Farah's Assignment

Assignment of
A History
of
Linguisti
cs
Name: Farah Mohammed
ID: 436770112
Level: 7
NOVEMBER 16
1
A History of Linguistics
All social animals communicate with each other, from bees and ants to whales and apes, but only humans have
developed a language that is more than a set of prearranged signals. Our speech even differs in a physical way
from the communication of other animals. It comes from a cortical speech center that does not respond
instinctively but organizes sound and meaning on a rational basis. This section of the brain is unique to humans.
When and how the special talent of language developed is impossible to say. But it is generally assumed that its
evolution must have been a long process. Our ancestors were probably speaking a million years ago, but with a
slower delivery, a smaller vocabulary, and above all a simpler grammar than we are accustomed to.
So, we know Linguistics as a study endeavor to explain and describe the human faculty of language. The history
of linguistics is known as a branch of perceptive history, for it deals with great ideas- concepts about language-
and not immediately with dialect itself (Law, 2003, l. 2). A large number of histories of linguistics have been
completely written during the last two hundred years, and since 1971s linguistic historiography has become a
specialized subfield.
Origins of language
The origins of human language will perhaps remain forever obscure. By contrast, the origin of individual
languages has been the subject of very precise study over the past two centuries.
There are about 5000 languages spoken in the world today (a third of them in Africa), but scholars group them
together into relatively few families - probably less than twenty. Languages are linked to each other by shared
words or sounds or grammatical constructions. The theory is that the members of each linguistic group have
descended from one language, a common ancestor. In many cases that original language is judged by the experts
to have been spoken in surprisingly recent times - as little as a few thousand years ago.
Linguistic groups: from 3000 BC
2
The most widespread group of languages today is the Indo-European, spoken by half the world's population.
This entire group, ranging from Hindi and Persian to Norwegian and English, is believed to descend from the
language of a tribe of nomads roaming the plains of eastern Europe and western Asia (in modern terms centering
on Ukraine) as recently as about 3000 BC. Another linguistic group, of significance in the early history of West
Asia and still of great importance today, is the Semitic family of languages. These also are believed to derive
from the language of just one tribal group, possibly nomads in southern Arabia. By about 3000 BC Semitic
languages are spoken over a large tract of desert territory from southern Arabia to the north of Syria. Several
Semitic peoples play a prominent part in the early civilization of the region, from the Babylonians and Assyrians
to the Hebrews and Phoenicians. And one Semitic language, Aramaic, becomes for a while the Lingua franca of
the Middle East.
Latin and German: from the 5th century
Over the course of history languages continually infiltrate each other, as words are spread by conquest, empire,
trade, religion, technology, or - in modern times - global entertainment. A good surviving example of this process
is the line in western Europe dividing the Romance languages (those deriving from a 'Roman' example) from the
Germanic tongues. The Romance family includes Italian, French, Spanish, Portuguese, and Romanian (the result
of a successful Roman campaign in the 2nd century AD). The Germanic group is English, Dutch, Flemish, German,
Danish, Norwegian, Swedish, and Icelandic.
New languages from old
Meanwhile, the evolutionary processes go on. Already there are many varieties of English in use. The pidgin
English flourishing in New Guinea is baffling to an outsider; originally devised as a practical business language,
reduced to its simplest elements, it has evolved its own rich character. In the same way, English-speaking
communities in the West Indies or in India (not to mention America) have developed local words, phrases, and
constructions that give their own version of the language a special color.
3
The astonishing proliferation of Indo-European languages from one tongue, just 5000 years ago, will not be
repeated in our more interconnected world. But the tendency of language to evolve continues unchecked.

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Linguistic groups: from 3000 BC

the Middle East.

Latin and German: from the 5th century

Danish, Norwegian, Swedish, and Icelandic.

New languages from old

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