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Origin of Language
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The links in the table on the left take you to subheadings in this article.
Sub-headings

Early beginnings
Issue of emotion
Public language
Language loop
Diagram 5
Projection and
introjection
Diagram 6
Language loop
Community
conflict

Reference

Visual Thought
How and why did language originate
?
These are two separate questions.
My answers are mainly derived from
analysing my states of mind, which
are almost purely verbal. I do not
visualise, at least not distinctly.
When I try to remember a person, a
scene or anything else that is visual,
only very vague and indistinct
shapes come to mind it would be a
mockery to call them images.
( This is a reflection of how I see the
world: my viewing is
impressionistic. I do not pay close
attention to detail. I prefer to pay

attention to my thoughts instead ).

However, a different process occurred when I used to

meditate. As I attempted to clear my mind of thoughts, to
the extent that I was successful at that task I would be
defeated by the unwanted generation of visual images.
These images would be much clearer than the indistinct
shapes that I can call up from memory.
I interpret these results to mean that verbal thoughts have
visual images underneath them. In the generation of
thought, visual images seem to be basic, but are hidden
by a superimposed layer of verbal activity.

Many scientists and intellectuals have poor ability in

imagery. Perhaps most of the lay public can produce
good imagery. I assume that the development of the
intellect often has the effect of repressing the thinker s
power of imagery.
In conscious visual imagery, signs and concepts are
represented differently from corresponding linguistic
ones. A visual image a tree, a geometric design,
abstract art does not neatly divide into subject and
object in the way that a proposition does. A visual sign is
holistic , whereas a linguistic sign can be analysed
into components. All in all, a visual sign is different from
a linguistic sign in important ways.

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Early Beginnings
I generalise these ideas to answer the question: how did
language originate in times of long ago ? The primary,
basic method of thinking is non-linguistic. This method
uses a flow of conscious visual impressions. From this
flow the person creates signs and concepts, which are his
relationships to external reality. This is a private
language, based on signs and semantic meaning.
The limitation of a private language is that it cannot be
communicated to other people. To establish a way of
communicating, the private language has to give way to a
social, public language. Now grammatical language is
invented, as a secondary method of thinking. This is the
reason why language originated, as a means for public
communication. The conscious flow of visual imagery is
now made subconscious as verbal activity comes to
dominate the mind.

The origin of language can be considered to be a

dialogue between emotion and desire (or will). Language
is a filter mechanism ; by centring himself on it, the
person can learn to disregard much of the sensory input
that his nervous system receives from internal and
external sources. Consider hallucinatory agents, such as
LSD. When we take LSD we become responsive to a
much greater range of sensations than we normally do ;
some of these sensations have an external source, but
there is also a predominantly emotional or mood
response, with little will power in evidence. In fact, the
stronger that our will power is, the higher the dosage of
LSD that is required in order to start the hallucinations.

The LSD experience is primarily an experience of

emotion.
I discovered the effect of will power on drug experiences
during my middle 20s. My flatmate at that time was
raised in an orphanage and so was emotionally labile.
When we took the same dosage of LSD, he would
hallucinate quite easily, whilst usually I would be merely
stoned. My will power often prevented any loss of
sensory control.

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The Issue of Emotion

Consider early man in the time of long ago. There is little
public language and a great range of sensory input, some
of it of a psychic nature (as is evidenced in genuine
shamans, medicine men, witch doctors, etc). So I
presume that early man was highly emotional, with an
undeveloped will.
As language ability grows, so concepts of public activity
grow too. The concepts channel sensation into
approved patterns, and help stabilise emotional
swings. Whence will power grows in tandem with the
concepts and the activity. Man s susceptibility to
domination by emotion decreases with time. This process
is ongoing, and leads eventually to the practice of selfcontrol. As man s conceptual ability increases, his
developing will power enables him to begin the process
of acquiring self-mastery (by learning to control his
emotional moods).

There is a problem here. To control emotional

susceptibility only through the use of will power is
unskilful, and leads to the psychological problems of
repression. Repression works effectively only in lowstress societies. A major reason for the development of
language is to enable the mind to formulate methods that
can harmoniously direct the will in the control of
emotion. An example of harmonious method is the
Buddhist technique of mindfulness. The development of
language is the necessary condition for the eventual
development of reasoning ability. Without language, man
oscillates perpetually between emotion and desire.
Rationality is needed primarily for its stabilising effect.

