Social theory.

The question of the origin of language still remains in linguistics the area of general assumptions and hypotheses (since it is impossible to observe, model the formation of a language). Any living or dead language can be understood in the real facts of its existence, but the proto-language ("primitive language") does not lend itself to direct study, since there are no real remnants of it. These languages (language) are not fixed in writing. This refers to logos theory.

Logos theory the origin of the language arose in the early stages of the development of civilization and exists in several varieties: biblical, Vedic, Confucian.

In the view of the peoples of Dr. India and Western Asia (earlier 10th century BC), the language was created by the divine, spiritual principle, according to the beliefs of the ancients, which are "god", "word", "logos", "Tao", etc.

The most ancient literary monuments are the Indian Vedas, according to which the installer of names is God, who did not create all names, but only the gods subordinate to him.

Even in biblical legends, we find two contradictory solutions to the question of the origin of language, reflecting different historical epochs of views on this problem. In the I chapter of the book of Genesis it is said that God created with a verbal incantation and man himself was created by the power of the word, and in the II chapter of the same book it is said that God created "silently", and then led to Adam (that is, to the first man) of all creatures, so that a person would give them names, and what he will call, so that it will continue. In these naive legends, two points of view on the origin of the language have already emerged:

1) language is not from a person and 2) language is from a person.

Also, the first chapter of Genesis, which opens the Bible, tells about the creation of the world in seven days. Every day, creation was accomplished not by the hands of God, but by his word. The word (tool and energy) created the world out of primary chaos. “In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God. It was in the beginning with God. Everything through Him began to be, and without Him nothing began to be that began to be. "

Thus, a primitive language cannot be investigated and experimentally verified. However, this question has been of interest to humanity since ancient times. In this way, logos theory- the theory according to which the origin of language is due to its divine essence.

Since antiquity, there have been many theories of the origin of the language:

1) The theory of onomatopoeia comes from the Stoics and received support in the XIX and even XX centuries. The essence of this theory is that a "tongueless person", hearing the sounds of nature (the murmur of a stream, the singing of birds, etc.), tried to imitate these sounds with his speech apparatus. This theory was developed by a German. philosopher G. Leibniz.

However, this theory is untenable, since there are very few words of this kind and “onomatopoeia” can only be “sounding”, but there are also many “mute” objects and phenomena in the surrounding world (for example, a house, stones, a square, the sky, colors, etc.). ).

2) The theory of interjections comes from the Epicureans, opponents of the Stoics, and consists in the fact that primitive people turned instinctive animal cries into "natural sounds" - interjections accompanying emotions, from where all other words supposedly originated. This point of view was supported in the XVIII century. J.-J. Russo. This theory, like the previous one, is untenable, since there are fewer such words in the language even than onomatopoeic ones and in this theory the expressive function of language was given a leading place, however, there is a lot in the language that is not related to expression.

3) The theory of "labor cries" at first glance seems to be a real materialistic theory of the origin of language. This theory originated in the 19th century. in the works of the vulgar materialists (L. Noiret, K. Bücher) and boiled down to the fact that language arose from the outcries that accompanied collective work. But these "labor cries" are only a means of rhythmizing labor, they do not express anything, not even emotions, but are only external, technical means at work. Not a single function that characterizes language can be found in these "labor cries", since they are neither communicative, nor nominative, nor expressive.

The erroneous opinion that this theory is close to the labor theory of F. Engels is simply refuted by the fact that Engels does not say anything about "labor cries", and the emergence of language is associated with completely different needs and conditions.

4) In the last third of the 19th century, another philosophical theory of the origin of language was developed. She is sometimes called labor theory, but it is more correct to call social theory of the origin of language... The foundations of this theory were set forth by F. Engels in Dialectics of Nature (1873-1886). Engels was a supporter of the comparative historical method of linguistics. However, he did not consider it possible, on the basis of the conclusions about the structure of the language obtained by this method, to build a concept of society as a whole. Engels saw the general scientific application of the comparative historical method primarily in the disclosure of certain aspects of the history of ethnic groups. At the same time, Engels, having studied the nature of the internal organization of pre-class society, reveals the relationship between such categories of society as gens and family.

Engels regards language as the immediate reality of thought. And the forms of speech creation and its content are put in connection with the material methods of speech creation: "... is Achilles possible in the era of gunpowder and lead? Or, in general, the Iliad along with the printing press, and even more so with the printing machine? And don't they inevitably disappear? legends, songs and muses, and thus the necessary prerequisites for epic poetry, with the advent of the printing press? " This means that technical progress in the design and distribution of speech predetermines its content. In this sense, from the very beginning, the "spirit" is cursed to be "burdened" by "matter." That is why Engels connects the formation of writing with the formation of civilization, and considers pre-written oral speech to belong to savagery and barbarism as the initial stage in the development of culture. But the sounds of language, in accordance with the views of Engels, served as the basis for the creation of forms of human thinking and the formation of social consciousness.

According to the views of Engels, the initiating source of the development of society is purposeful and divided social labor. Such social labor consists in the invention of new instruments of production and the organization of labor on the basis of a certain form of ownership. Hence, invention - the source of the formation of society.

The tools of production are the first to be invented. The invention of the tools of production leads to the need to establish joint activities containing the rudiments of the division of labor, i.e. agree on a work plan, joint actions, an assessment of what has been done. Hence there is a need for a means of communication. The formation of social labor coincides with the emergence of the need for language and social thought, since the material of thought is determined by socially useful labor and the organization of social relations in the interests of the production of material goods, the reproduction of social relations.

Language in this context should give the material of thought a certain linguistic form and consolidate thought as a category of social consciousness, so that, on the basis of language, the management of labor and social organization, the preservation of culture can be carried out. This purpose of the language, determined by the needs of society, is realized in the formation of forms of speech, where sounds become meaningful and therefore articulate.

