Chapter 1: Introduction

1.1. Language – a fundamental dimension of our existence

1.2. The lost paradise of the original linguistic unity. The Babel myth and
subsequent nostalgia
1.3. Language as sound and meaning. The linguistic sign. Ferdi-nand de
Saussure and Louis Hjelmslev
1.4. Language in the process of communication
1.5. Language and writing

1.2. The lost paradise of the original linguistic unity.

The Babel myth and subsequent nostalgia

Scientists and students of language have been confronted, since the earliest times,
with an apparent paradox: on the one hand, the diversity of the languages spoken all over
the world (several thousands are known) is really impressive, on the other hand, in spite
of the enormous differences among human idioms, they display striking and fundamental
similarities. To quote again the biblical tradition, the famous legend of the Babel tower
speaks about a unique, original language, spoken by the first generations of
humans.(Genesis, 11). It was only God’s jealousy and His fear that human beings, if
united, could really succeed in their attempt of building a tower that should reach heaven,
representing thus a real and very dangerous challenge to divine power that put an end to
the golden age of the linguistic unity of mankind.1 No longer speaking the same idiom
and failing thus to understand one another and to successfully communicate among them,
human beings ceased to be a significant threat to God. Their language is “confounded”
and they are “scattered upon the face of all the earth”. The unitary vision of the universe
of the golden age was thus lost for ever and the unifying and coherent image and
understanding of the world around us was replaced by a kaleidoscopic, multi-coloured
one.2
Otherness has not always been a source of concern or of nostalgia for the lost
unity. It has often been assumed to represent the mark of unmistakable identity, the basis
of proud superiority in relation to the others. The ancient Greeks considered their own
language as the supreme manifestation of human intellect and the most appropriate tool
for understanding and coping with the universe. The other nations, speaking languages
different from Greek were called “barbarian”. Linguistic difference (and hypothetical
1
“And the Lord said ’Behold, the people is one and they have one language… and now nothing
will be restrained from them, which they have imagined to do. Go to, let us go down, and there confound
their languages, that they may not understand one another’s speech’ “ (Genesis, 11, 6-7)
2
However, as Umberto Eco remarks in a documented study devoted to the “utopia of a perfect
language”, the diversity of human languages – and even races – had already been mentioned in a
previous chapter of the Genesis and should not necessarily be viewed as an expression of divine
punishment and constitute a source of frustration. As Eco points out (Eco, 2002), already in Genesis
10,5, a linguistic and tribal distinction is established by God: “By these were the isles of the Gentiles
divided in their lands; every one after his tongue, after their families, in their nations.”
superiority) was thus the foundation of national pride, the very essence of what made
their nation distinct from and better than the others. The etymology of the word itself
apparently leads us to a root meaning “to stammer”. The foreigner was then someone
unable to speak properly, his idiom was an imperfect vehicle for human thought.3
The attempt, in the first half of the 20th century, of creating an artificial language,
universally spoken (esperanto) was in fact a reflection of the ancient Babel myth, an
expression of the nostalgia for the lost unitary world of the beginnings. The divine
“curse” seemed to be, however, still very powerful and initial enthusiasm soon gave place
to discouragement in front of the obvious failure of the whole enterprise, confronted with
enormous difficulties.
The Babel “syndrome” also manifested itself when, enthusiastic about the
discoveries of comparative linguistics at the end of the 19th century and having collected
irrefutable evidence that the history of many languages spoken on earth could be traced
back to a relatively reduced number of proto-languages (the study of Indo-European
seemed to yield very encouraging results) many people believed that scientists might go
even further back in history and discover the original unique language of mythical times
much in the same way in which paleontologists managed to “reconstruct” the skeletons of
representatives of many an extinct species starting from a few scattered bones.4
The belief of many 20th century linguists in the existence of a “universal
grammar” and their efforts to (re)construct it are also in the tradition of the ancient belief
that human beings used to speak one and the same language and that the languages we
have today are actually “splinters” of the original one, apparently lost for ever. Striking
fundamental similarities among various linguistic systems continue to paradoxically
coexist with irreducible differences.

3
Note, however, that in an interesting reversal of the situation, in modern times Greek is perceived
as some sort of exotic, incomprehensible language. See, for instance the English expression: “that’s Greek
to me” or the Spanish word “gringo” which is apparently a corrupted form of griego = Greek.
4
There is currently very strong genetic evidence about the amazing unity of all humankind.
Geneticists maintain, indeed, that in spite of the apparent diversity of the representatives of mankind living
in various parts of the world, all human beings display a remarkably common genetic patterning that can be
traced back to a reduced number of individuals, originally living in Africa. This has been contrasted to the
genetic diversity of other animal species, such as apes. We may very well presume, then, that these
forefathers of all humans spoke a common language, much like in the biblical myth which thus seems to
have strong support in reality.