The living language: Wittgenstein and the empirical study of communication

Abstract

This paper develops a proposal for an anthropological study of communication, one based on a certain reading of Wittgenstein. The proposal supplements work in various related areas of language inquiry and provides an orientation for explorations of language in non-human primates. Its basic conception is that of a language-game: a patterned form of human interaction—a custom—in which words or other symbol-tokens play a role. The aim of the study is a genealogy of language-games, tracing adult uses of words back to their roots in childhood. Using a pilot diary study as a source of illustrative material, I present details of two early language-games, and survey six others. It is suggested that a number of early language-games are found in every human culture. Finally, I consider consequences of the Wittgensteinian model for the question of the origin of language. (Ethnography of speech, language socialization, human ethology, primatology, language acquistion, Wittgenstein.) What we are supplying are really remarks on the natural history of human beings; we are not contributing curiosities however, but observations which no one has doubted, but which have escaped remark only because they are always before our eyes. (Wittgenstein)