The world of abundant emotion, or more particularly, the

world of LSD, has a great appeal to many people. The
world of LSD, which I found a fascinating one during
my 20s and which I believe should be available, legally,
to anyone who wants to experience it, is the world of
early man. It is a dream world, interspersed with
occasional psychic phenomena. It was the starting
position of human development it is not the goal. I see
the LSD experience as reminder of where we came from.
In the 1960s, Timothy Leary saw the same experience as
an indicator of where we are going. Leary came from a
background of behaviourist psychology. So he probably
desired, subconsciously, to be more emotionally free. My
background is one of emotional turmoil, and so I desire
the control of emotion by the intellect (or by high ideals).

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Public language
Public language produces grammar, together with the
restrictions that grammar places on the match
between linguistic signs and visual signs. Because of the
differences between language and vision, a grammatical
language of the Western type is never a true copy of
external reality. In Western languages, the person has
been inserted into the grammars of the languages
(producing the subject-predicate division). Western
languages insert the person into the external reality
that he is perceiving. This is why Western languages are
self-referential: such languages orientate around the
observer, not around external reality.
In languages such as Hopi, which do not place any
importance on a subject-predicate division, language
may be more visual and less self-referential.
Creative thinking is not dependent on language ; creative
thinking occurs outside the boundary of the person's
current linguistic range and associations of ideas. Noncreative thinking depends on language. The challenge for
the creative thinker is to develop language in order to be
able to communicate his original idea.

The steps to the creation of public language

are, in outline,
a) Private language arises first, by the separation of
the flow of visual imagery into signs and concepts

that carry meaning. The limitation is that of semantic

determinism.
b) Public language is created in order to communicate
ideas and other thoughts. Rules of analysis are
invented and produce the limitation of grammatical
determinism.

These steps can be denoted by popular views on child

development, assuming that the child replays all the
stages of human evolution. The stage of private language
and self-discovery is the Piaget stage. Then grammatical
language develops independently of cognitive needs and
thinking this is the Vygotsky stage. Eventually
linguistic relativity is created and we have the
Bernstein stage (using relativity in the traditional sense).
Piaget originated the idea of learning by stages
; individualism was primary.
Vygotsky thought that social learning was
primary.
Bernstein looked at the relative differences in
vocabulary and language use between
working-class and middle-class children.

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The Language Loop

Language is modelled on the psychological loop of
projection and introjection: the more complex that the

latter are, the more sophisticated the language becomes.

Now projection and introjection form a closed loop, so
thereby the use of language also forms a closed loop. I
give more details as to how this loop can occur.
The simplest form of the psychological loop is given in
diagramme 5 (see also article Loop of Intuition). Here,
will (or will power) links to feeling through mind, using
desire. And feeling links to will through mind, in its
aspect of belief. []

Diagramme 5
Primary Loop of Projection and Introjection.

I bring together some isolated issues in 20thcentury Anglo- American moral philosophy in
order to form the language loop .

Beliefs can focus on subjectivity or objectivity.

Subjectivity contains meanings, whilst objectivity (which
is needed for the language loop) contains values.
In the synchronic mode,

beliefs carry meaning: for example, I need to maintain

my integrity . Meaning has no necessary specific
content.
In the diachronic mode,

beliefs carry value: for example, it is wrong to be

violent . Values have specific (that is, linguistic)
content.

I illustrate the difference between meaning and value.

The meaning of eating an apple is that it removes
stomach agitation or that it produces pleasant sensations
of taste. The value of eating an apple is that it is good for
health.

These ideas, when applied to language theory, can

integrate some issues in ethics. In my study of twentiethcentury ethics I found ideas on commands, emotivism,
and intentions, but no ability to put them together
harmoniously. To put them together I bring in my ideas
on the use of language. This use can be modelled on the
psychological loop, so that we get the language loop.
This is given in diagramme 6 : The Loop of Language.

Diagramme 6
The Loop of Language

In this loop, commands direct intentions and purposes.

The latter generate suitable emotions, which then help us
sustain our important beliefs. These beliefs give
forcefulness to the commands.

In the psychological loop, will can be considered to be a

command to participate in non-linguistic activity. Will
has no specific content. Examples: eat ! ; travel !
; seek power ! ; be creative ! (creativity is nonlinguistic).
Like will, commands have no specific content. Selfcommands are usually subconscious: for example, be
friendly to people ! ; think of tomorrow ! ; think
about problem Z ! ; be curious ! . . Social commands

are conscious: for example, do what you are told ! .

An expression such as sit up straight ! is actually
compounded of obey me! (the command) and sit up
straight (the content or intention).

When it is necessary to formulate intentions and specific

goals or to understand states of mind then the person has
to gravitate from the psychological loop (which may be
biased towards non-linguistic activity and vague
preferences) to the loop of language (so that the person
can be explicit and decisive in what he wants). Inability
to switch easily between the two loops is the major
difficulty encountered in a psycho-analysis.

