Cindy Meredith

Topic: Language History and Change

There are many different theories of where language originated. Do you have any thoughts on

the origin of language?

The monogentic theory of language origin is the belief that all languages originated from

a single source. This will sound familiar to you since

i. The Biblical account of the tower of Babel in Genesis states that familiar account

of all the people of the world initially speaking one language.

ii. Likewise the Toltecs, early inhabitants of Mexico, held a similar view and thus

recorded their opinions.

French philosopher Jean- Jacques Rousseau purposed that the earliest manifestations of

language were “cries of pain”; which is supposed to be innate to all living beings.

Jespersen suggested love was the stimulus for language development

And we can go on and on but the basic fact remains that language originated from

somewhere and we are all glad it did…sometimes (:P)

So…what is language? Your answer of this should include the characteristics, roles of language,

and how language impacts your identity.

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LANGUAGE

“Language is a city to the building of which every human being brought a stone”

Ralph Waldo Emerson

Language is a broad term which defines human communication. Therefore LANGUAGE is a

mode of human communication. Wikipedia states “Language is the ability to acquire and use

complex systems of communication, particularly the human ability to do so”.

Characteristics of Language:

1. Human- only humans have language, simply because it is the word we use to define our

form of communication. This does not mean that other animals do not communicate. It

simply means that we cannot call it Language.

2. Symbolic- traditionally seen as consisting of three parts: signs, meanings, and a code

connecting signs with their meanings.

LANGUAGE

human

symbolic

systematic

(not arbitrary)

dynamic

maturational

verbal

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3. Systematic- language is not arbitrary. It is not random there are specific rules and laws

that govern its use.

4. Dynamic- it is not stagnant. Language is always changing.

5. Maturational- it has the ability to grow and develop.

6. Verbal- spoken and written (including sign languages and braille)

7. Non instinctive- but naturally acquired. All healthy humans are born with the capacity of

acquiring language. However the acquisition is based on socialization or nurturing

therefore language is for humans is non instinctive.

A language is a specific system by which humans communicate. The system is an arbitrary one

made up of symbols (letters, punctuations), rules (grammar: morphology, phonology, semantics

syntax, lexicon).

i. Morphology- the study of the structure of words; the component of grammar that

includes the rules of word formation.

ii. Phonology- the sound system of a language; the component of a grammar that includes

the inventory of sound

iii. Semantics- the study of linguistic meaning of morphemes, words, phrases and sentences.

iv. Syntax- the rules of sentence formation; the component of the mental grammar that

represents the speaker’s knowledge of the structure of phrase and sentences

v. Lexicon- the component of grammar containing a speaker’s knowledge about morphemes

(words) i.e a speaker’s mental dictionary (word you know, remember and can use

correctly).

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COMPONENTS “A LANGUAGE”

Morphology- root words, parts of

speech, affixes and suffixes.

Phonology- sounds, syllables. Each

vowel and consonant has a

specific sound and rules which

govern how they are to be

pronounced.

Syntax- grammar; sentence and

phrase structure

Semantics- meanings of words

Lexicon- refers to the words you

know. Your “vocabulary bank”

All languages have these

components

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Now remember I said English is more closely related to German and Dutch because they are all

derived from Proto Germanic branch, whilst French and Spanish are called Romantic not

because of how ‘sexy’ they sound, but rather the fact that they are derived from Latin (Roman)

languages. The following picture justifies and simplifies this fact it can also be found on page 66

of CAPE Communication Studies Lord et al.

Notice that English language has stemmed from the third branch from the left. The branch is labeled Proto-Germanic which is from the Balto-Slavo-Germanic. Whilst Spanish and French stem from the second branch from the left entitled Celto-Italo-Tocharian branching off to Italic Latin.

Please also note the small section this takes up on the mother tongue tree.

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English has changed considerably over the years, just read your King James Version of the Holy

Bible and it is evident. Now that is a relatively recent document in terms of change in English the

following will just show you the progression of what we now call English.

The following are ALL ENGLISH…..o.O

Hwæt! wē Gār-Dena in ġeār-dagum, þēod-cyninga, þrym ġefrūnon,

hū ðā æþelingas ellen fremedon.

What! We of Spear-Danes in yore-days, of nation/people-kings, did glory

learn about by asking, how those noblemen did courage promote.

This frere bosteth that he knoweth helle, And God it woot, that it is

litel wonder; Freres and feendes been but lyte asunder. For, pardee,

ye han ofte tyme herd telle How that a frere ravyshed was to helle In

spirit ones by a visioun; And as an angel ladde hym up and doun, To

shewen hym the peynes that the were, In al the place saugh he nat a

frere; Of oother folk he saugh ynowe in wo.

This friar boasts that he knows hell, And God knows that it is little

wonder; Friars and fiends are seldom far apart. For, by God, you have

ofttimes heard tell how a friar was taken to hell In spirit, once by a vision;

And as an angel led him up and down, To show him the pains that were

there, In all the place he saw not a friar; Of other folk he saw enough in

woe.

The epic poem

“Beowulf” commonly

believed to be the first

written form of Old

English 449-1066

AD/CE.

Geoffrey Chaucer’s The

Canterbury Tales, the

prologue of the “The

Summoner’s Tale”. This

language is called Middle

English 1066-1500 AD/CE.

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A man may fish with the worm that hath eat of a king, and eat of the

fish that hath fed of that worm.

Discussion points or questions to ask yourself

i. What is the purpose of language?

ii. How does it impact you as an individual or on a societal level?

Language and Community

Please note that these definitions are important your success at the CAPE CXC Communication

Studies course. Moreover understanding the definitions rather than regurgitating them is

important.

