Ludwig Noiré and the Debate on Language Origins in the 19th Century
Jacopo D’Alonzo | Paris 3 – Sorbonne Nouvelle | Sapienza – Università di Roma
Among the scholars who tackled the topic of language origins in the 19th century, the German philosopher Ludwig Noiré (1829–1889) deserves
special mention. To him, the unique sociability of humans implies cooperation and cooperation in turn involves language. Remarkably, Noiré’s
theory deeply influenced the debate on language origins until the 1950s. Before offering some theoretical and historical explanations for
the enduring influence of Noiré’s theory, it is necessary to describe the general features of his theory and the context in which it arose.
After dealing with the German-English debate on language origins during the 19th century, a section will be especially devoted to Noiré’s
theory of language origins. Finally, a comparison between Noiré’s insights and the naturalistic framework of the 19th century is
provided.
Article outline
1.Introduction
2.The 19th-century debate on language origins
3.The German debate
4.Noiré’s theory of language origins
5.Noiré and the debate on language origins. An overview
6.Conclusions and further perspectives
Acknowledgements
Notes
References
This article is currently available as a sample article.
Bogdanov, Aleksandr [Aleksandrovič]. 2015. The Philosophy of Living Experience. Popular outlines. English transl. by D. Rowley. Leiden: Brill. [1st ed., 1913, Filosofiya Živogo Opyta: Populiarnye Očerki. St. Petersburg.]
Bonald, Louis-Gabriel-Ambroise, vicomte de. 1818 [1845]. Oeuvres complètes de M. de Bonald. Tome V: Recherches philosophiques sur les premiers objets des connaissances
morales. Bruxelles: Société Nationale.
Borinski, Karl. 1911. Der Ursprung der Sprache. Tübingen: Max Niemeyer.
Buxarin, Nikolaj [Ivanovič]. 1925. Historical Materialism: A system of sociology. New York: International Publishers. (1st ed., Moscow, 1921.)
Bücher, Karl. 1899. Arbeit und Rhythmus. Leipzig: Teubner.
Cassirer, Ernst. 1980. The Philosophy of Symbolic Forms. Vol. I: Language. English transl. by R. Manheim. London: Yale University Press. [German original: Philosophie der symbolischen Formen. Band I: Die Sprache, 1923;
Band II: Das mythische Denken, 1925; Band III: Phänomenologie der Erkenntnis,
1929. 1st ed., 1923–1929. Berlin: Bruno Cassirer. New ed., 2010.]
Darwin, R. Charles. 1874. The Descent of Man, and Selection in Relation to Sex. London: John Murray. (1st ed., ibid., 1871.)
Delacroix, Henri. 1924. Le langage et la pensée. Paris: Alcan.
De Laveleye, Émile. 1888. La Péninsule des Balkans: Vienne, Croatie, Bosnie, Serbie, Bulgarie, Roumélie, Turquie, Roumanie. Vol. I1. Paris: F. Alcan. ([URL]) Accessed: 4 Apr. 2017.
Farrar, Frederic William. 1860. An Essay on the Origin of Language, based on modern researches, and especially on the works of M. Renan. London: J. Murray.
Feuerbach, Ludwig. 1843. Grundsätze der Philosophie der Zukunft. Zürich & Winterthur: Julius Fröbel.
Foulquié, Paul. 1945. Précis de Philsophie à l’usage des candidats au baccalauréat. Tome I. Psychologie. Paris: Éditions de l’École.
Gehlen, Arnold. 1940. Der Mensch, seine Natur und seine Stellung in der Welt. Berlin: Junker & Dünnhaupt.
Geiger, Lazarus. 1869. Der Ursprung der Sprache. Stuttgart: Cotta.