Engels' theory of the origin of language is, in fact, a theory of the formation of a social structure as a whole and language as a part of this structure. The general meaning of the theory is to build a theoretical model of the relationship between language and society. Society itself, according to this theory, is formed as a whole structure simultaneously by all its essential aspects, which are then differentiated and complicated in coordination with each other. These essential aspects are: 1) the structure of social production based on the division of labor; 2) the structure of the reproduction of an ethnic group as the basis of production; 3) the linguistic structure, in which the formation of articulate speech from inarticulate signals occurs; 4) the structure of social consciousness, arising on the basis of individual thinking; 5) culture as a selection and transmission from generation to generation of skills, skills, material objects and semiotic objects that are important for the life of society, containing rules and precedents of activity.

Ethnography has shown that the primitive society is a special structure, supra-individual and obligatory for the members of society. This structure is a unity in which there are forms of division of labor that are not intended by the biological status of individuals, but exist on the basis of the choice of forms of labor and the dependence of the forms of one labor on the forms of another. This means that labor in primitive societies is organized and the forms of its organization depend on the spiritual development of society and its culture.

So, the basis of the organization of society is the division of labor. Forms of family and clan are associated with it. They are based on the prohibition of consanguineous marriages, which takes a person beyond the limits of biological evolution. This is manifested in the fact that racial formation ends and the formation of racial groups begins. With the prohibition of consanguineous marriages, a social diversity of forms of family and clan, or marriage-class organization, is born, which is not predicted by the biological qualities of a person. And consequently, society becomes subject to the laws of social history.

Initial social language people was oral. Material samples of this language have not survived, but many material remains of a person's spiritual activity have been found, such as drawing, ornamentation, sculpture, remains musical instruments, costume, cult items, etc. These subjects in human society are correlated with language in its oral form.

In a short form, Engels explains the conditions for the appearance of language as follows:

"When, after a thousand-year struggle, the hand finally differentiated against the legs and a straight gait was established, then the man separated from the monkey, and the foundation was laid for the development of articulate speech ..." ...
The revolution that man brings to nature consists, first of all, in the fact that human labor is different from that of animals - it is labor with the use of tools, and, moreover, made by those who must own them, and thereby progressive and social labor. ... No matter how skilful architects we may think of ants and bees, they do not know what they say: their work is instinctive, their art is not conscious, and they work with the whole organism, purely biologically, without using tools, and therefore there is no progress in their work. ...
The freed hand became the first human tool; other tools of labor developed as an addition to the hand (stick, hoe, rake); still later, man shifts the burden of labor onto the elephant. Camel, horse, and finally controls them. A technical engine appears and replaces animals.

In short, the emerging people came to the fact that they had a need to say something to each other. Need created its own organ: the undeveloped larynx of the monkey was slowly but steadily transformed by modulation for more and more developed modulation, and the organs of the mouth gradually learned to pronounce one articulate sound after another. "Thus, language could arise only as a collective property necessary for mutual understanding. But not as an individual property of this or that incarnate individual.

Engels writes: "At first labor, and then articulate speech with it, were the two most important stimuli, under the influence of which the human brain gradually turned into a human brain." "Thanks to joint activities hands, organs of speech and brain, not only for each individually, but also in society, people have acquired the ability to perform more and more complex operations, set themselves ever higher goals and achieve them. "

The main provisions arising from Engels' teachings on the origin of language are as follows:

1) It is impossible to consider the question of the origin of language outside the origin of man.

2) The origin of language cannot be scientifically proven, but only more or less probable hypotheses can be constructed.

3) Some linguists cannot solve this issue; thus, this question is subject to the solution of many sciences (linguistics, ethnography, anthropology, archeology, paleontology and general history).

Labor theory of the origin of language

In the same years, i.e. in the last third of the 19th century, another philosophical theory of the origin of language was developed. It is sometimes called a labor theory, but it is more correct to call it social theory of the origin of language... The foundations of this theory were set forth by F. Engels in Dialectics of Nature (1873-1886). Engels was a supporter of the comparative historical method of linguistics. However, he did not consider it possible, on the basis of the conclusions about the structure of the language obtained by this method, to build a concept of society as a whole. Engels saw the general scientific application of the comparative historical method primarily in the disclosure of certain aspects of the history of ethnic groups. At the same time, Engels, having studied the nature of the internal organization of pre-class society, reveals the relationship between such categories of society as gens and family.

F. Engels and K. Marx affirm the materialist view of history. The structure of society consists of an economic base, containing productive forces and production relations, and a superstructure, in which ideology, law and morality are embodied. In these categories, the reproduction and development of forms of social life takes place. A change or change in the basis determines a change in the superstructure of society (i.e., a change in ideologies) while maintaining the continuity of historical development. That is why, speaking about the origin of language, Engels considers language to be one of the sides, or structural systems, of society, and not a factor that determines the entire development of society.

Engels regards language as the immediate reality of thought. And the forms of speech creation and its content are put in connection with the material methods of speech creation: "... is Achilles possible in the era of gunpowder and lead? Or, in general, the Iliad along with the printing press, and even more so with the printing machine? And don't they inevitably disappear? legends, songs and muses, and thus the necessary prerequisites for epic poetry, with the advent of the printing press? "*. This means that technical progress in the design and distribution of speech predetermines its content. In this sense, from the very beginning, "the" spirit "is cursed to be" burdened "by" matter "**. That is why Engels connects the formation of writing with the formation of civilization, and considers pre-written oral speech to belong to savagery and barbarism as the initial stage in the development of culture. But the sounds of language, in accordance with the views of Engels, served as the basis for the creation of forms of human thinking and the formation of social consciousness.

*(K. Marx, F. Engels, Soch. 2nd ed. Vol. 12, p. 737.)

