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. ~