember learning in World History that some historians think the first languages were created after humans gained the knowledge to use fire.
People would stay awake past sunset and tell each other stories. The first “languages” were probably rudimentary gestures and noises, but as people continued communicating verbally, the grunts gained finesse until they became the first words.
In English IV we learned about how the English language came to be. Many people colonized an area, each group bringing new words and ideas to the language. This is something that still happens today: for example, the words/phrases ‘faux pas’, ‘amateur’, ‘doppelganger’, ‘guerrilla’, and ‘de facto’ all come from languages other than English, yet they are so common that most people have heard at least one of them. This makes me über curious as to how language will evolve in the future. Will all humans speak one common language? Or will we all use a telepathic form of communication like Kyle suggested? I think it would be fascinating if telepathy became the norm, but I think it’s unlikely. Personally, I believe that humans will eventually have one or two common languages, but because of how spread out across the planet we are, I doubt every single human will ever speak just the one language. Hopefully, we will travel into space in the future, and maybe we’ll discover other intelligent life. Those life-forms will have other languages, and maybe we could learn to communicate with them.
Something I am personally curious about is the idea that other species (not necessarily from Earth) could develop communication sophisticated enough to form a language. It would be utterly incredible to discover another intelligent race. Does anyone else think it’s likely to happen? And if so, how do you think they might have began forming a language? How do you think they would communicate (verbally, telepathically, sign language, etc.)?
http://www.lukemastin.com/testing/phrases/cgi-bin/database.cgi?database2=phrases
http://atylmo.wordpress.com/2008/08/17/why-is-language-important/
Those are some really interesting questions! It would be amazing to discover an intelliegent extra terrestrial race and examine their means of language. I think its completely possible in our expansive universe. Unfortunately, there aren't any inhabitable planets nearby. So unless they are advanced enough to limit the time it takes to travel lightyears through space and have excellent locting methods, we probably will never know. It's definately cool to think about though!
DeleteThere are some who claim we have already been visited by another ancient intelligent race who may have influenced our ancient language and writing systems. ;)
Deletehttp://cdn.smosh.com/sites/default/files/bloguploads/ancient-aliens-dinosaur-dna.jpg
This was a great post Jade! I love thinking about how most of the languages in existence today are dervitave of older languages, with english at the forefront. (evolution of english, up to Modern English http://webspace.ship.edu/cgboer/evolenglish.html) I believe that language evolves a little bit at a time at a very fast rate. One of the most obvious modern day examples is the shorthand used most often in text messaging which as become intergrated into regular conversation as well. Websites like urbandictionary.com can help to demistify these abbrs. Slang is another example of how english has changed. Although some believe it to be a perversion of the language, it cannot be denied that it has helped to expand english. English, being one of the universal langugaes, spoken all over the world, has also broken up into subdivisons of a single form of the language.
DeleteAs for other-worldly intelligent species, I like to think that they are out there somewhere, and that they also have an interest in "alien" species themselves. I always thought it would be neat if we found another humanoid species very similar to us so that we can learn from each other.
I personally found Episode 2 the most interesting. There was a part in the video that was about each person learning a language a little differently. This was the most thought provoking fact to me because, every person I have met say at least a few words differently from most people. I believe that this mainly occurs because of parents. Parents teach their children how to speak, therefore the children most likely speak like their parents. Another reason why people may have learned a language a little differently is because of dialect. For example, in the south we have a country accent but in places like New York they speak much differently. Language is also spoken differently due to slang, for example, many words that were once incorrect are now in the dictionary. One website that I thought was cool was: https://www.eyeoneducation.com/Blog/articleType/ArticleView/articleId/1331/400-Words-Just-Added-to-the-Concise-Oxford-English-Dictionary
ReplyDeleteIt is about new slang terms that were added to the dictionary and some of the few that were dropped.
