Chapter 1  What is language? [A] The origins of language
Some speculations of the origins of language:
① The divine source
The basic hypothesis: if infants were allowed to grow up without hearing any language, then they would spontaneously begin using the original god-given language.
Actually, children living without access to human speech in their early years grow up with no language at all. ② The natural-sound source
The bow-wow theory: the suggestion is that primitive words could have been imitations of the natural sounds which early men and women heard around them.
The ―Yo-heave-ho‖ theory: the sounds produced by humans when exerting physical effort, especially when co-operating with other humans, may be the origins of speech sounds.
Onomatopoeic sounds
③ The oral-gesture source
It is claimed that originally a set of physical gestures was developed as a means of communication.
The patterns of movement in articulation would be the same as gestural movement; hence waving tongue would develop from waving hand.
④ Glossogenetics（言语遗传学） This focuses mainly on the biological basis of the formation and development of human language.
Physiological adaptation develop naming ability interactions and transactions Physical adaptation:
Human teeth are upright and roughly even in height.
Human lips have intricate muscle interlacing, thus making them very flexible.
The human mouth is small and contains a very flexible tongue.
The human larynx is lowered, creating a longer cavity called the pharynx, and making it easier for the human to choke on the pieces

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