The Seed of Language

There is a fascinating article in the NY Times about the origin of language. Quentin D. Atkinson, a biologist at the University of Auckland in New Zealand, used mathematical modeling to argue that southern Africa is where modern human language originated.

His study was based on the theory that the number of phonemes in a language increases with the number of people who speak it. Using that as a base, Dr. Atkinson contends that phoneme diversity would decrease when groups split off and migrated away from the parent group. There are about 44 English phonemes. In contrast, the Khoisan languages – the click languages of Africa – have 90 phonemes. Among the speakers of Khoisan languages are the Bushmen of the Kalahari Desert. Based on human mitochondrial DNA, the Bushmen belong to one of the earliest branches of the genetic tree.

So did language originate in Africa, split into separate dialects and languages, and then continue diversifying as people began to move to other parts of the world?

Phoneme inventories are tricky things. However, languages, like genes, provide vital clues about human history. Language greatly leveraged the power of individual brains to understand the world. As Mark Pagel, a biologist at the University of Reading in England who advised Dr. Atkinson, states, “Language was our secret weapon, and as soon we got language we became a really dangerous species.” Dr. Atkinson's theory may not solve all the riddles of language origin, but it certainly adds to the discussion.

OMG! OED Adds LOL and FYI.

A team of more than 70 wordsmiths from the stalwart bastion of language, the Oxford English Dictionary, have decided to add OMG, LOL, and FYI to the March 2011 release of the OED Online dictionary.

The OED notes that on the Internet, “initialisms are quicker to type than the full forms, and (in the case of text messages, or Twitter, for example) they help to say more in media where there is a limit to a number of characters one may use in a single message.” It's amazing how much the digital world is affecting vocabulary and grammar. Interestingly, though, these “initialisms” go quite a ways back in history.

OED Examples:

1917 J. A. F. Fisher Let. 9 Sept. in Memories (1919) v. 78, I hear that a new order of Knighthood is on the tapis—O.M.G. (Oh! My God!)—Shower it on the Admiralty!

1990 Jargon File Draft, part 4 of 4 in comp.misc (Usenet newsgroup) 13 June, LOL‥laughing out loud.

1941 Washington Post 27 Apr. 5/3 ‘FYI’ titles this new program for the Mutual network‥. The letters mean ‘For Your Information’—a series detailing how the United States is combating sabotage and espionage.

Whether you view these additions as a further corruption of the English language or as natural evolution, it's a fascinating development. As I've said before, grammar prescriptivists don't stand a chance in this rapidly changing world.