KPSS ALAN İNGİLİZCE DERSLERİ- ÖABT HAZIRLIK PLATFORMU

THE ORIGINS OF LANGUAGE 

We simply do not know how language originated. We do not know that spoken language developed wellbefore written language. Yet we have no physical evidance relating to the speech of our ancestors and because of this absence of evidance speculations about the origins of human speech have been developed. 
The Divine Source 
The basic idea of the theory is that : “ If infants were allowed to grow up without hearing any language, then they would spontaneously begin using the original God-given language. “ 
The Natural Sound Source 
“ Primitive words could have been imitations of the naturel sounds which early men & women heard around them “ Examples : cuckoo, splash, bang, boom. This view has been called “ bow-wow theory “ of language origin and these words echoing naturel sounds are called “ onomatopoeic words “ 
A similar suggestion : “ The original sounds of language came from naturel cries of emotion such as pain, anger & joy. Examples : Ouch! , Ah!, Hey! 
Yo-heave-ho Theory 
The sounds of a person involved in physical effort could be the source of our language, especially when that physical effort involved several people and had to be coordinated. 
The importance of yo-heave-ho theory is that it places the development of human language in some SOCIAL CONTEXT. 
The Oral-Gesture Source 
The theory comes from the idea that there is a link between physical gesture & orally produced sounds. First of all a set of physical gestures was developed as a means of communication. Then a set of oral gestures specially involving the mouth developed in which the movements of the tongue, lips & so on where recognized according to patterns of movement similar to physical gestures. 
Glossogenetics 
The focus is on the biological basis of the formation. In the evolutionary development there are certain physical features, best thought of a partical adaptations that appear to be relevant for speech. By themselves, such features would not not lead to speech production, but they are good clues that a creature possessing such features probably has the capacity for speech. 
Physiological Adaptations 
Human teeth, lips, mouth, tongue, larynx, pharynx & brain have been created in such a way to coordinate in producing speech sounds. Their places, connections & coordinative functions make humankind different from all the living creatures. 
Interactions & Transactions 
There are two major functions of language: 
• Interactional Function : It is related with how human use language to interact with each other socially or emotionally, how they Express therir feelings or their ideas. 
• Transactional Function : It is related with how human use their linguistic ağabeylities to transfer knowledge from onegeneration to the next. 
UNIT 2 

THE DEVELOPMENT OF WRITING 

Much of the evidance used in the reconstruction of ancient writing systems comes from inscriptions on stone or tablets found in the ruble of ruined cities. 
Pictograms & Ideograms 
A Picture representing a particular image in a consistent way it is called Picture-writing or Pictogram. There must be a link between the pictogram and its meaning. So, we can easily understand what isrefers to when we look at the pictogram. 
More abstracts forms of pictograms are called Ideograms. The relationship between the entity & the symbol is not easily understood like pictograms. 
• A shared property of both pictograms & ideograms is that they do not present words or sounds in a particular language. 
Logograms 
When symbols come to be used to represent words in a language they described as examples of word-writing or logograms. 
Logographic writing was used by Sumerians & their particular inscriptions are called CUNEIFORM WRITING . Cuneiform means wedge-shaped and it was produced by pressing a wedge- shaped implement into soft clay tablets. When we consider the relationship between the written form & the object it represents, it is arbitrary. 
We may accept the cuneiform inscriptions of Sumerians as ” the earliest known writing system “ 
Rebus Writing 
The symbol for one entity is taken over as the symbol for the sound of the spoken word used to refer to that entity. 
One symbol can be used in many different ways, with a range of meanings. This brings a sizeable reduction in the number of symbols needed in a writing system. 
Syllabic Writing 
When a writing system employs a set of symbols which represent the pronounciations of syllables it is described as syllabic writing. 
There are no purely syllabic writing systems in use today, but modern Japanese can be written with a single symbols which represent spoken syllables & is consequently often described as having a syllabic writing or a syllabary. 
Alphabetic Writing 
An alphabet is essentially a set of written symbols which each represent a single type of sound. 
Written English 
• The spelling of written English took place in 15 th century, via printing, so Latin & French affected the written forms.
• Many of the early printers were Dutch, so they were not very successful in English pronounciation .
• Since the 15 th century spoken English has undergone a lot of changes. 

UNIT 3 
THE PROPERTIES OF LANGUAGE 
Communicative vs. Informative 
Communicative: To convey a message intentionally. e.g. All the things you say for communicating. 
Informative: Unintentional messages.e.g. If you sneeze the person you are talking to can understand that you have a cold. / If you have a strange accent the person you are talking to can understand you are from some other part of the country. 
Unique Properties of A Language 
These features are uniquely a part of human language. 
• Displacement: Talking about things that happened in the past, happens now or will happen in the future.
There is no displacement in animal communication.
Exception: Bee communication has displacement in an extremely limited form. A bee can show the others the source of the food. 
• Arbitrariness: The word and object are not related to each other. e.g. dog. Cat 
Exception: No arbitrary examples: Onomatopoeic sounds e.g. cuckoo, crash, squelch
Majority of animal signals have a clear connection with the conveyed message. Animal communication is non-arbitrary. 
• Productivity: ( Creavity / open-endedness ) Language users create new words as they need them. It is an aspect of language which is linked to the fact that the potential number of utterances in any human language is infinite. Animal have fixed reference. Each signal refers to sth, but these signals can not be manipulated. 
• Cultural Transmission: Language passes from one generation to another. In animals there is an instinctively produce process but human infants growing up in isolation produce no instinctive language. Cultural transmission is only crucial in the human acquisition process. 
• Discreteness: Individual sounds can change the meaning. e.g. pack – back , bin – pin. This property is called discreteness. 
• Duality: To use some sounds in different places. e.g. cat – act . Sounds are the same but the meanings are different. 
There is no duality in animal communication. 
Other Properties 
a-) Vocal- auditory channel: Producing sounds by the vocal organs and perceiving them by ears. 
b-) Reciprocity: Any speaker / reader can also be a listener / receiver. 
c-) Specialization: Language is used linguistically. 
d-) Non-directionality: Unseen but heard messages can be picked up by anyone. 
e-) Rapid fade: Linguistic signals are produced & disappeared quickly.