Ludwig Noiré and the Debate on Language Origins in the 19th Century

Linguistic naturalism was one of the main positions taken in linguistic research during the 19th century (for France, see Auroux 1984 and Desmet 1996; for England, see Aarsleff 1983; for Germany, see Knobloch 1988). Although the origin of language is a traditional question of linguistic reflection, linguistic naturalism paid special attention to this topic. According to Auroux (1989: 123), the 19th century was one of the most fruitful periods in the history of the question of language origins. And this notwithstanding the fact that the 19th century was also the epoch of the well-known official interdiction of that topic promoted by the Société de Linguistique de Paris (founded in 1866). Article 2 of its constitution states, “The Society does not admit any communication regarding language origins as well as the creation of a universal language” (cited after Auroux 1989: 123; transl. mine: JDA). The scepticism concerning that topic was not limited to France. In 1873 the president of Philological Society in Britain, Alexander John Ellis (1814–1890), declared the question of language origins to be “out of the field of philology proper” (cited after Aarsleff 1983: 230).