I found episode really intriguing as well. When it was saying how every person who is born changes the language in a different way . I agree that parents are a big influence on language changes as well as slang. I also agree that people from the north do speak much differently than people from the south. Thanks for sharing. (:
DeleteThese five videos really opened my eyes to languages. I did not know that there were over 6,000 different languages in the world. I also did not know that speaking came before writing did. I thought it was extremely interesting that Chinese was one of the first written languages and that it hasn't changed since it began. It was also interesting to me that every child that comes along changes language a little. I knew everyone spoke differently, but I didn't know we were changing the languages we have. After every video, I felt the urge to learn more about language and the development because I felt that these previews were informative but they were too short. I would have been fine watching 10 minute videos.
ReplyDeleteI have always wondered, if we were to somehow have to start all over and we were the people at the beginning of time, could we create our own languages and how long would it take for them to reach the complexity they are at now?
I agree with you, it was very interesting to know there are over 6,000 different languages. I think this is so interesting because most people would only think of about 10 different languages. I was once told that every person on this earth could be tracked down to about four women that lived in the middle east but it is still interesting that they have not changed their language much since then. I also agree that the videos should have been longer, it seemed to leave you hanging because you expected more. I believe that if we were to start from the beginning of time all over again that language would have to form but I think it would take hundreds of years for it to become as complex as today.
DeleteThis video has caused the curiosity inside me to spark. Saying that languages all originated from “clicks” is conflicting my initial belief that the languages spoken today had initiated from grunts and moans. With all of the languages spoken in our diverse planet, it is surprising that something as simple as a “click” has develop into thousands of complex languages that are currently spoken in this world. I found it intriguing that our current languages are considered fairly new. I wonder about the type of languages that have come and gone between the period of “clicks” and the common languages today. A question that is stuck in my mind after watching this video is how exactly does a language become extinct and how do you know that a language has even existed if they vanished without a trace?
ReplyDeleteTo answer my question about language extinction, I found a very informational page. Here is the link:
http://www.lsadc.org/info/ling-faqs-endanger.cfm
After reading it, I found it very interesting that they said that when combining groups, some communities are pressured to just give up there language. Imagine how hard it is to give up part of who you are and your culture. I don’t think that people should be commanded to speak a certain type of language. It takes away your identity and I definitely don’t ever want to be put in that type of position. I am also shocked at how quickly a language can become extinct. In this page, it said that it can simply be lost if one generation does not learn it. With at least hundreds of people speaking a language, I don't understand how a language can become so extinct so quickly. Still, after researching, I have not found the answer to my question about tracing back a language with no evidence. Before the time where there were written records, how do scientists really know if a language truly existed or how it even got started?
They know via fossil records that language first appeared between 30,000 and 100,000 years ago in the species Homo sapiens. As humans evolved, our throats got longer and our mouths got smaller — physiological changes that enabled us to effectively shape and control sound. Looking back at human evolution, it's evident that after humans diverged from an early ape ancestor, the shape of the vocal tract changed. Over 100,000 years ago, the human mouth started getting smaller and protruding less. We developed a more flexible tongue that could be controlled more precisely, and a longer neck. According to fossils, the first humans who had full anatomy capable of speech patterns appeared about 50,000 years. (http://www.npr.org/templates/story/story.php?storyId=129083762) Of course no one is certain of what the language was like or how it came about because there is no written or verbal record of these ancient languages.
DeleteAlso, we definitely know there were languages that existed that have now become extinct even though we do not have written or verbal records of this language. We know they existed via ancient text who reference ancient tribes of people who spoke unknown languages that yet no one knows or has record of. Overtime, their culture or civilization became extinct for a variety of reasons and along with it their language which was never recorded or if it was all evidence has been destroyed or lost in time with the downfall of their tribe. Some causes for language loss can e noted here: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Endangered_language#CausesEven
Even today some languages face extinction and are labeled endangered languages.An endangered language is a language that is at risk of falling out of use as its speakers die out or shift to speaking another language. The Hawaiian language, Native American languages of Oklahoma and the Sicilian language of Italy and Sicily are a few of examples of languages that may be loss. Language loss occurs when the language has no more native speakers, and becomes a "dead language". If eventually no one speaks the language at all, it becomes an "extinct language". While languages have always gone extinct throughout human history, they are currently disappearing at an accelerated rate due to the processes of globalization and neo-colonialism, where the economically powerful languages dominate other languages.
