From what has been said, it must be clear that no one can
make very positive statements about how language originated.
There is no material in any language today and in the earliest (1) and→or
records of ancient languages show us language in a new and (2) show→showing
emerging state. It is often said, of course, that the language (3) the
originated in cries of anger, fear, pain and pleasure, and the (4) and→but
necessary evidence is entirely lacking: there are no remote
tribes, no ancient records, providing evidence of
a language with a large proportion of such cries (5) large→lager
than we find in English. It is true that the absence
of such evidence does not disprove the theory, but in (6) in→on
other grounds too the theory is not very attractive.
People of all races and languages make rather similar
noises in return to pain or pleasure. The fact that (7) return→response
such noises are similar on the lips of Frenchmen
and Malaysians whose languages are utterly different,
serves to emphasize on the fundamental difference （8）on
between these noises and language proper. We may
say that the cries of pain or chortles of amusement
are largely reflex actions, instinctive to∧large extent, (9) ∧a
whereas language proper does not consist of signs
but of these that have to be learnt and that are (10) these→those
| 问天词典 |
