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ine some theories on the origin of language because these expressions differ in dif-
in detail. ferent languages, ‘Oi’ is the expression
used by Russians for pain. Few other
1. Language is the imitation of natural examples are boom, crash, oink, etc.
sounds. We have already read about 4. Similarly, men working in groups utter
onomatopoeic words� Maybe the words in a rhythm to reduce their effort.
primitive men used the onomatopoeic Men carrying woods call out “oh hoi,
sound to inform his fellow beings about oh hoi” repeating one after the other.
birds like cuckoo, crow and chirp. They These sounds are made involuntarily to
would have also tried to communicate reduce their muscular effort. The theory
sounds of nature like rattling, ooze, of language-origin that argues that lan-
buzz, ripple, vroom, bang, hiss, etc. guage developed from such expressions
This theory, often referred to as Bow- of labour is called Yo-He-Ho theory�
Wow theory, thus explains the forma- 5. When we say ‘I’ and ‘me’ we have a
tion of certain words. However, the the- tendency to point fingers towards us
ory is limited in that it cannot explain and we point the person standing oppo-
the development of other words. This site when saying ‘you’. A few theorists
theory fails to further explain how lan- say our gestures and the movement of
guages developed in the later years. the tongue together can help us to utter
2� Ding-Dong theory is a similar one new sounds and form words. We know
to Bow-wow theory which postulates that in the early days human beings
that early man might have imitated the communicated primarily through ges-
sound of nature and expressed them tures and signs, later it might have been
vocally by using sensory impressions, replaced by lips, jaws and tongue. The
like striking of bells, swaying of trees the book titled Human Speech by Sir
in winds, movements of rivers, etc. Richard Paget gives reference to Ges-
This theory proposed by Max Muller ture theory.
stresses on the rhythm of nature which
created a sensory impression on human The above theories of language-origin
beings. help us to understand a bit more about human
3. Have you heard of the expression behaviour and communication but they are
pooh-pooh? It means to make fun of inadequate to sufficiently explain the origin
something or someone. The speech of human languages. Though we can assume
utterances of man during pain, shock, that language developed as a consequence of
excitement, and pleasure are traced a combination of the above mentioned factors,
by Pooh-Pooh theory. When we are the exact moment and ways in which it has
happy, we use the words ‘ha ha’ to de- happened remains unexplained.
note our happiness. When we slip and
fall down, we say ‘ouch’ in pain. This
theory cannot be universally applied
SGOU - FYUGP - SLM - English for Communication 9
