Bow-wow theory
 | You can help expand this article with text translated from the corresponding article in French. (May 2021) Click [show] for important translation instructions.
|
A bow-wow theory is any of the theories by various scholars, including Jean-Jacques Rousseau and Johann Gottfried Herder, on the origins of human language.[1] According to George Yule, when different objects flew by, making CAW-CAW or COO-COO sound, the early human tried to imitate the sounds and then used them to refer to those objects even when they weren't present. The fact that all modern languages have some words with pronunciations that seem to echo naturally occurring sounds could be used to support this theory. In English, in addition to cuckoo, we have splash, bang, boom, rattle, buzz, hiss, screech and of course bow-wow.
Bow-wow theories suggest that the first human languages developed as onomatopoeia, imitations of natural sounds.[2] The name "bow-wow theory" was coined by Max Müller, a philologist who was critical of the notion.[3] The bow-wow theory is largely discredited as an account of the origin of language,[2] though some contemporary theories suggest that general imitative abilities may have played an important role in the evolution of language.[4]
See also
References
- ^ Moran, John; Gode, Alexander (1986). On the origin of language. University of Chicago Press. ISBN 0-226-73012-3.
- ^ a b Thorndike, E. L. (2 July 1943). "The origin of language" (PDF). Science. New series. 98 (2531): 1–6. doi:10.1126/science.98.2531.1. PMID 17747316.
- ^ Sprinker, Michael (January–March 1980). "Gerard Manley Hopkins on the origin of language". Journal of the History of Ideas. 41 (1): 113–128. doi:10.2307/2709105. JSTOR 2709105.
- ^ Malle, Bertram F. (2002). "The relation between language and theory of mind in development and evolution". In T. Givon & B.F. Malle (ed.). The Evolution of Language out of Pre-language. Amsterdam: John Benjamins. ISSN 0167-7373.