On the Origin of Language

On The Origin of Language by Ahmet Arda Karabacak

In the history of ideas that have tried to explain the origin of language, there have been many hypotheses that could be considered contradictory. I will dive into and analyze just a few of them, such as the ding-dong theory, the discontinuity problem, language readiness, the effects of basal ganglia, and other cognitive functions. As there is no direct answer to the origin of language, I, at some point, will rely on the insights of experts and analyze them. Furthermore, in order to fully understand how language appeared,I will present relevant auxiliary elements playing a role in the emergence of language, as it is important to know in which conditions the language developed. Tool usage, body language, cognitive development, social interactions, and so on. In the following parts, I will mention how our tools of language evolved in a linguistic approach, such as tongue, larynx, breath control, gestures, etc. 

I will start off with known and easy-to-understand hypotheses so that you can understand the further explanations better. To begin with, let’s analyze early theories like “Bow-wow” and “Pooh-pooh”. According to the Bow-wow Theory, the roots of language are imitations of sounds. It regards that when our ancestors were yet mute, they heard the voices of birds, the roar of thunder, and the sound of the breeze. Basically all the sounds nature produced. Then they tried to imitate these sounds and use them as signs. This idea breaks down when the fact that such words (onomatopoeic) constitute a very small proportion of the lexicon. The possibility of a language that has been formed with imitation is not denied. However, there has been no discovery of such language. When we talk about different meat types, we don’t say “quack quack” for duck or “moo” for cow; the same situation can be seen in older languages such as Latin and Sanskrit. If onomatopoeic words are applicable anywhere, it would be in the formation of animals’ names. Yet we see no similarity between duck and quacking, sparrow and chirping, dog and barking etc, whose similars could be found. The word “cat”, the German “katze”, is supposed to be an imitation of the sound of a cat spitting. But if the spitting is expressed by the sibilant, that sibilant doesn’t exist in Latin “catus”, nor in “cat”, or “kitten”, nor in the German “kater”. The Sanskrit “mârjâra”, cat, may seem to imitate the purring of a cat, but it’s derived from the root “mṛij”, to clean, mârjâra, meaning the animal that always cleans itself.

Another theory is the Pooh-pooh Theory, according to which the emotional cries of humans represent the natural and real beginnings of human speech. The answer to this theory is the same as to the former. It is not doubted that there are interjections in every language and that some of them may become traditional and enter into the composition of words. Language begins where interjections end. There are observable differences between the real words and interjection, such as the involuntary act and noise of sneezing and the verb “to sneeze”. Although we cough, scream, and laugh in the same manner as animals, we are not moved by nature unlike them. They are employed where the suddenness and vehemence of some affection or passion returns the human to its natural state and makes them forget the use of speech for a brief moment. Also when the shortness of time doesn’t permit the human to exercise it. 

These two theories and some more (“Ding-dong”, “La-la”, etc.) were introduced in the 19th century before Societe de Linguistique de Paris forbade the discussion of the origin of language, as there were many speculations without any tangible outcome. Although the theories mentioned are speculative, they all contribute to the cumulative knowledge, and allow us to approach the most reasonable statements by enabling us to incrementally refine hypotheses.

Ahmet Arda Karabacak
12.02.2025

Sources and Further Reading:
1. https://www.wisdomlib.org/definition/marjara
2. Müller, Max. Lectures on the Science of Language Delivered at the Royal Institution of Great Britain in April, May, and June, 1861. 2nd ed., Charles Scribner, 1862, pp. 300-308.
3. Perkinson, Henry J. “How Speech Made Things Better.” ETC: A Review of General Semantics, vol. 41, no. 3, 1984, pp. 219-238.

Cite this article as:
Karabacak, A. A. (2025, February 12). On the Origin of Language. The Hacettepe University Linguistics Community. https://hulinguistics.com/on-the-origin-of-language/