The more commonly spoken languages dominate the less commonly spoken languages and therefore, the less commonly spoken languages eventually disappear from populations. The total number of languages in the world is not known. Estimates vary depending on many factors. The general consensus is that there are between 6000 and 7000 languages currently spoken, and that between 50-90% of those will have become extinct by the year 2100. The top 20 languages spoken by more than 50 million speakers each, are spoken by 50% of the world's population, whereas many of the other languages are spoken by small communities, most of them with less than 10,000 speakers.(http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Endangered_language)
http://www.npr.org/templates/story/story.php?storyId=129083762
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Endangered_language#cite_note-Handbook-0
oh my gosh Loan, I checked out the same link as you! For some reason, when talking about the "dead languages" like Ms Strawn mentioned, it reminded me of how latin is considered a dead language. Nowadays, people consider english (and maybe spanish) important languages to learn simply because they are more "dominate" in the economic world. It is kind of scary how a language can be lost over time if the native speakers don't practice it. Personally, I don't even want to imagine what will happen to our language 100 years from now.
DeleteWhile I did find the video interesting, I fail to see the controversy. Is the controversy the belief that language evolved from simple clicks and grunts, or the belief that language came from the Tower of Babel story? Even then there's the argument over where language originated, what the oldest language is, and so forth. I've never really looked into the topic, but I'd have to guess we developed language as we evolved socially. Social advancements were usually very drastic, and some scientists cite this as the reason we developed the whites of our eyes. If I had to make an educated guess, I'd say the rise of language began when humans began facing situations that were too complicated to be communicated through grunts and other noises, or when we needed to cooperate with each other, and needed a more formal form of communication. Overall, I find the growth of language to be a thought-provoking subject.
ReplyDeleteIt is both and other ideas. The controversy is the idea of HOW language evolved. The theories you provided are just some of the many theories people think language originated from. Other theories would be like the "bow-wow" theory or the "din-dong" theory. I know weird names but even weirder meanings behind them here is a link of many other theories you might be interested in knowing.
Deletehttp://webspace.ship.edu/cgboer/langorigins.html
Hope this helped you understand further. And because it is a controversal topic there will be other arguments pertaining language. Also i agree that language evolved as we evolved socially.
Quinn in your post you state "If I had to make an educated guess, I'd say the rise of language began when humans began facing situations that were too complicated to be communicated through grunts and other noises, or when we needed to cooperate with each other, and needed a more formal form of communication." This reminded me of the famous opening scene depicting the dawn of man in the critically acclaimed film "2001: A Space Odyssey" that was written and directed by Stanly Kubrick in 1968. Take a look below. Its a strange and thought provoking film but a must see and a classic.
Deletehttp://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ypEaGQb6dJk
This video was pretty interesting. The fact that they say language originated from clicks was different from what I had always believed about language. I realized languages of today came from languages that evolved from ancient languages but are dead now. The theory that all languages are based off ancient ones can be seen in modern languages with the letters and words that were created by using the ancient languages such as Latin. I do believe that theory that language comes from ancient languages being evolved into newer ones.
ReplyDeleteI like your points. Not a lot of people have the common sense to believe that things came from other things. Some believe that just "And then there was language...". I mean, I know there isn't anyone to attest to it now, but we have major evidence and clues that lead to what is reason.
DeleteAfter reading and examining all the comments so far over this topic, I see that everyone is now starting to ask almost the same exact qiestion of either "how did language start?", or "how will language be in the future?". Even though these are two considerable questions, they are asked multiple times. My one question is, Which came first thoughts or language?
ReplyDeleteI think that if you speak a language, you have to think about what you're going to say. In this case, I think that thoughts came before language. One way that language could've came is when a really smart person decided to create words instead of using clicks
DeleteWhat immeditly catched my eye was the title of the last video which is life and death. As i was reading the preview it had information that had me think i would be interested in the video. What also interested me in the preview was the fact that endangered languages researcher Peter Ladefoged,had passed away. This was shockingly sad news for me because he was the only person in the first video that i seemed to really connect with based on our opinions. The video content did interest me. I learned there are many different languages and the reason for that is because we build off of already made languages. An example they made video was the language English. English was made from one main language with many other languages like german,dutch,and scanadavian combined. Another reason for the many languages is based on adaptation. If a child learns a forign language and starts speaking it at home then everybody in the household speaks it. I am surprised at the fact that our current languages might disappear in as little as 100 year, at least i think that is a short time. My question is, is there a way that a language or languages can be be "safed" or stopped from disappearing?
