Definition: Language is th e __________________ ability to __________________ complex systems of __________________ , and a language is any specific example of such a system. Human language has the properties of __________________ , recursivity, and __________________ , and relies entirely on __________________ and __________________ . Speculations: the origin of human language One account: ______________________________________________________ . Premise: Theories about the origin of language differ in regard to their basic assumptions about __________________ . Continuity-based theory: Language is so __________________ that one cannot imagine it simply appearing from nothing in its final form, but that it must have __________________ from earlier __________________ systems among our __________________ . Discontinuity-based theory: Language is such a unique __________________ that it cannot be compared to anything found among __________________ and that it must therefore have appeared suddenly in the __________________ from pre-hominids to early man. Plausible suggestions: Language was __________________ only once, and that all modern spoken languages are thus in some way __________________ , even if that relation can no longer be __________________ .