_Structure

1

• Welcome

2
_Structure

• Introduction
• Difficulties
• 3. Different approaches to making a history of
  language
• 4. Some facts
• 5. Wittgenstein Derrida
• (Some questions Discussion)
• 6. Conclusion
• 7. Questions

3
_Difficulties

• There is little known
• We depend on... Thats right language
• A lot of different approaches

4
_Approaches - Physical

• Prerequisites
• Lung / Chest
• Vocal chords
• Mouth / Lips / Tongue
• Certain intellectual power
• Opinions feelings

5
_Approaches - Evolution

• 5 million years ago Australopithecus
• 800000 years ago Homo Erectus
• 40000 years ago Homo Sapiens
• Evolution or Revolution?

6
_Approaches - Evolution

• Different Theories
• The Bow-Wow theory
• The Ding-Dong theory
• The yo-he-ho theory
• The mjam-mjam-theorie'

7
_Approaches - Religious

• Language given by God
• For instance in Christianity
• Mythologie Tower of Babylon

8
_Brief history

• Reasons to think a lot of languages come from
• one mother-language (Proto-IndoEuropean)
• First of all, almost every human being on this
  earth knows language in a certain form
• These languages are much alike, they use words
  and sentences
• A lot of sounds are the same, such as the letter
  A
• A lot of words, especially words children would
  use, are the same. For instance Mama

9
_Brief history

• 5000 BC
• Small tribes
• 3000 BC
• Tribes spread into Europe
• 1500 BC
• Tribes spread into Asia, Africa and other parts
  of the world

10
_Brief history

• Languages that derived from Proto-IndoEuropean
• Anatolical languages (extinct)
• Greek
• Indo-Iranian
• Roman languages
• Germanic languages
• Original Germanic
• North Germanic
• West Germanic
• German
• Dutch
• ...
• ...
• Armenian
• Tocharian

11
_Philosophers - Wittgenstein

• Life
• Born april 26 1889 inVienna
• Suicidal brothers
• When he was 10, he built his own working sewing
  machine
• When he becomes a young adult, he starts to read
  Russells Principles of Mathematics
• 1911 study Philosophy as a student of Russell
• Long conversations with Russell

12
_Philosophers - Wittgenstein

• Life
• 1912 Notes on Logic
• 2 years in Norway, working on logic.
• During WWI he became a soldier
• During the war he reads Tolstojs Short Gospels,
  and becomes a Christian.
• During the war he also writes the Tractatus
  Logico Philosophicus
• 1929 Cambridge
• During WW2 W. works in a hospital
• 1944, W. back to Cambridge
• April 29th 1951 he dies in Cambridge

13
_Philosophers - Wittgenstein

• His philosophy in a nutshell
• Before his first book Tractatus
• Tractatus Logico Philosophicus
• Philosophical investigations

14
_Philosophers - Wittgenstein

• Questions
• Q1. What do you think about the notion that
  language is based on logic? What is language
  based on according to you?
• Q2. Why, do you think, is it so hard to explain
  language, to define structures etc.?
• Q3. Are the language games really different if
  you think
• for instance about religion and science?
• Do these different areas talk about the same
  reality,
• and can they be combined?

15
_Philosophers - Derrida

• Life
• Born 15 juli 1930 in Algeria
• 1949 he moves to Paris
• 1952-1964 Career as philosopher in Paris and in
  the US. Ends up in Paris again
• He writes several books concerning apartheid,
  politics, feminism, political refugees
• 8 oktober 2004 he dies in Paris, due to
• cancer

16
_Philosophers - Derrida

• His philosophy in a nutshell
• Antisubject philosophers
• Against tradional philosophy
• Against science
• About language
• Words and its meaning
• Working in the marginal lines

17
_Philosophers - Derrida

• Questions
• Q1. Why, do you think, did Derrida still write,
  use words, sentences, language etc?
• Q2. Can we benefit from his philosophy?

18
_Conclusion

• Difficult subject
• Not a lot known about the first development
• After 5000bc we can get a clearer view on the
  development of language
• Philosophy about language
• Wittgenstein first tries logic, then approaches
  language from the inside
• Derrida sees language as the troublemaker of
  philosophy
• Maybe thinking about language can make us become
  aware of its role and influence

19

• Questions?

20

• Thank you