ReplyDeletehttp://www.bbc.co.uk/worldservice/news/2010/02/100205_bo_language_lost.shtml
This article i found was very interesting, this one women impacted the existance of a language. you should read it and tell me your opinion on it
I thought Episode 1 was interesting because it said that there were some languages that had been lost. Nobody was using them anymore; they were basically non-existent. I also found it interesting about how they said that the languages we use today are new languages. We haven't been using them long. In Episode 3, I was amazed that there were so many languages used just in one area. There were 2,000 just in Africa! Why is there so many different languages just in one area?
ReplyDeleteAbigail Rogers
One of the first things that caught my attention in the first episode was how you could tell if someone had known a language that is not really known as well in modern time by the way they are dressed or if they had had any odd piercings for example one man had a giant bone pierced into his nose and i believe that he knows a language that is not really known. I also believe that as we are becoming more developed so is our language and how we speak it for example comparing our modern day language to the language spoken several years back it has changed quit a bit. I also believe that in the future as we all start to change so will our language but for our language to change it would have to take several to hundreds of years but i still believe that our language will change as the human race does as well. The reason why i believe this is because in the beggining of episode one it showed that our ancestors started out as monkeys or apes and then began to develope more and so did their ways of communication also known as their language.
ReplyDeleteLanguage is still a theory. As he said “we don’t know” we do have theories or ideas but we don’t know! Scientist still wonder where it came from and they speculate that we began our speaking with sounds, grunts, and clicking but did we really? The older man here said that did not happen so what really happened? Languages are distinctive in the human mind as he said. Everything we communicate is differently expressed and our words and mechanism behind it will always be a theory. There is many ways of seeing this and if you have any belief then you will see it differently than others. If you believe in the bible then you can put the story of Babel into account. But as I said there are many beliefs, theories, and examples out there. We just have to go with what we think would be the most understandable in our interpretation of this beliefs.
ReplyDeleteI agree that no really knows the first form of language. No one has actual documented proof of what the first language sounded like. It will remain a mystery as far as what the first language was even called. Who invented language? When was language created? I personally think that no one really knows for sure.We as people from this time can only take what scientist assume to be the first form of language to picture how people first communicate. Was it grunts? Was it moans? Was it with art? Was it with hand gestures? No one really knows. Here is a website that might help ask some of your questions and give you some clarity.
Deletehttp://www.bigsiteofamazingfacts.com/when-did-language-begin
I was wondering that too. how would we know if languages originated from grunts and clicks. I think the only way that we can know for sure is if we were there to speak the lagauge. And, the Bible might hold more answers if we consider in depth what the Bible says. here is a website about lost languages:
Deletehttp://travel.nationalgeographic.com/travel/enduring-voices/
I agree with Clara. How language formed is obviously a theory. No matter how many "artifacts" scientist have to claim where/how it all started, they simply cannot prove it 100% because no one who could of been there is alive today. What we do have to agree on is that language is here now, learn the benefits of it and just live with it.
DeleteThis video was very interesting. I always thought that the past langauges were spoken somewhere in the world and used daily in the persent days. The fact that they said it was a series of clicks that was the frist langauge; I always figured that the first language was gurnts and hand motions. The grunts would signify they need someone to look at them and the hand motions to descride what they wanted.
ReplyDeleteIf langauges were lost over time then does that mean the langauges we speak now, will they be lost over the next thousand year? And, if those langauges are lost what will be the new lauges that we speak?
When our ansisters languages were lost and decayed thoughout the years, was there ever a period of time that there wasnt a language to communicate?
I think your question was very intriging. I was actually wondering the same thing. I wonder if our language we speak now will die out and the new language will be a more slang language. I also like your other question about the time if there was no language. Were they learning a new language or coming up with one to where nobody knew at first what people were saying because it was a new language?