Grimm, Jacob. 1858 [1851]. Über den Ursprung der Sprache. Aus den Abhandlungen der Königlichen Akademie der Wissenschaften vom Jahr
1851. Berlin: F. Dümmler. ([URL]) Accessed: 4 Apr. 2017.
Herder, Johann Gottfried. 1772. Abhandlung über den Ursprung der Sprache welche den von der Königl. Academie der Wissenschaften für das Jahr 1770
gesezten Preis erhalten hat. Berlin: Voß.
Janet, Pierre. 1934. L’intelligence avant le langage. Flammarion: Paris.
Jespersen, Otto. 1922. Language, its nature, development and origin. London: G. Allen & Unwin. ([URL]) Accessed: 4 Apr. 2017.
Mach, Ernst. 1896. Die Prinzipien der Wärmelehre, historisch-kritisch entwickelt. Leipzig: Barth.
Marx, Karl & Friedrich Engels. 1956–1990. Marx-Engels-Werke. 441 vols. Berlin: Dietz Verlag. (=MEW.)
Mauthner, Fritz. 1912. Beiträge zu einer Kritik der Sprache II: Zur Sprachwissenschaft. 2. Auflage. 2nd. rev. ed. Stuttgart & Berlin: Cotta.
Müller, Max [Friedrich]. 1887. The Science of Thought. London: Longmans Green and Co. ([URL]) Accessed: 4 Apr. 2017.
Müller, Max [Friedrich]. 1888. Das Denken im Lichte der Sprache. German transl. by Engelbert Schneider. Leipzig: no editor listed. ([URL]) Accessed: 4 Apr. 2017.
Müller, Max [Friedrich]. 1899. The Science of Language, founded on lectures delivered at the Royal institution in 1861 and 1863. In two volumes –
Vol. I. London: Longmans, Green & Co.. ([URL]) Accessed: 4 Apr. 2017
Müller, Max [Friedrich]. 1901. Lectures On The Origin And Growth Of Religion. London: Longmans, Green & Co. ([URL]) Accessed: 4 Apr. 2017.
Müller, Max [Friedrich]. 1909 [1856]. Comparative Mythology: an Essay. London: Routledge. ([URL]) Accessed: 4 Apr. 2017.
Noiré, Ludwig. 1874. Die Welt als Entwicklung des Geistes. Bausteine zu einer monistischen Weltanshauung. Leipzig: Veit & Co. ([URL]) Accessed: 4 Apr. 2017.
Noiré, Ludwig. 1877. Der Ursprung der Sprache. Mainz: Victor von Zabern. ([URL]) Accessed: 4 Apr. 2017.
Noiré, Ludwig. 1879a. Max Müller und die Sprach-Philosophie. Mainz: Victor von Zabern. ([URL]) Accessed: 4 Apr. 2017.
Noiré, Ludwig. 1879b. Max Müller & the Philosophy of Language. London: Longmans, Green & Co. ([URL]) Accessed: 4 Apr. 2017.
Noiré, Ludwig. 1880. Das Werkzeug und seine Bedeutung für die Entwickelungsgeschichte der Menschheit. Mainz. J. Diemer. ([URL]) Accessed: 4 Apr. 2017.
Ombredane, André. 1933. “Le langage”. Nouveau traité de psychologie, Les Associations sensitivo-motrices ed. by Georges Dumas, 363–458. Paris: Alcan.
Piaget, Jean. 2002. Judgement and Reasoning in the child. English translation by M. Warden. London: Taylor & Francis. (Original ed., Le jugement et le raisonnement chez l’enfant. Neuchâtel & Paris: Delachaux et Niestlé, 1924.)
Renan, Ernest. 1848 [1858]. De l'origine du langage. 2nd ed. Paris: Michel-Lévy frères.
Reznikov, Lazar’ Osipovič. 1949. “Langage et Société”. Cahiers Internationaux de Sociologie 61.150–164.
Rousseau, Jean-Jacques. 1755. Discours sur l'origine & les fondements de l'inégalité parmi les hommes. Amsterdam: Marc Michel Rey.
