Book contents
- Frontmatter
- Contents
- Contributors
- Preface
- Acknowledgments
- Introduction
- 1 Origins and the Greeks
- 2 Evolution before Darwin
- 3 Charles Darwin’s Geology
- 4 Looking Back with “Great Satisfaction” on Charles Darwin’s Vertebrate Paleontology
- 5 The Origins of the Origin
- 6 Darwin and Taxonomy
- 7 Darwin and the Barnacles
- 8 The Analogy between Artificial and Natural Selection
- 9 The Origin of Species
- 10 Sexual Selection
- 11 Darwin and Species
- 12 Darwin and Heredity
- 13 Darwin and Time
- 14 Darwin’s Evolutionary Botany
- 15 Mimicry and Camouflage
- 16 Chance and Design
- 17 Darwin and Teleology
- 18 The Evolution of the Origin (1859–1872)
- 19 Alfred Russel Wallace
- 20 Darwin and Humans
- 21 Darwin and Language
- 22 Darwin and Ethics
- 23 Social Darwinism
- 24 Darwin and the Levels of Selection
- 25 Darwin and Religion
- 26 Darwinism in Britain
- 27 Darwinism in the United States, 1859–1930
- 28 The German Reception of Darwin’s Theory, 1860–1945
- 29 Darwin and Darwinism in France before 1900
- 30 Encountering Darwin and Creating Darwinism in China
- 31 Darwinism in Latin America
- 32 Botany
- 33 Population Genetics
- 34 Synthesis Period in Evolutionary Studies
- 35 Ecological Genetics
- 36 Darwin and Darwinism in France after 1900
- 37 Botany and the Evolutionary Synthesis, 1920–1950
- 38 The Emergence of Life on Earth and the Darwinian Revolution
- 39 The Evolution of the Testing of Evolution
- 40 Mimicry and Camouflage
- 41 The Tree of Life
- 42 Sociobiology
- 43 Evolutionary Paleontology
- 44 Darwin and Geography
- 45 Darwin and the Finches
- 46 Developmental Evolution
- 47 Darwin’s Evolutionary Ecology
- 48 Darwin and the Environment
- 49 Molecular Biology
- 50 Challenging Darwinism
- 51 Human Evolution after Darwin
- 52 Language Evolution since Darwin
- 53 Cultural Evolution
- 54 Literature
- 55 Darwin and Gender
- 56 Evolutionary Epistemology
- 57 Ethics after Darwin
- 58 Darwin and Protestantism
- 59 Creationism
- 60 Darwin and Catholicism
- 61 Judaism, Jews, and Evolution
- 62 Religion
- 63 From Evolution and Medicine to Evolutionary Medicine
- Bibliography
- Index
21 - Darwin and Language
Published online by Cambridge University Press: 05 May 2013
- Frontmatter
- Contents
- Contributors
- Preface
- Acknowledgments
- Introduction
- 1 Origins and the Greeks
- 2 Evolution before Darwin
- 3 Charles Darwin’s Geology
- 4 Looking Back with “Great Satisfaction” on Charles Darwin’s Vertebrate Paleontology
- 5 The Origins of the Origin
- 6 Darwin and Taxonomy
- 7 Darwin and the Barnacles
- 8 The Analogy between Artificial and Natural Selection
- 9 The Origin of Species
- 10 Sexual Selection
- 11 Darwin and Species
- 12 Darwin and Heredity
- 13 Darwin and Time
- 14 Darwin’s Evolutionary Botany
- 15 Mimicry and Camouflage
- 16 Chance and Design
- 17 Darwin and Teleology
- 18 The Evolution of the Origin (1859–1872)
- 19 Alfred Russel Wallace
- 20 Darwin and Humans
- 21 Darwin and Language
- 22 Darwin and Ethics
- 23 Social Darwinism
- 24 Darwin and the Levels of Selection
- 25 Darwin and Religion
- 26 Darwinism in Britain
- 27 Darwinism in the United States, 1859–1930
- 28 The German Reception of Darwin’s Theory, 1860–1945
- 29 Darwin and Darwinism in France before 1900
- 30 Encountering Darwin and Creating Darwinism in China
- 31 Darwinism in Latin America
- 32 Botany
- 33 Population Genetics
- 34 Synthesis Period in Evolutionary Studies
- 35 Ecological Genetics
- 36 Darwin and Darwinism in France after 1900
- 37 Botany and the Evolutionary Synthesis, 1920–1950
- 38 The Emergence of Life on Earth and the Darwinian Revolution
- 39 The Evolution of the Testing of Evolution
- 40 Mimicry and Camouflage
- 41 The Tree of Life
- 42 Sociobiology
- 43 Evolutionary Paleontology
- 44 Darwin and Geography
- 45 Darwin and the Finches
- 46 Developmental Evolution
- 47 Darwin’s Evolutionary Ecology
- 48 Darwin and the Environment
- 49 Molecular Biology
- 50 Challenging Darwinism
- 51 Human Evolution after Darwin
- 52 Language Evolution since Darwin
- 53 Cultural Evolution
- 54 Literature
- 55 Darwin and Gender
- 56 Evolutionary Epistemology
- 57 Ethics after Darwin
- 58 Darwin and Protestantism
- 59 Creationism
- 60 Darwin and Catholicism
- 61 Judaism, Jews, and Evolution
- 62 Religion
- 63 From Evolution and Medicine to Evolutionary Medicine
- Bibliography
- Index
Summary
Charles Darwin’s views on language were inseparable from his views on the evolution of humanity’s brain capabilities as well as on the origins of racial distinctions – topics that will form a significant share of this discussion. Our starting point, however, is Darwin’s fundamental theory of how language originated. It was universally acknowledged in Darwin’s day, as in our own, that language use was a key aspect of what it means to be uniquely human, and so Darwin was obliged to explain how language could have emerged via gradual and naturalistic means, as an essential part of human evolution. On this and related topics we find Darwin working with a few simple ideas that he held throughout his career, even though he elaborated those ideas in increasingly complex ways.
Exposition in Descent
Darwin’s main views on the origin of language appear in a ten-page section on “Language” found in chapter 2, on the “Mental Powers of Man,” of his book The Descent of Man (1871a, 1:53–62). The section begins with preliminary observations on how communication among higher animals often approximates language. There are also remarks about language’s hybrid nature: it is part instinct and part invention. Darwin was careful, however, to qualify his use of the latter term: “No philologist [i.e., linguist] now supposes that any language has been deliberately invented; each has been slowly and unconsciously developed by many steps” (1:55). As to the specific means of origination, Darwin said: “I cannot doubt that language owes its origin to the imitation and modification, aided by signs and gestures, of various natural sounds, the voices of other animals, and man’s own instinctive cries” (1:56). Here Darwin built on two standard eighteenth-century conjectures about the way early humans could have formulated their first words. Both theories involved vocal mimicry: the difference lay in what was said to be imitated. One emphasized sounds in nature such as animal cries; the other emphasized humans’ own spontaneous grunts, groans, and mating calls (Stam 1978). Darwin in essence combined these two perspectives.
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- The Cambridge Encyclopedia of Darwin and Evolutionary Thought , pp. 182 - 187Publisher: Cambridge University PressPrint publication year: 2013
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