Bow-wow theory

The philologist Max Müller introduced the term "bow-wow theory" as a sarcastic term, as he disapproved of the idea.

A bow-wow theory (or cuckoo theory) is any of the theories by various scholars, including Jean-Jacques Rousseau and Johann Gottfried Herder, on the speculative origins of human language.[1][2]

According to bow-wow theories, the first human languages developed from onomatopoeia, that is, imitations of natural sounds.[3] The term "bow-wow theory" was introduced in English-language literature by the German philologist Max Müller, who was critical of this idea.[4] Despite its simplicity, this theory highlights the human tendency to mimic natural sounds.[5]

Bow-wow theories have been widely discredited as an explanation for the origin of language. However, some contemporary theories suggest that general imitative abilities may have played an important role in the evolution of language.[6]

In the humorous typology of what he considered to be fanciful theories on the origin of languages, Max Müller contrasted bow-wow theory with pooh-pooh theory, which holds that the original language consisted of interjections; and with ding-dong theory, which posits that humans were originally a kind of improved bell capable of making all sounds.[7]

However, Müller was at one time attracted to the ho-hiss theory, which held that grunts were also the origin of singing.[8]

See also

• Evolutionary linguistics
• Origin of language

References

1. Moran, John; Gode, Alexander (1986). On the origin of language. University of Chicago Press. ISBN 0-226-73012-3.
2. Corballis, Michael C. (1999). "The Gestural Origins of Language: Human language may have evolved from manual gestures, which survive today as a "behavioral fossil" coupled to speech". American Scientist. 87 (2): 138–145. ISSN 0003-0996.
3. Thorndike, E. L. (2 July 1943). "The origin of language" (PDF). Science. New series. 98 (2531): 1–6. Bibcode:1943Sci....98....1T. doi:10.1126/science.98.2531.1. PMID 17747316.
4. Sprinker, Michael (1980) [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.
5. Yule, George (2010). The Evolution of Language. Cambridge University Press. ISBN 978-0521677363.
6. Malle, Bertram F. (2002). "The relation between language and theory of mind in development and evolution". The Evolution of Language out of Pre-language. Amsterdam: John Benjamins. p. 265. doi:10.1075/tsl.53.14mal. hdl:1794/962. ISSN 0167-7373.
7. "La science du langage d'après Max Müller". Revue des questions scientifiques. 50: 544. 1901..
8. Schrempp, Gregory (1983). "The Re-Education of Friedrich Max Muller: Intellectual Appropriation and Epistemological Antinomy in Mid-Victorian Evolutionary Thought". Man. 18 (1): 90–110. doi:10.2307/2801766. ISSN 0025-1496. JSTOR 2801766.

External links

• The dictionary definition of bow-wow theory at Wiktionary