Origin Of Language Quotes

“Everything that man in the beginning heard, saw with his eyes, contemplated, and felt with his hands, was a living word. For God was the Word. With this Word in his mouth and in his heart, the origin of language was as natural, as near and easy, as child's play.”
― Johann Georg Hamann, Hamann’s Schriften, Teil 4

“Studying the world's oldest writing for the first time compels you to wonder about what writing is and how it came about more than five thousand years ago and what the world might have looked like without it.

Writing as I would define it serves to record language by means of an agreed set of symbols that enable a message to be played back like a wax cylinder recording.

The reader's eye runs over the signs and tells the brain how each is pronounced and the inner message springs into life.”
― Irving Finkel, The Ark Before Noah: Decoding the Story of the Flood

“Siamangs—large black members of the gibbon family—swing high up in the tallest trees of the Asian Jungle. Every morning, the male and female burst into spectacular duets. Their song begins with a few loud whoops, which gradually build into ever louder, more elaborate sequences. Amplified by balloonlike throat sacs, the sound carries far and wide. I have heard them in Indonesia, where the whole forest echoed with their sound. The siamangs listen to one another during breaks. Whereas most territorial animals need only to know where their boundaries run and how strong and healthy their neighbors are, siamangs face the added complexity that territories are jointly defended by pairs. This means that pair-bonds matter. Troubled pairs will be weak defenders, while bonded pairs will be strong ones. Since the song of a pair reflects their marriage, the more beautiful it is, the more their neighbors realize not to mess with them. A close-harmony duet communicates not only “stay out!” but also “we’re one!” If a pair duets poorly, on the other hand, uttering discordant vocalizations that interrupt one another, neighbors hear an opportunity to move in and exploit the pair’s troubled relationship.”
― Frans de Waal, Are We Smart Enough to Know How Smart Animals Are?

“Język wyewoluował jako narzędzie koordynacji wspólnych działań, a fakt, że można w nim opisywać świat nie leży w jego naturze — jest raczej produktem ubocznym ewolucji języka. Mówiąc, że główną funkcją języka jest obrazowanie świata (wychwytywanie istot rzeczy czy odzwierciedlanie formalnych aspektów opisywanych sytuacji), dajemy się zwieść głęboko zakorzenionemu w tradycji Zachodu, ale poniekąd sztucznemu sposobowi myślenia. Jak słusznie zauważyli Wittgenstein i J.L. Austin, ograniczenie roli języka do narzędzia opisu świata sprawia, stajemy się ślepi na rozmaite funkcje, które język faktycznie spełnia; na to, że język jest narzędziem działania w świecie.”
― Bartosz Brożek, Granice interpretacji