Hensleigh Wedgwood (1803-1891) on the Origin of Language
Transcript of Hensleigh Wedgwood (1803-1891) on the Origin of Language
Hensleigh Wedgwood
(1803-1891)
on the Origin of Language
Michela Piattelli
Towards a History of Sound-Symbolic Theories
International conference - Dijon, 20 -21 February 2014
Max Müller, Lectures on the Science of Language, delivered at
the Royal Institution of Great Britain in April, May, and
June 1861: 344, my emphasis.
“What inward mental phase is it that corresponds to
these roots, as the germs of human speech? Two theories
have been started to solve this problem, which, for
shortness’ sake, I shall call the Bow-wow theory and the
Pooh-pooh theory. According to the first, roots are
imitations of sounds, according to the second, they are
involuntary interjections”.
Sarah
Wedgwood (1734 - 1815)
Josiah
Wedgwood (1730 - 1795)
Elizabeth
Allen (1764 - 1846)
Josiah II
Wedgwood (1769 - 1843)
Susannah
Wedgwood (1765 - 1817)
Robert Waring
Darwin (1766 - 1848)
The Wedgwood-Darwin Family
Hensleigh
Wedgwood (1803 - 1891)
Emma
Wedgwood (1808 - 1896)
Charles Robert
Darwin (1809 - 1882)
Frances
Mackintosh (1800-1899)
• The Principles of Geometrical Demonstration Deduced from the Original Conception of
Space and Form, Taylor and Walton, London, 1844.
• On Onomatopoeia, Transactions of the Philological Society, No. 34, May 9,
1845.
• On the Development of the Understanding Taylor and Walton, London, 1848.
• The Geometry of the Three First Books of Euclid by Direct Proof from Definitions
Alone, Walter and Maberly, London, 1856.
• A Dictionary of English Etymology, Trübner & Co., London, 1859.
• On the Origin of Language, Trübner & Co., London, 1866.
• Contested Etymologies in the Dictionary of the Rev. W. W. Skeat, Trübner & Co.,
London, 1882.
Wedgwood’s main works
1. Imitation
2. Onomatopoeia
3. Interjection
4. From the cry to the noun
5. Analogy
sound-extension analogy
sound-movement analogy
6. Language differences
7. Loss of imitative power
8. Wedgwood’s legacy in Darwin
A naturalistic theory of language
“The problem of the origin of language thus becomes a particular case of the general inquiry, how it may be possible to convey meaning by the intervention of signs without previous agreement as to the sense in which the signs are to be understood. […] The only principle upon which the unconventional development of a system of signs can be rationally explained, will thus be the artificial exhibition of resemblance, or direct imitation of a character by which the thing to be signified is distinguished”.
1. Imitation
Wedgwood 1866:13, my emphasis.
“If however language be supposed to have arisen in the ordinary course of nature from the efforts of men to communicate their wants and thoughts to their fellows, it is difficult to conceive any other principle than that of onomatopoeia on which it could originally have begun. The only mode in which the voice could be made effective in raising the thought of a certain animal in the mind of a person wholly ignorant of our language, would be to imitate some sound peculiar to the animal in question”.
2. Onomatopoeia
Wedgwood 1845: 111, my emphasis.
“From the interjections of sound we naturally pass
to the interjections of passion […]. The only
difference is that in the interjections of passion
the sense is carried on a stage further, and the
intention of the utterance is to bring before the
mind of the hearer, not so much the cry or other
sound immediately represented by the interjection,
as a certain condition of the mind of which the
imitated sound is the physical accompaniment”.
3. Interjection
Wedgwood 1866: 47, my emphasis.
Ontogenesis
1) Auditory (prosodic) stimulus visual stimulus + association
2) Auditory (toneless) stimulus animal
Phylogenesis
1) Confused prosodic utterance
2) Toneless
pronunciation
Improvement
of the articulatory apparatus +
3) small linguistic particles Nouns
4. From the cry to the noun
Syllable
Syllable +
5. Analogy
Max Müller, Lectures on the Science of Language, delivered at
the Royal Institution of Great Britain in February, March,
April, & May 1863: 89, my emphasis.
“[…] that sounds can be rendered in language by
sounds, and that each language possesses a large
stock of words imitating the sounds given out by
certain things, who would deny? […] But how are all things that do not appeal to the sense of hearing
– how are the ideas of going, moving, standing,
sinking, tasting, thinking, to be expressed?”.
5. Analogy
“By analogy, or metaphor, which is the transference of a word to
some analogous signification, the conveyance of a meaning by
mention of something which has an analogy with the thing to be
signified”.