Intentions and purposes are the content to which the

command is the form. Emotivism means that intentions
and purpose arouse feelings and emotions in the person.
These emotions generate favourable or unfavourable
beliefs and attitudes. Language is value-orientated, so the
beliefs are governed by values rather than by meanings.
These beliefs, in turn, help give power to commands.
Emotivism and value-governed beliefs provide the
dynamics of the loop : emotivism is usually short-term
and the belief is long-term. Putting these components all
together, we can see that :
language is made up of form, content and dynamism.

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I give some examples of the language

loop.
a) . I might have an ideal or intention to pursue a
sexually-restrained way of life. I then generate negative
feelings about sexuality. These feelings then sustain
beliefs such that sexual preoccupations slow down my
own evolution. These beliefs can empower commands
such as eliminate weakness from my character ! . The
power in the command reinforces my ideals.

b) . Science is the methodical pursuit of curiosity about

the material world. The command centres on curiosity
( be curious ! ) and not on truth, since the scientist is
just as prone to bigotry and narrow-mindedness towards
his work as a non-scientist is towards his. Scientific
observation comes under the heading of belief : it is
assumed that there is some value to that which is being
observed. The emotivism may be the love of truth or the
love of beauty. In mathematics there is the aesthetic
satisfaction in deriving formulae which are concise and
neat.

c) . In ethics, ethical commands have no specific content

and represent Kant's categorical imperative. The
emotional use of language is observed in moralistic
speech. When moral discourse is emotional it aims at
influencing, changing or controlling the values and
value-governed beliefs of other people.

d) . Emotionally-laden advertising and propaganda take a

different approach from ethics. They usually avoid a
head-on challenge to values. They are more effective
when they try to influence meanings through the use of
symbolism and stereotype. The acquisition of a
stereotyped or symbolic better image of oneself is
usually the intention. Since meaning is often nonlinguistic the effect of advertising can be hard to resist
the person cannot put into words how his meanings have
been attacked and so finds it hard to refute the attack.

The language loop indicates that the use of language

does not relate to reality but only to concerns about its
own values. I put this view another way. We do not see
the world as it really is. We see the world only from the
perspective of our values. It is our values that create
objectivity, not the world. Objects have no self-values.
Objects cannot create objectivity. It is only
consciousness that can do that.

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Community Conflict
Language structures the world. Disputes occur between
countries or communities because they structure the
world differently. Disputes occur because the languages
are different. Language is the primary source of division
in the world.

This fact has an interesting consequence : when the

language is the same between disputing parties, then the
focus of the disputes has to take a secondary source of
conflict. Language contains values. When the language is
the same then the primary stock of values is also the
same. Conflict has then to centre on secondary values. In
other words, in any language community, sources of
conflict are always of a secondary nature and are never
primary. Therefore in such cases the social rifts can be
healed eventually. But when language itself is the source
of division then social rifts may, perhaps, never be
mended.

I give some examples, with the last two being

current at the time of writing, in 1998:
e) . Latin was the common language of medieval Europe.
This meant that when social divisions occurred in the
sixteenth century they had to focus on secondary values.
The Reformation centred on religion, and so different
religious beliefs were taken as the means of creating
separate regional identities. Religion is always a
secondary source of value. If vernacular languages had
been common then the Reformation would have taken
these languages as the means to create separate regional
identities.

f) . In Northern Ireland the community division is over

religion. This occurs only because Irish is English : the
two languages are the same, so they cannot be taken as a
source of different values.

g) . The contemporary situation in Quebec, where the

French-speaking part of the population wants to separate
from English Canada, is an illustration of the
primacy of language.

When language is the same in any community then a

favourite way of expressing division is to focus it on
religious values and doctrines. Conversely, to create a
stable religious ecumenism requires the necessary
condition that several different languages be involved
and no attempt is made to establish any particular
language as the language of discourse. Once different
languages are accepted as the framework of discourse
then disputes can be understood to derive from the
different ways that the participants structure the world.
The world is always structured linguistically before it is
structured in any religious manner. When the differences
are allocated to language and its embedded values then
the path to religious harmony is open.

A religious Eden can never have a universal

language !

Reference

The number in brackets at the end of the

reference takes you back to the paragraph that
featured it.
This diagramme is explained in more detail in the
article Projection and Introjection on my websites
Discover your mind and The Strange World of
Emotion. See Links page for the addresses. [1]
[].

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The articles in this section are :

Problems of Language
Language & Society
Origin of Language
Logic of Consciousness
The Text in Literary Theory

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