Bow-Wow Theory - Phoo-Phoo Theory - English Linguistics Notes

Phoo-Phoo Theory

According to this theory, human languages may have developed from the instinctive sounds we make in emotional circumstances like Ah!, Oh!, Yay!, Yuck!, etc. One flaw of this theory is when we make these expressions in emotional circumstances, we inhale air rather than exhale it like we normally do when speaking.Our ordinary way of speech is in contradiction with how we produce these expressions in emotional circumstances.

Bow-Wow Theory

The Bow-Wow Theory is one of the theories which attempts to explain the origin of language. According to this theory, early humans imitated the sounds of animals they heard and named them accordingly.This theory is backed by the fact that in languages we find some objects that are named after the sounds they make; they are called Onomatopoeic words. Words like bang, splash buzz, cuckoo, hiss, etc; however there is an argument that this theory fails to answer and that is; there are also other words in all the languages that are abstract terms like, love, hate, happiness, sadness, etc. And other words that do not make sounds at all like a rock, low-branch, socks, shoes etc. How could they have been named? This is the argument which this theory fails to answer.