**(In the same place. T. 3.P. 29.)

The development of articulate speech is the result of the formation of society. According to Engels, the emergence of articulate speech and language is included in the context of biological anthropogenesis, genesis public organization labor and socialization of thinking, leading to the formation of consciousness. The essence of the labor theory of the origin of language is to find out how these heterogeneous qualities can be formed together, i.e. how they are genetically related. Engels understands society as the unity of joint productive labor on the basis of conscious planning labor activity and social consciousness, constituting a special holistic structure in which one of the elements is language.

The principle of combining labor, thinking, social organization and speech is the law of the ratio of growth, which was discovered in biology by Charles Darwin. According to this law, the forms separate parts organic beings are always associated with a certain structure of other parts, which outwardly are not in any connection with the first. This means that there is some internal proportionality of the whole... The formation and development of the whole must be accomplished according to the unity of the inner measure of all its parts. According to Engels, human biological development in accordance with this law leads to the possibility of bipedal locomotion, and bipedal locomotion opens up the possibility of using the respiratory and digestive organs to create a variety of speech sounds, which, with their special understanding, can become articulate.

According to the same law of the ratio of growth, the formation of articulate and meaningful speech turns out to be real during the formation of society, for language, social consciousness, social production with the division of labor and the reproduction of people constitute a whole, simultaneously and consistently developing in its forms.

The labor theory of the origin of language, being formulated in basic terms at the end of the 19th century. as a philosophical theory, it has great predictive power. It has received a lot of confirmation in the course of the progressive development of science over the past hundred years.

So, in the XX century. in biology, areas of study of animal behavior began to be developed. Animal behavior has been studied from three points of view. First, it was found that all animals have signaling systems. With the help of these systems, signaling activity is realized, marking the boundaries of the territory of an animal (or a family of animals); the activity that controls the procreation; activities related to the establishment of joint actions. All three kinds of signaling activity can undoubtedly be prerequisites for language, since this kind of activity is also represented in human language.

Second, animal communities were studied as elementary cells responsible for the reproduction of the genus and the mechanism of evolution. It was found that each type of community is characteristic of a certain species of animals, i.e. every kind of animal has a family of a certain type. The organization of the family in animals provides a definitely directed transmission of hereditary traits, and, if necessary, their transformation in the interests of preserving and spreading the species. At the same time, the animal community is organized, and this organization facilitates the transmission through imitation of acquired forms of activity. The accumulation of experience is a prerequisite for the emergence of society.

Thirdly, numerous studies on animal psychology have established that all animals have a certain organized psyche. In its organization, such forms as tropism, taxis, reflex, instinct, emotion and elements of rational thinking are distinguished. Each type of animal has its own set of forms of mental activity. Animals that are higher on the evolutionary ladder have a greater wealth of psyche forms. Elements of creative behavior are inherent in these animals. All types of mental activity are also characteristic of man as a biological species.

At the same time, it was noted that closely related species, having, in principle, the same forms of psyche, may have different mental abilities. It has also been proven that animals of the same species also have different psychic abilities. For example, all types of animals have memory and learning ability. But memory and learning ability are associated with the advancement of a species along the path of evolution. This means that the prerequisites for the human psyche, his consciousness can be created in the conditions of biological evolution.

Fourthly, animals have the ability to share responsibilities within the family associated with obtaining food, reproducing the genus and protecting the family and territory. High degree division of duties is explained by the complexity of instincts and the morphology of individuals. Low degree separation of duties implies smaller morphological differences between animals within the family. This means that the first type of division of labor should be based on age and gender.

Fifth, a number of animals know how to use natural objects as tools for solving their life tasks.

Thus, biology of the XX century. in fact, she indicated the main phenomena from which a society can be formed through a qualitative transformation. Engels' foresight in this respect was justified.

Anthropology of the late 19th century and XX century. made a number of discoveries concerning the morphological structure of man and the establishment of the ancestors of homo sapiens, direct and distant. Remains of Pithecanthropus, Sinanthropus and other hominid species have been found, including the remains of human ancestors. The closest ancestors were discovered modern man- Neanderthals and Cro-Magnons. These confirmations of Engels' thought about the biological prerequisites for the development of anthropoids, as well as that the development of anthropoids proceeded slowly and there was a large segment of their pre-social life.

Archeology, anthropology and ethnography have established that the development of homo sapiens is associated with the formation of a spiritual culture that archaeologically manifests itself in the traces of rituals. Burials are considered in archeology as a sign of the presence of culture and, consequently, of the formation of homo sapiens in society, which is not the case for homo habilis. If primitive tools of labor are found in the places where the remains of homo habilis are located, then in these places there are no traces of the ritual (i.e., semiotic activity is not represented). In the burial places of homo sapiens, on the contrary, along with the tools of labor, there are also products of labor and traces of the rite.

The original social language of people was spoken. Material samples of this language have not survived, but many of them have found such material remnants of human spiritual activity as drawing, ornamentation, sculpture, the remains of musical instruments, costumes, religious objects, etc. These subjects in human society are correlated with language in its oral form.

Ethnography also revealed semiotic systems that are not represented in animals, but are obligatory in humans: these are fortune-telling, signs, omens, language, musical and practical arts, measures, landmarks, command signals, rituals and games.

Comparative mythology established the unity of the structural forms of myths and their genetic continuity. The historical stratification of the forms of myths was also determined, dividing them into totemic, cosmogonic and cultural-heroic. This made it possible to show the unity of the forms of social consciousness and the ideology of a primitive society, which developed due to the formation of language.

This is how the circle of knowledge about the biological prerequisites for the formation of society and about the main forms of social life was formed, and those moments were established when the transition from biological life to social life took place. The development of specific research fully confirmed Engels' philosophical hypothesis about the origin of language.

1. Engels F. Dialectics of nature // K. Marx, F. Engels Soch. 2nd ed. v. 20. Sec. "The role of labor in the transformation of a monkey into a man."