Schelling, Friedrich [Wilhelm Joseph von]. 1959. “Vorbemerkungen zu der Frage über den Ursprung der Sprache”. Schellings Werke. 41. Ergänzungsband ed. by M. Schröter, 503–510. München: H. C. Beck.
Schleicher, August. 1848. Zur vergleichenden Sprachengeschichte, (= Sprachver–gleichende Untersuchungen, 1.). Bonn: H. B. Koenig.
Schleicher, August. 1853. “Die ersten Spaltungen des indogermanischen Urvolkes”. Allgemeine Monatsschrift für Wissenschaft und Literatur 31.786–787.
Schopenhauer, Arthur. 1819. Die Welt als Wille und Vorstellung. 21 vols. Leipzig: Brockhaus. (Repr., Sämtliche Werke, vol. II1 ed. by Arthur Hübscher. Mannheim: F. A. Brockhaus, 1988.)
Schopenhauer, Arthur. 2010. The World as Will and Representation. Vol. I1. Ed. by Judith Norman, Alistar Welchman & Christopher Janaway. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.
Steinthal, Heymann. 1851. Der Ursprung der Sprache, in Zusammenhang mit den letzten Fragen alles Wissens: Eine Darstellung, Kritik und
Fortentwicklung der vorzüglichsten Ansichten. Berlin: F. Dümmler. (2nd ed., 1858; 3rd ed. 1877; 4th ed., 1888.)
Steinthal, Heymann. 1881. Abriss der Sprachwissenschaft. Erster Teil: Die Sprache im Allgemeinen. 2nd ed. Berlin: F. Dümmler. ([URL]) Accessed: 4 Apr. 2017.
Steinthal, Heymann. 1888. Der Ursprung der Sprache, in Zusammenhang mit den letzten Fragen alles Wissens: Eine Darstellung, Kritik und
Fortentwicklung der vorzüglichsten Ansichten. Berlin: F. Dümmler. ([URL]) Accessed: 4 Apr. 2017.
Süßmilch, Johann Peter. 1766. Versuch eines Beweises, daß die erste Sprache ihren Ursprung nicht vom Menschen, sondern allein vom Schöpfer erhalten
habe, in der academische Versammling vorgelesen und zum Druck übergeben vom Johann Peter Süßmilch, Mitglied der Königl.
Preußischen Academie der Wissenschaften. Berlin: Buchladen der Realschule.
Wedgwood, Hensleigh. 1866. On the Origin of Language. London: N. Trübner & Co.
Wright, Chauncey. 1873. “Evolution of Self-Consciousness”. North American Review 116:239.245–310. (Repr., Philosophical discussions by Chauncey Wright ed. by C. E. Norton, 199–266. New York: Lennox Hill, 1877.)
B.Secondary sources
Aarsleff, Hans. 1983. The Study of Language in England, 1780–1860. Minneapolis: University of Minnesota Press.
Agard, Olivier. 2004. “Georg Simmel et la Völkerpsychologie”. Quand Berlin pensait les peuples: Anthropologie, ethnologie et psychologie (1850–1890) ed. by Céline Trautmann-Waller, 131–148. Paris: CNRS Éditions.
Albertz, Rainer. 1989. “Die Frage des Ursprungs der Sprache im Alten Testament”. Joachim Gessinger & Wolfert von Rahden eds., vol. II1, 1–19.
Alter, G. Stephen. 2005. William Dwight Whitney and the Language of Science. Baltimore: Johns Hopkins University Press.
Alter, G. Stephen. 2007. “Darwin and the linguists: The coevolution of mind and language. Part 1: Problematic friends”. Studies in History and Philosophy of Biological and Biomedical Sciences 381.573–584.
Alter, G. Stephen. 2008. “Darwin and the Linguists: The coevolution of mind and language. Part 2: The language-thought
relationship”. Studies in History and Philosophy of Biological and Biomedical Sciences 391.38–50.
Arbib, A. Michael. 2005. Beyond the Mirror: Biology and culture in the evolution of brain and language. Oxford: Oxford University Press.
