On the Origin of Language

On the Origin of Language

Publications and reports

Bleek's consequential essay ''On the origin of language'' (1868 [in German]) comes after his 1851 Bonn doctoral thesis and the publishing of Part 1 of his 'A Comparative Grammar of South African Languages' (1862) and 'Reynard, the Fox, in South Africa: Hottentot Fables and Tales' (1864). The essay's English edition notes that Part 2 of his forthcoming 'A Comparative Grammar...' (1869) was then in press with LW Schmidt of New York (Bleek, 1869: xxi). Here, Bleek presents his theory of language origin, arguing an interdependence of language, thought, and culture where a meeting of emotional cries and imitative instincts-connecting feelings to sounds-ultimately begot symbolic language. Bleek theorised that language arose through cultural and historical transmission rather than a biologically innate "language instinct" (popularly theorised in modern linguistics). Bleek advanced that sex-denoting grammatical categories support mythic thinking or greater poetic conception, consequently informing a stratification of language and its evolution. While not explicitly promoting sex-denoting languages (like "Hottentot") as superior to prosaic languages (like "Bantu" languages), he does suggest a hierarchical typology of thought and expression that implies a form of cognitive or imaginative superiority. ''On the origin of language'' marries evolutionary philosophy and comparative philology, emphasising the gradual development of language through cultural evolution, social practices, and the symbolic use of analogy.

paperbound essay in casing inside a manila folder

Ink on paper

1869

A complete English translation (±A5) of Bleek's 'On the origin of language' (New York edition). Published by LW Schmidt of Barclay Street, New York.

Language (its origin), WHI Bleek, manuscript (published), On the Origin of Language (Wilhelm Bleek's), Ernst Haeckel (his foreword in the English edition)

The German proofing stage 'manuscript' printed by Van de Sandt de Villiers & Co. for the eventual Weimar edition (through Hermann Boehlau) ends on page 44, and Thomas Davidson's English translation for LW Schmidt of New York ends on page 69.