2. Engels F. The origin of the family, private property and the state // K. Marx, F. Engels Soch. 2nd ed. T. 21.

3. Engels F. Frankish period // K. Marx, F. Engels Soch. 2nd ed. T. 19. Sec. "Frankish dialect".

4. Bacon F. New Organon // Works. M., 1978.Vol. 2.

5. Bacon F. On the dignity and augmentation of sciences // Soch. M., 1977.Vol. 1.

6. Vinogradov V.V. Modern Russian language. M., 1938. Issue. one.

7. Hobbes T. Selected works: In 2 volumes. M., 1964.

8. Humboldt V. von. On the difference in the structure of human languages and its influence on spiritual development humanity // Fav. works on linguistics. M., 1984.

10. Leibniz G.V. New Experiments on the Human Understanding of the Author of the System of Preset Harmony // Soch. M., 1983.T. 2.

11. Myths of the peoples of the world: Encyclopedia: In 2 volumes. M., 1980 -1982.

12. Plato. Cratil // Op. M., 1968.T.1.

13. Potebnya A.A. From notes on the theory of literature. Poetry and prose, paths and figures. Poetic and lyrical thinking. Kharkov, 1905.

14. Potebnya A.A. From lectures on the theory of literature. Fable. Proverb. Proverb. Kharkov, 1894.

15. Potebnya A.A. Thought and language. Kharkov, 1913.

16. Philosophical Encyclopedic Dictionary. M., 1983. S. 451 "Social contract".

17. Schleicher A. The value of language for the natural history of man // Philosophical notes. 1868. T. 5. Iss. 3.

18. Schleicher A. Darwin's theory as applied to the science of language. SPb., 1864.

ORIGIN OF LANGUAGE

1. Theories of the origin of language.

2. Prerequisites for the formation of the language.

3. Language as a function of the human body.

4. The nature of the primitive language.

Theories of the origin of language.

The problem of the origin of a language has two aspects: the origin of a specific language, for example Russian, and the origin of the human language in general. The origin of a particular language has been scientifically proven for many languages of the world. The question of the origin of human language in general still exists in the form of hypotheses.

The formation of human speech took place, according to some scientists, one and a half million, according to others - 2.5 million years ago. Modern science does not have reliable data on the process of formation of human speech. Scientific research proved the extreme complexity of this problem. Scientists became convinced that the formation of language presupposed many fundamental, biological, psychological and social prerequisites for the development of man and human society. In science, the problem of the origin of language, as a rule, is considered in unity with the problem of the origin of man himself and human thinking.

Theories of the origin of language can be philosophical and philological.

In philosophy, the theory of the origin of language on the basis of data from different sciences show the formation of man and society. They are aimed at explaining the role of language in the life of a person and society and are designed to reveal the essence of language. Philological theories of the origin of language are usually constructed as hypotheses about the formation of linguistic facts and seek to genetically explain the structure of the language system.

1. Logos theory of the origin of language.

In the mythology of any people, there are myths about the origin of the language. These myths usually link the origin of the language with the origin of humans. The logical theory of the origin of language arose in the early stages of the development of civilization and exists in several varieties: biblical, Vedic, Confucian. In a number of states, it is sanctified by the authority of religion. In some states, for example in China, the logos theory is influential, but has no theological character. This is an idealistic theory. But reading ancient, antique and medieval sources is impossible without knowledge of this theory of the origin of the language.

In accordance with the logical theory, the origin of the world is based on the spiritual principle. Spirit acts on matter in a chaotic state, and creates, orders its forms (geological, biological and social). The final act of creation of the spirit acting on inert matter is man.

The terms “god”, “logos”, “tao”, “word” are used to denote the spiritual principle. The "Word" existed before the creation of man and directly controlled inert matter. In the biblical tradition, the bearer of the "word" is one God. The first chapter of Genesis tells about the creation of the world in seven days. Every day, creation was accomplished not by the hands of God, but by his word. The word, that is, the tool and energy, created the world out of the primordial chaos. Evangelist John in the 1st century this is how he defined the foundations of the logical theory: “In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God. It was in the beginning with God. Everything through Him began to be. "

This energy and tool, embodied in the word, is basically the same, albeit in different terms, interpreted in Confucianism and Hinduism. In addition to divine origin, the logos theory explains the word as a human phenomenon. One of the acts of divine creativity is the creation of man. God gives man the gift of the word. In the Bible, the first man Adam gives names to the animals that God sends him, but it also indicates that the language was created by the patriarchs by agreement. From the point of view of the logos theory, there is no contradiction between these two statements. The fact is that the divine word, which created man, then becomes the property of man. Man begins to create words himself. At the same time, the elders agree or do not agree to recognize what was invented and contribute to the spread of names between people. In biblical terms, this means that a word created by a person by divine inspiration comes from a person as a transmitter of divine providence. Thanks to the elders, names are confirmed and become the common property of the people.

Man, in accordance with the logos theory of the origin of language, is an inert substance that may well be mistaken and, embodying divine providence, distort it by creating an erroneous name.

This became the source of dogmatic disputes and the struggle of religions, sects and sects. The history of antiquity and the Middle Ages is filled with these disputes. One founder of religion rejects all others on the sole ground that he prophesies “more completely” than others who “distorted” divine providence. Dogmatic disputes become a form of ideological struggle, often developing into political movements and religious wars.

With such an understanding of the nature of the word about the human mind, about trust in this mind, there is no question. In logos theory, the word dominates the person. The prophetic and dogmatic views on the word had a tremendous impact on the literary thought of antiquity and the Middle Ages. They permeate the poetry and scholarly works of this time, law and morality are based on them, ancient and medieval philology is based on them.

Scientists do not share the provisions that the language was directly given to people by God, that people received the name of living beings from Adam and that the variety of languages of the world came from the Babylonian confusion of languages that arose during construction Tower of babel... Although over the millennia separating the events described, the symbolic meaning of these legends may have been lost.

