The origins of language (Study Questions)

1. 3 Interjections contain sounds that are not otherwise used in ordinary speech production. They are usually produced with sudden intakes of breath, which is the opposite of ordinary talk, produced on exhaled breath.

2. 2 Primitive words could have been imitations of the natural sounds that early humans heard around them and all modern languages have words that are onomatopoeic in some way (like “bow-wow”).

3. 5 If these deaf children do not develop speech first, then their language ability would not seem to depend on those physical adaptations of the teeth, larynx, etc. that are involved in speaking. If all children (including those born deaf) can acquire language at about the same time, they must be born with a special capacity to do so. The conclusion is that it must be innate and hence genetically determined.

4. Crystal, D. (2000) The Cambridge Encyclopedia (512) Cambridge University Press

5. 4 The pharynx is above the larynx (or the voice box or the vocal folds). When the larynx moved lower, the pharynx became longer and acted as a resonator, resulting in increased range and clarity of sounds produced via the larynx.

6. 1 First, his conclusion was based on very little evidence and, second, it seems more reasonable to assume that the children in his study were producing a goat-like sound from their immediate environment rather than a Phrygian sound from a distant language.

7. 6 The physical adaptation source.

8. 1 The origins of language (Tasks) 1A The Heimlich maneuver The Heimlich maneuver, named after an American doctor, Henry J. Heimlich, is a procedure used to dislodge pieces of food (or anything else) that are stuck in the throat, or more specifically, the upper respiratory passage. The procedure is also known as an abdominal thrust. The danger of getting things stuck in the respiratory passage, making it difficult or impossible to breathe, is connected to the lower position of the larynx in humans. The lower larynx is believed to be one of the keys to the development of human speech and the Heimlich maneuver is a solution to a life-threatening problem potentially caused by that development.