Auroux, Sylvain. 1984. “Linguistique et anthropologie en France. 1600–1900”. Histoire de l’anthropologie ed. by Britta Rupp-Eisenreich, 291–318. Paris: Klincksieck.
Auroux, Sylvain. 1989. “La question de l’origine des langues: Ordres et raisons du rejet institutionnel”. Joachim Gessinger & Wolfert von Rahden eds., vol. II1, 122–150.
Auroux, Sylvain. 2000. “Introduction Émergence et dominationn de la grammaire comparée”. Histoire des théories linguistiques. 31 vols. ed. by Sylvain Auroux, vol. III1 (= L'hégémonie du comparatisme), 9–21. Liège: Mardaga.
Baggioni, Daniel. 1986. Langue et langage dans la linguistique européenne (1876–1933). 31 vols. Doctoral dissertation. Aix-en-Provence: Aix-Marseille 1.
Bertrand, Fréderic. 2002. L’anthropologie soviétiques des années 20–30: Configuration d’une rupture. Bordeaux: PUB.
Bickerton, Derek. 2009. Adam’s Tongue. New York: Hill and Wang.
Bourdier, Franck. 1978. “Les recherches de Renan sur l’origine de la parole (1841–1885)”. Cahiers du cercle E. Renan 1071.138–170.
Brandist, Craig, Chown, Katja, eds. 2011. Politics and the Theory of Language in the URSS 1917–1938. The Birth of Sociological Linguistics. London: Anthem Press.
Burling, Robbins. 1999. “Motivation, conventionalization, and arbitrariness in the origin of language”. The Origins of Language: What nonhuman primates can tell us ed. by Barbara J. King, 307–350. Santa Fe: School for American Research Press.
Craig, T. Christy. 1983. Uniformitarianism in Linguistics. (= Studies in the History of the Language Sciences, 31.) Amsterdam & Philadelphia: John Benjamins.
Christy, T. Craig. 1989. “Reflex Sounds and the Experimental Manifold: Steinthal on the origin of language”. Joachim Gessinger & Wolfert von Rahden eds., vol. I1, 523–547.
Čugunnikov, Sergej [Tchougounnikov, Serguei]. 2005. “Les paléontologues du langage avant et après Marr”. Cahiers de l’ILSL 201.295–310. Lausanne.
De Palo, Marina. 2005. “De Brosses e Leibniz: Un modello di naturalismo linguistico”. Linguaggio, mente, conoscenza. Intorno a Leibniz ed. by Stefano Gensini, 87–120. Roma: Carocci.
Desmet, Piet. 1996. La linguistique naturaliste en France. (1867–1922): Nature, origine et évolution du langage. Leuven & Paris: Peeters.
Dowling, Linda. 1982. “Victorian Oxford and the Science of Language”. Publications of the Modern Language Association of America 97:2.160–182.
Ferretti, Francesco & Ines Adornetti. 2012. Dalla comunicazione al linguaggio: Scimmie, ominidi e umani in una prospettiva darwiniana. Milano: Mondadori Università.
Formigari, Lia. 1973. “Monboddo: Antropologia e linguistica”. Herder – Monboddo. Linguaggio e società ed. by Nicolao Merker & Lia Formigari, 49–66. Roma & Bari: Laterza.
Formigari, Lia. 1977. La logica del pensiero vivente: Il linguaggio nella filosofia della Romantik. Roma & Bari: Laterza.
Formigari, Lia. 2013. “L’origine del linguaggio: Ricognizioni storiche e valenze epistemologiche”. Sull’origine del linguaggio e delle lingue storico-naturali: Un confronto fra linguisti e non linguisti Convegno
interannuale 2012 ed. by Emanuele Banfi, 13–22. Roma: Bulzoni.
Gärdenfors, Björn Peter. 2003. How Homo Became Sapiens. Oxford: Oxford University Press.
