I just finished reading a new book by acclaimed author Tom Wolfe, titled The Kingdom of Speech. This time Wolfe isn’t offering cutting social commentary in a behemoth novel; rather, he explicates the debate on human language in under 170 pages and with a breezy blend of witticisms and hard data. The book, as a whole, is not particularly great, but there are a few excellent segments.
The first half lays the groundwork that evolutionary theory explains the development of language among humans, but not among other animals. While everyone knows animals do communicate with each other, they do not have the complex linguistic structures of humans. This is perhaps the defining quality of what makes us...us. But a reader may skip much of the sections on Darwinism and still get the gist, as the background is not really that interesting. However, the book takes an intriguing turn at the midway point and the introduction of Noam Chomsky, world renowned MIT linguist and one of the most cited academics in history. Chomsky believes that language stems from a specific component in the brain, that humans became hardwired to develop language through evolutionary and biological processes. All humans possess a “universal grammar,” he claims, in which everyone, no matter the language being spoken, follows some essential rules of communication. And this hypothesis became the standard explanation for human language for decades.
Like most academics, however, Chomsky never did any field work to investigate his theory. So when another linguist discovered a tribe in a remote South American jungle, in which its members had virtually no concept of human language, the debate went into high speed. Wolfe describes the myriad scholarly publications and personal attacks that ensued, and nothing is funnier than seeing really smart people get into fights about obscure research.
The book’s conclusion, though, holds perhaps the most important message to be gleaned from this study. Wolfe describes how language is a man-made tool. It is an invention, not a result of evolution or a location in the brain. It became necessary, so it came into being through human initiative. And language changed the course of time and history. Language creates ideas, a sense of history and future, a social structure, a purpose for existence. Language is not the defining quality of humans because we luckily evolved that way, Wolfe posits. Language defines humanity because without it, our world could almost not exist. As you read about the benighted Piraha tribe, you’ll see exactly what lack of language does to people.
The last few pages are a brilliant summary of why language matters, and I encourage English teachers and students especially to take a look. As I said, the book can be skimmed in places, but the conclusion will rock your perspective on human culture and communication.
The first half lays the groundwork that evolutionary theory explains the development of language among humans, but not among other animals. While everyone knows animals do communicate with each other, they do not have the complex linguistic structures of humans. This is perhaps the defining quality of what makes us...us. But a reader may skip much of the sections on Darwinism and still get the gist, as the background is not really that interesting. However, the book takes an intriguing turn at the midway point and the introduction of Noam Chomsky, world renowned MIT linguist and one of the most cited academics in history. Chomsky believes that language stems from a specific component in the brain, that humans became hardwired to develop language through evolutionary and biological processes. All humans possess a “universal grammar,” he claims, in which everyone, no matter the language being spoken, follows some essential rules of communication. And this hypothesis became the standard explanation for human language for decades.
Like most academics, however, Chomsky never did any field work to investigate his theory. So when another linguist discovered a tribe in a remote South American jungle, in which its members had virtually no concept of human language, the debate went into high speed. Wolfe describes the myriad scholarly publications and personal attacks that ensued, and nothing is funnier than seeing really smart people get into fights about obscure research.
The book’s conclusion, though, holds perhaps the most important message to be gleaned from this study. Wolfe describes how language is a man-made tool. It is an invention, not a result of evolution or a location in the brain. It became necessary, so it came into being through human initiative. And language changed the course of time and history. Language creates ideas, a sense of history and future, a social structure, a purpose for existence. Language is not the defining quality of humans because we luckily evolved that way, Wolfe posits. Language defines humanity because without it, our world could almost not exist. As you read about the benighted Piraha tribe, you’ll see exactly what lack of language does to people.
The last few pages are a brilliant summary of why language matters, and I encourage English teachers and students especially to take a look. As I said, the book can be skimmed in places, but the conclusion will rock your perspective on human culture and communication.