· One of the first things learned in academic study is that any and all research is meant to be a stepping stone to built on for future and new information. A recent study completed by scholars out of the University of Birmingham and the Leibniz-Centre General Linguistics (ZAS) in Berlin demonstrates just that. This is because their research challenges a prevailing idea in historical linguistic study concerning the origins of language and communication, specifically in that it was nonverbal communication, e.g. hand gestures, facial expressions, and more, provided the foundations for modern languages. Their research suggests that it was actually simple sounds that jump started language creation.
These scholars reached this conclusion by surveying various individuals who spoke different languages. A total of 28 different languages were represented among the speakers, and a total of 30 different universal sounds were used. They asked the participants to identify the meaning of specific sounds associated with universal meanings to see if they recognized the meaning, and they did! All together the results of this study demonstrate language universals do exist, which is a well established area of study already, but it also shows the evolution of language over time. While their work demonstrates that languages may very well have developed first with sounds this work does not refute the hypothesis that nonverbal communication started modern language and communication. It also opens up new avenues of research to further study this new information in order to clarify if nonverbal communication or simple verbal communication initiated the various languages spoken today.
Reference:
Aleksandra Ćwiek, Susanne Fuchs, Christoph Draxler, Eva Liina Asu, Dan Dediu, Katri Hiovain, Shigeto Kawahara, Sofia Koutalidis, Manfred Krifka, Pärtel Lippus, Gary Lupyan, Grace E. Oh, Jing Paul, Caterina Petrone, Rachid Ridouane, Sabine Reiter, Nathalie Schümchen, Ádám Szalontai, Özlem Ünal-Logacev, Jochen Zeller, Bodo Winter, Marcus Perlman. Novel vocalizations are understood across cultures. Scientific Reports, 2021; 11 (1) DOI: 10.1038/s41598-021-89445-4
7 comments:
Reading this blog shows that linguistic anthropology is always needed in any field and in general, also shows that each language is similar in some way.-FE
When I read this blog, I saw that it stated that languages have a similar tone, which I agree with. For example, when we say I love you in Iraqi Arabic, the ending sounds like the B-word in English. Languages also share some of the same words. For example, the words oil, sugar, and pillow are the same in Arabic and Spanish. -Hiba A.
to know that all language and people stem from one singular group really fascinates me. With all of the diversity of today and variation in language i like that we still have traces of our first language. It truly shows that we are all "one" despite what the evolution of society and its thinking says.
-Gavin G
Being able to understand different languages based on simple universal gestures and motions brings unity throughout the world, and when this happens I bet those persons involved have an epiphany!
Qwynn Marquez
It was said that the first verbal language started from sounds, and although it had to be started somewhere, it was progress. The various languages all the world started from the 30 universal sounds and has evolved since then. Before humans were able to communicate verbally with one another, they used hand gestures and other things to express themselves. This proves that evolution is always happening for better adaptability to the world. Even though language has changed over time, when people were given sounds to identify they were able to guess correctly. This shows that when things are changing over time, they still hold the base of their origin.
McKenzie Williams
Tyler Roe said...
It is a bit overwhelming for me to grasp that the many languages spoken origins can be traced to a few sounds. It only goes to show that we are more united than we think.
The study covered in this post calls for a reassessment of hypotheses about the linguistic roots of language. The study challenges established theories on the origins of language by speculating that fundamental sounds associated with universal meanings may have been fundamental. The research findings get credibility from the application of empirical methodologies, such as the examination of universal sounds and their meanings in many languages. Through participant identification of meanings connected to certain sounds, the study offers concrete proof to back up its findings.
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