The statement of Acad. Natalia Petrovna Bekhtereva, world authority in the field of neurophysiology and neuropathology, Lenin Prize laureate, head of the scientific center "Brain" of the Russian Academy of Sciences. Based on the long-term study of human thinking and its relationship with the language of N.P. Bekhtereva came to the conclusion that it is impossible to consider human thinking as a result of the evolution of the brain of higher animals: “All our knowledge about the brain suggests that man has nothing to do with this planet. WITH

Among the many statements about the origin of language, two main groups can be distinguished: 1) biological theories, 2) social theories.

Biological theories explain the origin of language by the evolution of the human body - the sense organs, speech apparatus and brain. Within the framework of these theories, the emergence of language is considered as the result of a long development of nature. The one-time (divine) origin of language is rejected in them. Among biological theories, two are best known - onomatopoeic and interjectional.

Social theories of the origin of language explain its appearance by social needs that arose in labor and as a result of the development of human consciousness. Social theories include the theory of social contract, working theory, the Marxist doctrine of the appearance of language in humans.

Onomatopoeic theory. The onomatopoeic theory explains the origin of language by the evolution of hearing organs that perceive the calls of animals (especially pets). Language arose, according to this theory, as an imitation of animals (neighing horses, bleating sheep) or as an expression of the impression of a named object. Leibniz, for example, explaining the origin of words, believed that in Latin honey is called the word met, because it pleasantly caresses the ear, German words leben (live) and lieben (to love) indicate gentleness, a Lauf (run), Lowe (lion) - for speed. Humboldt was a supporter of this theory.

The onomatopoeic theory is based on two assumptions: 1) the first words were onomatopoeia, 2) the sound in the word is symbolic, the meaning reflects the nature of things.

Indeed, in languages there are onomatopoeic words and prohibitions on words as a result of the identification of the sound of a word and its meaning. However, there are still few onomatopoeic words in the language and, most importantly, they are different in different languages, and in primitive languages there are no more of them than in developed languages. This can only be explained if one recognizes that onomatopoeic words are the result of language development.

Onomatopoeic words have sounds and forms that already exist in the language. That's why the duck for the Russian screams quack-quack (quacking), for an Englishman quack-quack (quack), for the frenchman kan-kan (sapsaper), but for a dane pan- pan (rapper). The calling words with which a person refers to a domestic animal, such as a pig, duck, or goose, are also different.

(Digression on phonosemantic research.)

Interjection theory. Interjection (or reflexive) theory explains the origin of language by those experiences that a person experiences. The first words, according to this theory, are involuntary shouts, interjections, reflexes. They emotionally expressed pain or joy, fear or hunger. In the course of further development, the shouts acquired a symbolic meaning, obligatory for all members of this community. Supporters of the reflex theory were Steital (1823-1899), Darwin, Potebnya.

If in onomatopoeic theory the external world (sounds of animals) was the impetus, then the interjection theory considered the stimulus for the appearance of words inner world of a living being, his emotions. Common to both theories is the recognition, along with sound language, of the presence of sign language, which expressed more rational concepts.

Onomatopoeic and interjection theories focus on the study of the origin of the mechanism of speaking, mainly in psychophysiological terms. Ignoring the social factor in these theories led to a skeptical attitude towards them: the onomatopoeic theory was jokingly called the "wow-wow theory", and the interjection theory - "the tfu-tfu theory". Indeed, in these theories, the biological side of the issue is exaggerated, the origin of language is considered exclusively in terms of the origin of speech. Not taken into account with due attention is the fact that a person and human society are emerging that are significantly different from the animal and its herd.

Social contract theory. Already Diodorus Siculus wrote: “Initially, people lived, they say, an unsettled and animal-like life, rode out into the pastures and ate delicious grass and woody fruits. When the animals attacked, need taught them to help each other, and, gathering together out of fear, they gradually began to get to know each other. Their voice was still meaningless and inarticulate, but gradually they moved on to articulate words and, having established symbols for each thing with each other, created an explanation for everything that they themselves could understand. "

This passage outlines the theory of social contract: language is seen as a conscious invention and creation of people. In the XVIII century. it was supported by J. du Bellay and E.B. de Condillac, Asmith and J.Russo. Rousseau's theory of the social contract is associated with the division of human life into two periods - natural and civilized.

In the first period, man was a part of nature and language came from feelings, passion (passion). "The language of the first people," wrote Rousseau, "was not the language of geometers, as is usually thought, but the language of poets," since "the first sounds of the voice caused the passions." Sounds originally served as symbols for objects acting on the ear; objects perceived by sight were depicted by gestures. However, this was inconvenient, and they began to be replaced by sounds-sentences; an increase in the number of sounds emitted led to the improvement of the organs of speech. The "first languages" were rich in synonyms necessary to express the "riches of the soul" natural man... With the emergence of property and the state, a social agreement arose, rational behavior of people, words began to be used in a more general sense. The language went from being rich and emotional to becoming "dry, rational and methodical." The historical development of the language is seen as a fall, regression.

Undoubtedly, the comprehension of language passed gradually, but the idea that the mind ruled over people who consciously invented language is hardly reliable. “Man,” wrote V. G. Belinsky, “possessed a word before he knew that he possessed a word; in the same way, a child speaks grammatically correctly, even without knowing grammar. "

Working theory. In the late 70s of the last century, the German philosopher L. Noiret put forward a working theory of the origin of language, or the theory of labor cries. This theory was supported by K. Bucher. L. Nuare rightly emphasized that "thinking and action were initially inseparable", since before people learned how to make tools, they for a long time tried on different objects the action of various natural objects.

When working together, shouts and exclamations facilitate and organize work. When the women are spinning and the soldiers are marching, they "like to accompany their work with more or less rhythmic exclamations." These shouts, at first involuntary, gradually turned into symbols of labor processes. The original language was a set of verbal roots.