DeleteWhat an interesting post in answer to your question concerning the languages we speak today being lost the matter isn't so much the language itself being lost but the language changing to the point that it becomes a totally new language. Case in point English teachers are starting to see "text lingo" in students' papers. Could this be a sign of a change in our English language? After all with texting and online chatting becoming the new way we communicate it is possible that this would affect the way we communicate to each other.
DeleteI agree with Dillon. Languages arent necessarily just lost all together. They are evolved to a point where the original language is no longer distinguishable. Personally, I believe this is why there are languages that are so similar to each other such as French and Spanish.
DeleteI understand what you mean and I like how you had enough imagination to say “The grunts would signify they need someone to look at them and the hand motions to descried what they wanted.” Because it could make sense, that they would learn how to do that in that period of time. I wonder why languages where lost over time, I mean did the people before us travel around a lot that it just got lost over time. And yes I do wonder the same thing about the English we speak now. The English we speak now its new born but I think that over time we will probably get too lazy to for any kind of sentences that we will go back to grunts and clicking. I do imagine that there was a time where no one could talk I mean did we not developed language over time?
DeleteIn the video “Speaking in Tongues: The History of Language Episode #2” I found it interesting that many people spoke different languages because languages are involved in many different ways. I did not know that African languages are used in tone. Im assuming the way they sound when they talk or the way the language sounds but means a different thing. It would be interesting to learn how to speak some African languages. I also wasn’t aware that .1 percent of people in the world spoke Austrainisain language. To know that many languages descended from sanscript is interesting but confusing because how could language be created by what is written in symbols and syllables?
ReplyDeleteIn the video “Speaking in Tongues: The History of Language Episode #5 Life or Death”, they mentioned ‘Constructed Languages’ which descended from many other languages. There is an estimated of about 5000-6000 different languages spoken, and some say almost 90% of these languages are going to go extinct. It is possible that we will only have about 600 languages in as little as a century. I dont see how this is possible but I would like to know if English will be one of the languages that go extinct? If so, what language would we be speaking then and if we cant learn the other language what will happen to us? It is proved that every child born creates a new language in some type of way... So does that mean that we will speak what our children/the children speak in the future?
ReplyDeleteLooking at episode two of the history of language I noticed that they discuss the tower of babel and if language is in our genetics. I can't help but get the feeling that they would suggest that because God created these languages to confound the people doesn't mean that the language is genetic and to suggest that language is genetic is about as silly as little green men on Mars. I mean in my opinion I believe the story of the tower of Babel but Language isn't genetic, its learned and each generation that learns the language adds their own spin on it. My question concerning this is why do people down play stories like this and say that it is wrong for this and that reason without looking into it further?
ReplyDeleteDillon it's not that people down play stories like these its just there opinion. Just because you believe the story of Babel doesn't mean that others have to. You also have to factor in the fact that different people have different religions.
DeleteNerman, I honesty don't feel like there could ever be a common language among all. As humans we have so many different opinions about almost everything and we all no language is one. From the time the first language was create till now, it became one to thousands I feel or hope that in 50,000 more years we will be more evolved and as we grow other things will too like languages.
ReplyDeleteI think that these episodes bring up some great points. Language certainly means something to different people and there are different denotative meanings as well as connotative that give new insight to the people that show interest in language and communication.
ReplyDeleteI think that I have a certain advantage on some of the views of the use language. On account of my awesome nerd-tendencies, I've learned new ways to talk and communicate to all kinds of people; socially awkward, socially awesome, and socially weakened. Talking and communicating takes a lot of patience when talking to others about controversial things or certain topics that rise an interest in anyone. Everyone has their own take on communication and the way they use their language to convey their point of view.
My work in customer service has also allowed me to see the ways of communication and language with others. People from different backgrounds and ways of life have all sorts of different ways of talking to people. Things they believe are mannerly or correct, and things they know that are wrong. An overall observation of watching people communicate can open one's eyes to a brand new insight to language and how just little things can turn anything around at all.
That is an interesting advantage. And it is incredible how many different forms and ways of communicating there are today. With Facebook, twiter, e-mail, etc. It seems that the world is more connected by these ways of communication. Any where we go whether into town or on the internet we run into different forms of communicating. I think it was episode 3 of the history of language, that it showed tribes in Austrailia using some musical instrument to communicate. There are so many forms of communicating in the world that its hard to keep up with it.