Wedgwood 1866: 101, my emphasis
a. Synesthesia
b. Progressive change of meaning
c. Metaphorical shift from a physical to a moral level
sound-extension analogy
d. Sound symbolic analogy
sound-movement analogy
5.1. Sound-extension analogy
Wedgwood 1866: 116, my emphasis.
“The change of vowel from /a/ or /o/ to /i/,
which was seen above in ‘tot’ and ‘tit’, is another
example of correspondence between
modifications in the effort of utterance and the
character of the thing signified. The vowels
/a/ and /o/ are pronounced with open throat and the full sound of the voice, while the orifice
of the windpipe is narrowed and the volume of
sound diminished in the pronunciation of /i/”.
5.2. Sound-movement analogy
Wedgwood 1866: 108, my emphasis.
“Both sound and movement are the effect of mechanical
action, and are constantly associated in our experience,
so that hardly a sound can be heard which does not
suggest the thought of some kind of movement, from the
crack of a gun to the rustle of a leaf ”.
Wedgwood 1866: 105, my emphasis.
“It seems that no inconsiderable number of words are
derived from a feeling of something analogous in the
effort of utterance with the thing to be signified”.
5.2. Sound-movement analogy
/m/ keeping the utterance within oneself (me)
/n/ denial (no)
/ð/, /t/ pointing out (this, that)
/r/ movement (run, ancient greek rèin)
/l/ sliding movement (slide, ancient greek olisthànein)
/p/, /t/, /k/, /b/, /d/, /g/ (final) sharp sound or movement
(rap, crack, jog, thud...)
/m/, /n/, /ŋ/, /l/ (final) prolonged sound or movement
(boom, din, ring, dandle...)
Wedgwood 1845: 111, my emphasis.
“The gap between the cries of animals, and still
more between inorganic sounds and the
articulations of the human voice, is in fact so
wide as to allow of a pretty free choice of syllables in which the imitation may be made with nearly equal propriety, and accordingly, in the
imitative synonyms of the same or cognate
tongues, we must expect only to meet with
resemblances of a very general nature”.
6. Language differences
/m/ [nasal] keeping the utterance within oneself (me)
/n/ [nasal] denial (no)
/p/, /t/, /k/, /b/, /d/, /g/ (final) [plosive] Sharp sound or movement
(rap, crack, jog, thud...)
/p/, /t/, /k/ (final) [plosive, unvoiced]
collision of hard bodies
(clap, clack, rap...)
/b/, /d/, /g/ (final) [plosive, voiced]
collision of softer bodies
(dab, thud, swag...)
/m/, /n/, /ŋ/, /l/ (final) [voiced] prolonged sound or movement
(boom, din, ring, dandle...)
6. Language differences
7. Loss of imitative power
Wedgwood 1866: 128, my emphasis.
“[…] the imitative power of words is gradually
obscured by figurative use and the loss of intermediate forms, until all suspicion of the original principle of their
signification has faded away in the minds of all but the few
who have made the subject their special study”.
Wedgwood 1866: 155, my emphasis.
“Thus all analogy tends to the belief that the whole of language would be found to spring from an imitative source, if the entire pedigree of every word were open
before us”.
8. Wedgwood’s legacy in Darwin
Charles Darwin, The Descent of Man, and Selection in Relation
to Sex, John Murray, London, 1871: I, 56, my emphasis.
“With respect to the origin of articulate language, after
having read on the one side the highly interesting works of
Mr. Hensleigh Wedgwood, the Rev. F. Farrar, and Prof.
Schleicher, and the celebrated lectures of Prof. Max Müller on the other side, I cannot doubt that language
owes its origin to the imitation and modification of
various natural sounds, the voices of other animals,
and man’s own instinctive cries, aided by signs and
gestures”.
Darwin to Farrar (1865)
Darwin Correspondence Project, Letter 4929, 2 Nov. 1865, my emphasis.
“Dear Sir
As I have never studied the science of language it may perhaps be
presumptuous, but I cannot resist the pleasure of telling you what
interest & pleasure I have derived from hearing read aloud your
volume.
My indirect interest in your book has been increased from Mr Hensleigh Wedgwood, whom you often quote, being my brother
in law.
I formerly read Max Müller & thought his theory (if it deserves to
be called so) both obscure & weak; & now after hearing what you
say, I feel sure that this is the case & that your cause will ultimately triumph. […]”.
Thank you. ~
Merci.
Grazie. ~