Gauger, Hans-Martin. 1981. “Einleitung. Die romanische Sprachwissenschaft: Gegenstand, Aufgabe, Entstehung, Vorgeschichte,
Geschichte”. Einführung in die romanische Sprachwissenschaft ed by Hans-Martin Gauger, Wulf Oesterreicher & Rudolf Windisch, 1–96. Darmstadt: Wissenschaftliche Buchgesellschaft.
Gauger, Hans-Martin. 1991. “Vor- oder Frühgeschichte?”. Zur Geschichte der Grammatiken romanischer Sprachen. Romanistisches Kolloquium IV ed. by Wolfgang Dahmen, Günter Holtus & Johannes Kramer, 23–39. Tübingen: Gunter Narr.
Gensini, Stefano. 1991. Il naturale e il simbolico: Saggio su Leibniz. Roma: Bulzoni.
Gensini, Stefano. 1999. “Epicureanism and Naturalism in the Philosophy of Language from Humanism to the Enlightenment”. Sprachtheorien der Neuzeit I: Der epistemologische Kontext neuzeitlicher Sprach- und Grammatiktheorien (= Geschichte der Sprachtheorie, 4) ed. by Peter Schmitter, 44–92. Tübingen: Gunter Narr.
Gensini, Stefano. 2011. “Darwin e il dibattito linguistico coevo”. Paradigmi 24.2.47–66.
Gensini, Stefano. 2014. “Darwin e l’origine del linguaggio: Fra storia naturale e teoria”. Stefano Gensini & Sergio Bucchi, eds. 20141.57–76.
Gensini, Stefano & Sergio Bucchi, eds. Darwiniana: Evoluzione e comunicazion: Dai vermi all’intelligenza artificiale. Pisa: ETS.
Gessinger, Joachim & Wolfert von Rahden, eds. 1989. Theorien vom Ursprung der Sprache. 21 vols. Berlin: Walter De Gruyter.
Gipper, Helmut & Peter Schmitter. 1985. Sprachwissenschaft und Sprachphilosophie im Zeitalter der Romantik: Ein Beitrag zur Historiographie der Linguistik. 2.
verbesserte Auflage. Tübingen: Gunter Narr.
Haßler, Gerda & Cordula Neis. 2009. Lexikon sprachtheoretischer Grundbegriffe des 17. und 18. Jahrhunderts. Berlin & New York: Walter de Gruyter.
Hewes, W. Gordon. 1978. “The Phylogeny of Sign Language”. Sign Language and the Deaf: Psychological, linguistic, and sociological perspectives ed by. I. M. Schlesinger & Lila Namir, 11–56. New York: Academic Press.
Knobloch, Clemens. 1988. Geschichte der psychologischen Sprachauffassung in Deutschland von 1850 bis 1920 (= Reihe Germanistische Linguistik, 86). Tübingen: Max Niemeyer.
Knoll, Elizabeth. 1986. “The Science of Language and the Evolution of Mind: Max Müller’s quarrel with Darwinism”. Journal of the History of the Behavioural Science 21.3–22.
Koerner, E. F. K.1983. “Introductory Article: The Schleicherian paradigm in linguistics”. Schleicher 19831: xxiii–lxxxi.
Maher, J. Peter. 1983. “Introduction”. Linguistics and Evolutionary Theory. Three essays by August Schleicher, Ernst Haeckel and Wilhelm Bleek. With an introduction by J .P. Maher ed. by Konrad Koerner (= Amsterdam Classics in Linguistics, 1800–1925, 6), xvii–xxxii. Amsterdam & Philadelphia: John Benjamins.
Marino, Mario. 2008. Da Gehlen a Herder: Origine del linguaggio e ricezione di Herder nel pensiero antropologico tedesco. Bologna: Il Mulino.
Morpurgo Davies, Anna. 1996. La linguistica dell'Ottocento. Bologna: Il Mulino.