The theory of labor cries, in fact, turns out to be a variant of the interjection theory. Labor action is viewed as parallel to sound language - shouts, and the language may not accompany labor action. With this approach, work, music and poetry are considered equal.

GV Plekhanov, considering K. Bucher's book "Work and Rhythm", criticizes such dualism, considering the thesis "opinions rule the world" incorrect, since "the human mind could not be the demiurge of history, because it is itself a product of it." "The main reason for the socio-historical process is the development of the productive forces." Language acts as a condition and tool, cause and effect of the public. Naturally, man does not arise immediately, but through a long evolution of nature, as Charles Darwin showed. There was a time when tools played the same insignificant role in the life of humanoid ancestors as the branch plays in the life of an elephant. However, as soon as a person becomes social, the development of the relations that have arisen "takes place according to their own internal laws, the action of which accelerates or slows down the development of the productive forces, which determines the historical movement of mankind."

Marxist concept of the origin of language.

Both biological (natural-historical) and social (socio-historical) prerequisites played a role in the origin of the language.

Among the first, we will have to include the division of the functions of the front and rear limbs of our ancestors, highly developed apes, freeing the hand for labor and the associated assimilation of a straight gait; biological factors include the high development of the brain in our ancestors, and their use of a certain "set" of inarticulate sound signals, which served as the physiological basis for the sound speech of people.

About a million years ago, at the end of the Tertiary period of the Cenozoic (new) era, in certain places of the Earth, highly developed monkeys lived in herds, which in science received the name Australopithecus (or those close to them). These monkeys, as can be judged by their fossil remains, moved on the ground (and did not climb trees), and their forelimbs served to grab various objects. They had a shortened jaw, indicating an increase in the ability to produce sounds, a large brain, indicating the complication of its activity, and other signs that allow scientists to consider Australopithecus as a higher animal on the eve of transformation into a human.

In Australopithecus, it is possible to assume only the rudiments of such hand movements, which will subsequently lead to labor operations. Australopithecus did not make tools of labor, but used ready-made items as tools for his work. But be that as it may, the great process of freeing the hand for labor actions began.

By the beginning of the Quaternary period of the Cenozoic era, scientists attribute the existence of ape-men (Pithecanthropus, Sinanthropus and the like). The study of their fossil remains allows us to say that they knew how to make tools and mastered a straight gait (the latest archaeological data obtained during excavations in Africa make it possible to hypothesize about an even earlier than indicated here, the formation of ape-men and their still primitive language ).

Somewhat later than the Pithecanthropus and Sinanthropus lived the Neanderthals, the forerunners of modern humans. Pithecanthropus, Sinanthropus, Neanderthals are primitive people who lived in herds, who knew how to make primitive tools of labor (from stone, bone and wood) and who began to realize the world around them, and therefore those sound signals that they gradually improved upon receiving them from their ancestors. These sound signals were not yet words in our understanding; they had not yet received either strict articulation or sufficient comprehension. But nevertheless, gradually and painfully for a long time, the thought that was forming began to break away from the concrete perception of the object and to associate with the sound signal, began to rely on it, and thereby received the opportunity to generalize many objects that were homogeneous in some way. At the same time, awareness of the goals and possible results of the use of sound signals was ripening; in a word, in the process of life, in connection with the complicated labor influence of man on the world of animals and plants around him, two powerful forces of the human collective were formed - language and thought.

At the end of the Stone Age (Neolithic) Cro-Magnons lived, people of the modern type ( Homo sapiens – Homo sapiens), remote from us by a short (in the scale of geological time) period - about 40 - 50 thousand years. The study of their fossil remains speaks volumes. These people were members of the primitive communal system with complex labor, social and family relations... They enjoyed well developed brain, articulate speech, conceptual, abstract thinking.

Thus, hundreds of thousands of years passed before human speech signals were developed from the rudimentary inarticulate sounds of our ancestors.

The appearance of language required the influence of two most important natural-historical (biological) factors.

The first biological factor - the release of the forelimbs of the monkey for work and the straightening of the gait - was necessary in the development of language, because without it, the transition to work, which began with the manufacture of tools for influencing nature, was impossible.

Pointing out that, under the influence of the way of life, the monkeys began to get out of the habit of using their hands when walking and began to learn more and more straight gait, Engels says: a decisive step for the transition from monkey to man. "

The second biological factor in the development of language is the presence of sound signals in monkeys - the ancestors of humans. The study of modern highly developed monkeys has shown that they use certain "sets" (up to two or more dozen) of undifferentiated sounds, which are used as involuntary signals of their emotional states. The monkey signals the feelings of joy, hunger, enmity, attraction, pain, fear, pleasure and others more or less steadily with a certain sound or their inarticulate fusion. Moreover, as a rule, these sounds are used when the monkey is with other monkeys. It was found that along with the sounds, monkeys also use pointing signals, gestures, involuntarily transmitting their internal states by them.

It is natural to assume that our distant ancestors, similar to australopithecines, more developed than modern humanoid apes, had a larger store of sound signals and used them more “meaningfully”.

These sound signals of the ancestors were used by the forming people for the gradual "arrangement" of their language. Sound signals were gradually comprehended and turned into the first units of communication of members of a human collective, that is, into elements of speech. There was no other “building material” from which the first utterances could be “made” at the disposal of our ancestors.

Seeing the unusually large role of freeing the hand and sound signals of monkeys in the emergence of language, Marxists argue that the decisive role in this belongs to labor and collective, society. According to Engels, “the development of labor by necessity contributed to a closer cohesion of members of society, since thanks to it, cases of mutual support, joint activities became more frequent, and the consciousness of the benefits of this joint activity for each individual member became clearer. In short, the emerging people came to the fact that they had need to say something each other. Need created its own organ: the undeveloped larynx of the monkey was slowly but steadily transformed by modulation for more and more developed modulation, and the organs of the mouth gradually learned to pronounce one articulate sound after another.