Pidgins

Creoles

Dialects

Standard Form (in our case standard English)

Jargons

Slang

Colloquialism

LANGUAGE

Shakespeare’s “Hamlet”.

Words spoken by Hamlet

himself. This is Modern

English 1500-present

era…therefore it needs no

‘translation’

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“Language is a city to the building of which every human being brought a stone”

Ralph Waldo Emerson

A language is a system by which humans communicate. The system is an arbitrary one made up

of symbols (letters, punctuations), rules (grammar: morphology, syntax, semantics, phonology).

However one must note that there is a fundamental difference between a language and language.

Language is a broad term which refers to the use of all systems; it is considered essentially

human and an exclusive mode of human communication.

PIDGINS AND CREOLES

Pidgin- refers to a form or system of communication which is born out of the necessity to

communicate when the communicators do not share a common language. Circumstances like this

arise often throughout history and even today as people travel globally. Meyers (2009) purports

that a pidgin second language spoken by groups of speakers who speak different languages. For

instance, Chinook Jargon was a pidgin spoken in the nineteenth century in the northwestern part

of the United States by the indigenous tribes there engaged in trade with Europeans.

When a pidgin has native users (a generation is born and starts using this pidgin) a Creole is

born. Meyers (2009) defines a creole as “A pidgin that has become a first language. For instance,

Jamaican Creole is a first language spoken by the descendants of slaves brought to Jamaica from

Africa. It is a mixture of English and the African languages that the ancestors of the original

slaves spoke.”

To understand what a creole is we first must understand our history. As was said in class West

Indian territories derived their language firstly via their European colonizers thus, our lexifier is

the language from which our creole is derived. Our Creole therefore was developed based on the

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need of our colonizers to communicate with us (slaves and indentured servants). A Creole is a

vernacular in its own right but attitudes and pressures can force speakers of Creole to move more

towards the standard language; this is known as ‘decreolisation’.

DIALECT

“A language is a dialect that has an army and a navy”- Max Weinreich

A dialect is defined as a variety of language which is peculiar to a specific area/ region/ group of

speakers. Of course that is a very broad meaning of the word. Another definition is that a dialect

is a lesser known language which is not standardized nor has a written form. However that

definition is very pejorative and suggests that a dialect lacks in vocabulary, grammar or

importance.

A very simplistic way of remembering what a dialect is, is to remember that different people

who speak the same language speak it differently. When there are systematic differences in the

way different groups speak a language, we say that each group speaks a dialect. In essence

DIALECT is a VARIETY of A LANGUAGE.

Categories

Sociolect is a term which refers to a dialect that is associated with a particular social class of

people.

Standard dialect refers to a dialect which has been standardized that is it is supported by

important institutions. In such cases governments have recognized or designated to dialect to be

a ‘proper’ form of language and have implemented its usage in schools, published books using

the dialect and moreover formulated a dictionary.

Non-standard dialect refers to a dialect which indeed has complete vocabulary, grammar and

syntax however it has not been put on par with the standard form

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STANDARD FORM

The standard form is identifiably the language chosen as the idealized standard dialect of a

region or country. The standard language has the status which comes with social prestige,

education, and wealth, the creole or dialect on the other hand has no such status, its roots lie in a

history of slavery and subservience. Therefore there is a Trinidad Standard English, Jamaican

Standard English, Barbadian Standard English, American Standard English and Nigerian

Standard English. In the English speaking Caribbean our collective standard is called Caribbean

Standard English.

JARGON

Special words peculiar to the members of a profession or group; think lawyers, doctors, IT

specialist

SLANG

This refers to popular phrases and words used by a society over a short period of time.

Remember in class my example was; the fact previous generations called women with loose

morals; “sketles” “sketrats” and more recently the youth have called them “scabbicals”.

COLLOQUIALISM

Words and phrases which have become ingrained in a society.

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CHARACTERISTICS OF CARIBBEAN STANDARD ENGLISH VS THE CREOLE

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The above table highlights the fact that our Creole

i. generalizes rather than pluralize

ii. does not refer to the past using “ed” or “d”

iii. marks time with works like “bin”, “does” and “did”. For instance past events would be

phrased like this; “I did go town yesterday”, “I bin in town yesterday”

iv. the use of “me” or “mi” as opposed to “I”

v. the exclusion of the subject and auxiliary

vi. does not pronounce “th” end of words. Thus it is replaced with “t” or “f” sounds as in

“wif”

Remember phonology has to do with sound, the above table highlights that in our Creole we:

i. do not pronounce the “nd” consonant cluster at the end of words like “and” we say “an”

“end” “en” and my favorite “second” “secon”

ii. similarly end consonant clusters like “st”, “ft”

Cindy Meredith

Cindy Meredith

Works Cited

Caribbean Advance Proficiency Examination Communication Studies Syllabus. Barbados:

Caribbean Examination Council, 2011.

Fromkin, Victoria. Hyams, Nina. Rodman, Robert. An Introduction to Language. 8th edition.

Boston: Thomas Wadsworth, 2007.

Meyers, Charles. Introducing English Linguistics. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press,

2009.

Rochford, Edlin. Communication Studies; Preparing Students for CAPE. Indiana: iUniverse,

2008.

Internet resource links

“How English Evolved” by Kate Gardoqui- http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kIzFz9T5rhI

“The History of English in Ten minutes”- http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rexKqvgPVuA

“How language transformed Humanity” TED talk by Mark Pagel-

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ImQrUjlyHUg

“Txtng is killing language. JK!!!” TED talk by John McWhorter-

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UmvOgW6iV2s