Osvath, Peter & Björn Peter Gärdenfors. 2005. “Quand les hommes inventèrent l’avenir”. Les grands dossiers des sciences humaines 121.58–63.
Pasqua Mocerino, Roberta. 2014. “L’evoluzione del linguaggio nella filosofia di Chauncey Wright”. Stefano Gensini & Sergio Bucchi, eds. 20141.95–112.
Pénisson, Pierre. 1998. “Heymann Steinthal et la psychologie linguistique des peuples”. Revue germanique internationale. ([URL]) Accessed: 3 March 2016.
Piattelli, Michela. 2014. “Una fonte di Darwin: Hensleigh Wedgwood e l’origine del linguaggio”. Stefano Gensini & Sergio Bucchi, eds. 20141.77–94.
Rousseau, Jean. 2000. “Le paradigme historique et la grammaire comparée: La révolution morphologique”. Histoire des théories linguistiques, vol. III: L'hégémonie du comparatisme ed. by Sylvain Auroux, 139–154. Liège: Mardaga.
Schmidt, Hartmut. 1989. “Zum Metapherngebrauch in deutschen sprachwissenschaftlichen Texten des 19. Jahrhunderts”. Europäische Sprachwissenschaft um 1800 ed. by Brigitte Schlieben-Lange, Hans-Dieter Dräxler, Franz-Josef Knapstein, Elisabeth Volck-Duffy & Isabel Zollna, vol. I1, 203–227. Münster: Nodus.
Sériot, Patrick. 1986. “La glottogénèse dans la linguistique historiciste en URSS (d’une linguistique du mot à une linguistique du
nom)”. Travaux du Cercle linguistique d’Aix-en-Provence 41.147–177.
Sériot, Patrick. 2005. “Si Vico avait lu Engels, il s’appellerait Nicolas Marr”. Cahiers de l’ILSL 201.227–254. Lausanne.
Smith, G. Michael. 1998. Language and Power in the Creation of the URSS (1917–1953). Berlin & New York: Walter De Gruyter.
Spelke, S. Elizabeth. 1990. “Principles of Object Perception”. Cognitive Science 14:1.29–56.
Stout, Dietrich, Nicholas Toth, Kathy Schic, & Thierry Chaminade. 2008. “Neural Correlates of Early Stone Age Toolmaking: Technology, language and cognition in human
evolution”. Philosophical Transaction of the Royal Society [of Great Britain] 3631.1939–1949.
Taub, Liba. 1993. “Evolutionary Ideas and ‘Empirical’ Methods: The analogy between language and species in works by Lyell and
Schleicher”. The British Journal for the History of Science 26:2.171–193.
Thomas, Lawrence. 1957. The Linguistic Ideas of N. Ia. Marr. Berkeley: University of California Press.
Tomasello, Michael, Malinda Carpenter, Josep Call, Tanya Behne & Henrike Moll. 2005. “Understanding and sharing intentions: The origins of cultural cognition”. Behavioural and Brain Science 28:5.675–691.
Velmezova, Ekaterina. 2007. “V. N. Volochinov et N. Ya. Marr sur les origines du langage”. Slavica Occitania 251.385–398.
Cited by (3)
Cited by three other publications
Rates, Bruno B.
2022. Linguistic Naturalism and Anti-Naturalism in Bergson’s Course L’Idée de Temps: Language, Society, and Life. Bergsoniana :2
Schlaudt, Oliver
2022. Exaptation in the Co-evolution of Technology and Mind: New Perspectives from Some Old Literature. Philosophy & Technology 35:2
D’Alonzo, Jacopo
2020. Les derniers travaux de Trần Đức Thảo sur l’origine du langage et de la conscience (1975-1991). Les Recherches anthropologiques. Histoire Épistémologie Langage :42-2 ► pp. 107 ff.
This list is based on CrossRef data as of 3 july 2024. Please note that it may not be complete. Sources presented here have been supplied by the respective publishers.
Any errors therein should be reported to them.