By themselves, the biological prerequisites of human speech could not create it, because in addition to them, a powerful impetus was needed that could bring it to life, and this impetus turned out to be labor and the need for communication that was constantly born by it. But labor from its very inception to the present is labor in a team, in society and for society. It requires the coordination of the work efforts of many people, requires the organization and distribution of their responsibilities, that is, it is it that requires, first of all, the exchange of thoughts, communication with the help of language. Making fire, hunting an elephant, catching fish in ancient times, or the production of synthetic fibers and electronic devices in our time equally need the coordination and organization of the labor efforts of many members of the team.

However, it is not necessary to imagine the matter in such a way that there were some periods of time between the appearance of labor, language and thinking. Labor, language and thought were formed simultaneously, in unity and interaction with each other, in unity and interaction they are still developing. Labor was and remains the leading force of this trinity. The development of tools of labor, the enrichment of labor skills, the expansion of the sphere of application of human labor efforts - all this forced human thought to work more intensively, improved human consciousness. But the intensification of the activity of thought, the improvement of consciousness led the language forward, enriched and refined the system of its meanings, and influenced the totality of its formal elements.

The development, improvement of thought and speech had a reverse effect on labor, made it more effective and accurate, led to the creation of new tools of labor, to the discovery of new materials, to a change in the sphere of application of labor efforts. But the development of labor again influenced thought and speech. Thus, for tens and hundreds of thousands of years, the mutually stimulating influence of labor, thought and language on each other is carried out. This is the picture of the emergence of language, adopted by Marxist science (a great role in substantiating Marxist views on the emergence of language was played by the work of F. Engels "The Role of Labor in the Process of the Transformation of a Monkey into a Man").

(Aside on the question: Can modern apes turn into humans? The laws of the flock theory.)

LECTURE 7

ORIGIN OF LANGUAGE

The first ideas about the origin of the language

Theories of the origin of language (onomatopoeia, interjections, labor cries, social contract)

1. Ancient concepts. For centuries, mankind has worried and continues to worry about the question of how and why people began to speak. This eternal and interest Ask, however, did not and does not lend itself to a scientific solution.

Primitive language cannot be examined and tested empirically. Even in biblical legends, we find two contradictory solutions to the question of the origin of language, reflecting different historical epochs of views on this problem.

1) language is not from a person and 2) language is from a person.

In different periods of the historical development of mankind, this issue was resolved in different ways.

No one has ever watched the tongue appear. Even the language of the animals closest to man - the monkeys, which turned out to be much more complicated than it seemed until recently, differs from the human language in two important properties.

There is a qualitative gap between the "languages" of animals and the languages of humans, and there is no data on how this gap could be bridged. Already now, linguists have come out in their reconstructions in the prehistoric era: the languages spoken have been reconstructed, which were spoken much earlier than writing appeared on Earth. But all of them do not fundamentally differ from those actually known. No one has seen the Proto-Indo-Europeans and cannot claim that they spoke, and did not use something like the sign language of the deaf and dumb.

Therefore, all existing hypotheses about the origin of language are speculative. They are based on one of three postulates: either the language was received from higher powers, or the ancient people behaved the way our contemporaries would behave if they did not have a language, or the language arose in humanity in the same way as it appears in each individual person.

The oldest ideas about the origin of language are based on the idea of people receiving language from higher powers. In the Egyptian text, compiled around the middle of the III millennium BC. e., it is said that the creator of speech and "the name of every thing" was the supreme god Ptah. Later in the history of Ancient Egypt, religions changed more than once, but the creation of the language and the gift of it to people was always attributed to the chief of the gods.

In the oldest Indian monument, the Rig Veda (about the 10th century BC), it is said about “creators - the institutes of names”.

Sometimes a person created the language himself, but again under the supervision of a higher being. The Bible says: “The Lord God formed out of the earth all the animals of the field and all the birds of the air, and brought them to man so that he could see what he would call them, and that, as a man called every living soul, so was its name. And the man named all the cattle and birds of the air and all the beasts of the field ... ". However, in the same Bible earlier the formula was repeatedly used: "And God said." This means that God already possessed language from the beginning. Thus, language turns out to be a joint creation of a higher power and man.

A similar view existed among the Arab scholars: they believed that Allah gave the basis for the language, but many words were then invented by people. Allah introduced this sacred gift to people not at once, but in parts. Only the last and greatest of the prophets, Muhammad, received the entire language from Allah (therefore, the sacred language of the Quran cannot be changed in any way). Many other peoples also had ideas about the divine origin of the language.

In the same way, it was explained that there are many languages on Earth. In ancient Egypt, at the time of Pharaoh Amenhotep GU (Akhenaten; 13b8-1351 BC), it was believed that the god Aton puts speech into the mouth of every baby and also endows each people with its own language. And the Bible says about Babylonian pandemonium: God "mixed the tongues" of the inhabitants of Babylon, who tried to compete with him, erecting a tower high to heaven. This legend also reflected the appearance of ancient Babylon, the center of trade routes, where speech was heard in many languages.

In all religious concepts, the language is unchanged and appears immediately as it exists now. Later, people can only spoil and forget the divine gift either in best case add something else. Religious concepts of the origin of language reflect, for all their naivety, one real fact: human language is a special gift, and there is nothing similar in nature. The "languages" of animals are too different from him.