DeleteI love your point of view Kye. Straight forward and simple. I had mentioned in my initial post about how communication is what distinguishes humans from animals. In other words, it makes us civilized. It is hard to imagine what it would be like if we didn't have a way to communicate with each other.
DeleteI can see what you mean with actual talking and the actual way that humans communicate with each other, Vanessa, but you need to remember that animals have their own languages. Humans are animals too. ^_^
DeleteIn looking at Episode 3 It fasinates me that there were and are so many languages in places within Africa. The fact that most of the languages themselves haven't changed that much as a result of isolation blows my mind. I wonder how these cultures and their languages have remained unaltered or merged with other languages for so long? I mean of course these aren't the original languages but still the fact that there are still so many in use in Africa is amazing.
ReplyDeleteI agree with you, it is amazing how being isolated can cause language barrier too, since isolation will shape the way we communicate with each other. It is incredible how since we are all humans we need to sustain ourselves with food, water and oxygen. Yet we speak different languages, eat different foods, and dream different dreams. These cultural differences is what sets us apart the way we speak, dress and view the world. In many ways culture is what makes language different
Deletehere is a a link to an article i found that talks about ways that culture has an effect o language
http://emsc32.nysed.gov/ciai/socst/grade3/whatisa.html
In the second video it talks about the story of babel, i was told this story before by a family member trying to explain that there are other perspectives on how everyone in the world came to speak a different language. While i do agree that religion is a debatable matter because not everyone is Christian. Since there are many other religions as there are multiple languages. This a very interesting topic to talk about since everyone has a different opinion on how language came to be. Whether it is religion,science or social status that makes ones aspect differ from one another, the one thing that makes us alike is that we are all human. Being a human also mean that language is only available to us. I found it amusing how writing has no effect on language since most people in the past have not been literate. In world history we are learning about the types of writing that were used, in a way i think that it was smart of the people back then to leave a permanent marks of history behind because they did not need the person who wrote it to be there. It is amazing how even though we do not speak the same language as our ancestors did millions of years ago we still are influenced by social statuses, religion and technology. In one of the videos it talked about how 90 percent of the languages that are spoken today will be extict in the future, since we tend to adapt to the language that is spoken around us. Even today there are many slang words or acronyms for many different things that my age group has accommodated to, that in previous or future years many people would not understand the meaning to.
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ReplyDeleteKashif El-Amin Says:
ReplyDeleteThere were a variety of things I found tantalizing in the series of videos posted “Speaking in tongue”. Things like a small group of a few thousand people of east Africa developed more all cause they developed a better language. In episode 2 they mentioned it was thought to be racist to connect jeans and languages. I thought that was pretty interesting although I couldn’t really understand why. One thing I found shocking in episode 5 was that it is estimated in this century that 90 percent of the languages are going to go extinct. According to an article in the New York Times there are an estimated 7000 languages spoken in the world today, which linguist say nearly half are endangered. It also states that these endangered languages are now falling out of use at a rate of about one every two weeks. I find this fact somewhat scary that not only languages can become obsolete but at the rate in which linguist project, is all so frightening. Then again over time this would probably result in a world with one universal language, all of humanity speaking the same tongue. I don’t know if it’s just me but I feel that would be quite fascinating.
6,000 languages? Whoah! When I was watching the second video of this series, I developed a question: why would God create so many different languages so that we could not talk to one another and/or understand each other? Another question I developed while I was watching this video is why was it perceived as racist when people talked about the connections between the different genes and languages several centuries ago? I know that Merritt Ruhlen kind of explained why, but I still did not understand. Could someone please help me understand why it was considered racist to talk about the connections between the different genes and languages?
ReplyDeleteIn the third video in this series, I became aware of how many different languages Africa had. One third of the world’s different languages’ count comes from Africa. I would have never guessed that, I would have thought maybe the U.S.A. would have the widest variety of languages. I know that none of the languages that we have in America today originated from here, but I thought we had the most diverse group of languages in the entire world.
