The origins of language

The Study of Language by George Yule (2006)

New Words
-Bang and Pop are onomatopoeic words.
-Pharynx is the part of the throat above the larynx.
-Larynx is the part of the trachea containing the vocal folds.
-Vocal folds are the two muscular folds in the larynx that vibrate as a source of sound and they are also called the vocal cords/lips/bands.
-Everyone has innate ability to learn.

Study Questions
1 I associate the quotation from MacNeilage at the beginning of the chapter with the physical adaptation source.
2 The concept of natural sound is the basic idea behind the ‘bow-wow’ theory of language origin. Primitive words could have been imitation of the natural sounds which early human heard around them.
3 Interjections such as Ouch! Are considered to be unlikely sources of human speech sounds because they are usually produced with sudden intakes of breath, which is the opposite of ordinary talk.
4 It makes them useful in the production of speech sounds that human teeth are upright, not slanting outwards like those of apes, and they are roughly even in height.
5 Pharynx is the part of the throat above the larynx and it became an important part of human sound production by acting as a resonator for increased range and clarity of the sounds produced via larynx.
6 Young deaf children become fluent sign language users because human offspring may be born with a special capacity for language.