The first doubts about the divine origin of language (as well as about the divine structure of the world in general) appeared in the ancient world. Ancient Greek and Roman thinkers (Democritus, Epicurus, Lucretius, etc.) came to the conclusion that the language was created by people themselves without the participation of the gods. At the same time, many concepts of the origin of the language were expressed. The spread of Christianity again led to the victory of ideas about the divine origin of the language, but in the XVII-XVIII centuries. they began to be questioned, and ancient concepts began to revive. Appearance in European countries scientific picture the world and the historical approach to the study of human society led to the fact that the thinkers of the XVII-XVIII centuries. began to look for new explanations for the appearance of language. It is curious that such ideas arose before Charles Darwin's theory of the origin of man from ape. Man was still considered God's creation, but the creation of the language was already considered as a human matter. By the XVIII century. it finally became clear that languages are changing, that not all languages of the world exist initially, that some languages have evolved from others. It was natural to take one more step and assume that each language appeared for the first time at some point.

However, ideas about the past of mankind both in antiquity and in modern times were still too simplified. Thinkers put themselves in the place of a primitive man and thought what they would do if they did not know how to speak and wanted to create a language. concepts of this kind have become the subject of heated debate and debate. Over the past two centuries, their circle has hardly expanded.

2. Theories of the origin of language. Since antiquity, there have been many theories of the origin of the language.

Onomatopoeia theory comes from the Stoics and received support in the 19th and even the 20th centuries. The essence of this theory is that a "tongueless person", hearing the sounds of nature (the murmur of a stream, the singing of birds, etc.), tried to imitate these sounds with his speech apparatus. In any language, of course, there are a number of onomatopoeic words like ku-ku, woof-woof, oink-oink, bang-bang, drip-drip, apchi, ha ha ha and so on. and their derivatives such as bark, cuckoo, bark, grunt, pig, hakhanki and so on. But, firstly, there are very few such words, and secondly, “onomatopoeia” can only be “sounding”, but what then should one call “voiceless”: stones, houses, triangles and squares and much more?

It is impossible to deny onomatopoeic words in a language, but it would be completely wrong to think that language arose in such a mechanical and passive way. Language arises and develops in a person together with thinking, and with onomatopoeia, thinking is reduced to photography. Observation of languages shows that there are more onomatopoeic words in new, developed languages than in languages of more primitive peoples. This is due to the fact that, in order to "imitate", one must be perfectly able to control the speech apparatus, which a primitive man with an undeveloped larynx could not master.

The theory of "labor cries" at first glance it seems like a real materialistic theory of the origin of language. This theory originated in the 19th century. in the works of the vulgar materialists (L. Noiret, K. Bücher) and boiled down to the fact that language arose from the outcries that accompanied collective work. But these "labor cries" are only a means of rhythmizing labor, they do not express anything, not even emotions, but are only an external technical means during work. Not a single function that characterizes language can be found in these "labor cries", since they are neither communicative, nor nominative, nor expressive.

The theory of "social contract". Ser. XVIII century The theory was based on some opinions of antiquity (Democritus, Plato) and responded to the rationalism of the 18th century.

But it is also quite clear that this theory does not give anything to explain the primitive language, since, first of all, in order to "agree" about the language, one must already have a language in which they "agree".

In the XVIII century. similar ideas were put forward by the famous French philosopher Jean-Jacques Rousseau, to whom the very expression "social contract" belongs. Supported this concept in the same XVIII century. the founder of political economy, the Englishman Adam Smith. Rousseau and Smith believed that primitive people once agreed among themselves about how to use the language. The language was invented deliberately, and then people combined their efforts, and uniform rules for using it were developed.

Proceeding from a materialistic understanding of the history of society and man, F. Engels explains the conditions for the emergence of language: “When, after a thousand-year struggle, the hand finally differentiated from the leg and a straight gait was established, the man separated from the monkey, and the foundation was laid for the development of articulate speech. .. "

Interjection theory comes from the Epicureans, opponents of the Stoics. Primitive people turned instinctive animal screams into "natural sounds" - interjections accompanying emotions, from where all other words originated.

Interjections are included in the vocabulary of any language and can have derivative words (Russian: oh oh and ooh ooh ooh ooh ooh ooh ooh ooh ooh ooh ooh ooh etc.). But there are very few such words in languages and even fewer than onomatopoeic ones. The reason for the emergence of language in this theory is reduced to the expressive function, but there is a lot in the language that is not related to expression. There is something more important, for the sake of which language arose, animals also have emotions, but there is no language.

This concept was developed by the English philosopher of the late 17th century. John Locke and the French scientist of the 18th century Etienne Bonneau de Condillac. In their opinion, people at first made only unconscious sounds, and then gradually learned to control their pronunciation. In parallel with control over language, control over mental operations also developed. Sign language played an important role. It was believed that primitive people only supplemented gestures with sounds, and then gradually switched to sound speech.

The ideas of J. Locke and E. de Condillac were an important step forward in comparison with the concept of "social contract": the formation of language was now associated with the development of human thinking. The formation of a language was viewed not as a one-time act, but as a historical process that took a long time and had stages. That. this concept was contrasted with the traditional biblical. However, the new point of view was not supported by any facts. Anyway, nothing concrete was known about the early stages of the formation of human language and thinking.

In the XVIII-XIX centuries. was suggested new criterion: among human languages there are more developed and more "primitive", standing closer to the primitive language. The degree of morphological complexity was put forward as a criterion for development: the morphologically simpler the language, the more primitive. These ideas were developed by Wilhelm von Humboldt. The ancient era, the complexity of the Greek and Latin morphology corresponded to this. But one of the most "primitive" languages turned out to be Chinese, the language developed culture, while many languages of "backward" peoples have a much more complex morphology.

From the second half of the XIX v. there was general disappointment in attempts to solve the problem of the origin of the language. It became clear that the degree of morphological complexity of the language does not allow us to say how close this language is to the "primitive" one. And there was no other evidence for any of the existing hypotheses. And then the French Academy announced that it no longer considers works on the origin of the language; this decision remains in force to this day. In the XX century. linguists have almost ceased to deal with this problem; somewhat more it attracts psychologists and historians of the primitive world.

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