(The fourth video) I had never really thought about what language would or could be the oldest language that has been written. But if I had thought about it previous to watching the fourth video of this series, I do not believe I would have guessed it to have been Chinese.
(The fifth video) Why are so many languages becoming extinct so suddenly? Or has it just happened over a span of time and we are just now realizing it is happening? I also really liked what Peter Ladefoged said about everyone having to speak from the same apparatus in order to make a sound. “We all have the same mouth and throat and vocal folds.” – Peter Ladefoged, UCLA.
I got stumped on the reacist about talking about genes and languages staement also. I would guess it was becasue back then they were probably the same color or color didn't mean anything to them but making fun of even if you were just talking about someone speaking a foreign language than you might of been offensive. Your question, "why would God create so many different languages so that we could not talk to one another and/or understand each other?" I think i will be able to help you there. In the bible in Genesis chapter 11 verse: 4-9. it talks about a city working together,talking one language to build a tower that will reach the heavens, to call themselves 'God' also. God saw what they were doing and i quote "And the LORD said, Behold, the people is one, and they have all one language; and this they begin to do: and now nothing will be restrained from them, which they have imagined to do. Go to, let us go down, and there confound their language, that they may not understand one another's speech. So the LORD scattered them abroad from thence upon the face of all the earth: and they left off to build the city. Therefore is the name of it called Babel; because the LORD did there confound the language of all the earth: and from thence did the LORD scatter them abroad upon the face of all the earth." un-quote. Hope this helped you understand! :)
DeleteAs i was watching all the videos for the first time the one that had my interest the most would have to be episode 4, Civilization to Colonization. What i found really interesting is that at the beginning of the video it said that written language does not have effect in spoken language. At first i was flabbergasted at why the person speakng said that but after i thought about it i agreed with his statement. I considered my-self. I was born in mexico but was raised in the U.S. I have always known only a limited amount of spanish. I discovered later on in life that i could speak it to an extent but i was never able to write it or read it, at least not corectly. After this i came up with a question. Why did people find it necessary to come up with a written language anyways. When did people come up with a written language? Also were there deafs back then? I believe so but i am not sure. If there were than how were they able to communicate with others before the written language? How or what activities would they do to help the village? Were they considered a burden? these questions are all coming from both spanish class and world history class. I liked what the video said that asian written language is the oldest written language. I like the fact that they did not succumb to the modern world like the rest of the world has.
ReplyDeletehttp://www.wsaw.com/home/headlines/42644847.html
This short article is a good contribution to this topic because it talks about the way modern tecnology affects language. I agree completly. Even simple tasks as posting on this blog is difficult because it does not have spell check and for now nither does microsoft . Since we are used to it just correcting our mistakes we are making further mistakes and taking excess time posting to go back and correct any mistakes made.
I found this video to be quite interesting. There are many theories as to where we came from and how society began. I take particular interest in the beginning of language. I stay true to my beliefs as to how humans were created but I find the history of language to be quite thought provoking. I often wonder who spoke the very first word and what they said. If language began with simple clicking sounds, I wonder what followed. Did early people slowly form more sounds that gradually became words?
ReplyDeleteI feel that as society slowly progressed we also became more divided. We don’t speak the same, we don’t act the same, we don’t look the same. I feel that the development of languages slowly built barriers between us(Americans)and other countries. Now we try to unite with each other by trying to learn other languages and study other cultures. I feel it just a hopeless attempt to try and regain a form of unity.
I have seen episode four and I was surprised when the video started talking about one of the building blocks of civilization which is a writing system. But before there can be a civilization there has to be a spoken language because not everyone can read. If spoken language had not developed then civilization itself would be impossible. Unless the people within the civilization can communicate their ideas to each other then civilization which requires collaberation would be impossible.
ReplyDeleteThese videos were really interesting, though i think it would have been better if they were a little bit longer so i could get a better understanding of what they were talking about. Other than that i think they were actually thought-provoking. I do not beleive that language started with clicks, grunts, and groans. I dont know how a click, grunt, or a groan could develop into some of the diverse languages we have today. No one really knows how language started because of the fact that we were not there. No one has the actual proof of the first languages and how they came to be so all we can really do is assume using evidence that was left behind. For all we know the first language started with a series of taps on the leg, or clapping of the hands, or funky dance moves, or even loud howling sounds. Also, i dont know why but i always thought that they started writing before they could speak. i thought that they used writing and symbols in order to communicate before they knew how to talk... or do what ever it was they did to communicate.
