Language Origins

Activity: Create your own language/form of communication

What were some of the first elements you tried to develop?

What did Hockett, Stokoe, and Bickerton say?

Charles Hockett

• Argued that a common ancestor of a group of languages could be ascertained through comparative method
• 13 design features of language
• Apes are considered to have 9 of the 13 features but the 4 that distinguish human language are productivity, displacement, duality, and traditional transmission

William Stokoe

• Argues that signing and speaking are not incompatible; one is not a rudimentary form of the other
• Primary sign languages vs. alternate sign languages
• Concludes that signing and speaking are true alternatives and are equally effective input-output devices for the central processor of language

Derek Bickerton

• The biggest obstacle to understanding the evolution of language is thinking about it as ‘the evolution of language’
• Contemporary language involves: modality, symbolism, and structure
• Syntax remains beyond the reach of other species
• Argues that syntax emerged with the human species and culture emerged later