ReplyDeleteThese videos really made me think about changes in our language in the future. One thing i worry about is if we are going to eventually develop some kind of new language in order to communicate. Another thing i wonder is, Since america is so dependent on technology and things like that, what if somehow time reversed and we had to survive in that age. Would we make it? How many of us would actually survive?
I have a question. Are the new videos apart of our new blogs or did she just put those up there to help us have a better understanding of the first video? -Confused :(
ReplyDeleteNo Destiny the new videos are not apart of the new blog. I will post your new blog Monday in class.
DeleteIt takes quite a bit of high level thinking to follow this article. I found the following sentence to be particularly intriguing: The general structure of his arguments was to claim that if a language has no word for a certain concept, then its speakers would not be able to understand this concept. I found this most intriguing and also very controversial. This is a very interesting theory that Whorf had. When it comes to language shaping our thoughts, I am very conflicted. Part of me wants to think that language does not affect how we think but another part of me wants to agree with the theory. The evidence though not very well supported; still has some weight with me.
ReplyDeleteI have a theory of my own to present. Suppose children were the same way. The theory presented in the article is that if a country does not have a word for a certain concept then they simply will not be able to comprehend the concept. When children first learn to talk they do not automatically understand quantum theory. They take time to learn new words. Each new word to them seems to have just been invented a minute ago. They have no comprehension of certain concepts simply because they don't know they exist.
http://scienceblogs.com/cognitivedaily/2008/01/07/language-doesnt-influence-our/
Egocentric: Thinking only of oneself, without regard for the feelings or desires of others; self-centered
Glottis: The part of the larynx consisting of the vocal cords and the slit like opening between them. It affects voice modulation through expansion or contraction
Orthogonal: Relating to or composed of right angles
Relegated: Consign or dismiss to an inferior rank or position.
Disrepute: The state of being held in low esteem by the public.
Dear Kiana,
DeleteI had all the same vocabulary words you did. I like the word Glottis even though it is strangely awkward.
1. Who were the Mayans? What present day countries did they live in?
ReplyDeleteThe Mayans were settlers in Central America. They are known for their artwork and structural innovations. They lived in places like Belize, Guatemala, Honduras, and Mexico. They were also a Mesoamerican civilization
2. What were the Mayans greatest achievements?
The Mayan civilization had a fully developed language. The Mayan civilization also made great contributions to architecture some astronomy and art. They were also well known for the Mayan calendar they made and the temples that they built.
3. What was Mayan day to day life like?
The men would take their sons into the fields and they would hunt for food. When they got home they had hot baths ready for them. After the baths, the men would eat dinner but the women would not eat with them. After dinner the men would work on making wood crafts while the women spun cotton.
4. The Mayan calendar system is very complex. Research and write a summary of what the Mayan calendar systems consisted of and what the Mayan concept of time was like?
The Mayan calendar is a system of calendars used by pre-Columbian, Mesoamerican and many other modern communities. The calendar has 365 days, which also represents the 365 steps that the Mayan pyramid has.
5. Mayans were amazing astronomers. What were some of the astronomical discoveries they made? What are some of their astronomical predictions? Have any came true?
They predicted solar eclipses, most of their predictions were correct. Another astronomical prediction that they had was that they predicted earthquakes.
6. There is much hype about what the Mayans "predicted" will happen on December 21, 2012. Research and describe what exactly ancient Mayan text says about the end of their calendar.
The end of the calendar is December 21, 2012. That marks a new age of a new time period.
7. What is your opinion/ theory on the doomsday prophecy Do you believe the ending of the Mayan calendar has any significance at all on mankind?
In my opinion I DO NOT THINK THE WORLD WILL END on December 21, 2012. Want to know why?? Because people before were saying that the world would end on May 21, 2012 ….. but guess what?? WE”RE ARE STILL HERE!!! Every year this happens. They have a specific date that the world ends and it doesn’t end! So therefore I do not believe that the world will end.