Symbiosism
Encyclopedia
Symbiosism is a Darwinian theory of language that recognises language to be an organism residing in the human brain. Language is a memetic life form. By the Leiden School
definition, memes are meanings, i.e. isofunctional neuroanatomical
constructs corresponding to signs
in the sense of Ferdinand de Saussure
. Meanings thrive, replicate incessantly and constitute the essence of language. An essential characteristic of memes is that linguistic meaning
s have the nature of non-constructible sets in the mathematical sense and do not abide by constraints governing Aristotelian
logic such as the principle of the excluded middle. The Leiden conception of the meme contrasts with the Oxford definition as a unit of imitation, a behavioural notion that in Leiden is captured by the term mime
. In contrast to memes, the fecundity
of mimes as replicators and their fidelity of replication are limited, more so in pre-linguistic contexts.
Language is a mutualist symbiont and enters into a mutually beneficial relationship with its hominid host. Humans propagate language, whilst language furnishes the conceptual universe that informs and shapes the thinking of the hominid host. Language enhances the Darwinian fitness of the human species. Yet individual grammatical and lexical meanings and configurations of memes mediated by language may be either beneficial or deleterious to the biological host. The symbiosis is rendered more complex than just simple mutualism both by the physiological discrepancy between language as an overall condition and the nature of individual ideas conveyed through language as well as by the ecological difference between vertically and horizontally transmitted memes. The symbiotic theory of language propounded by George van Driem
grew out of the Leiden school of language evolution fathered by Frederik Kortlandt
.
Out of Symbiosism grew Symbiomism
, the philosophy about mind and man’s place in nature.
van Driem, George. 2004. Language as organism: A brief introduction to the Leiden theory of language evolution, pp. 1-9 in Ying-chin Lin, Fang-min Hsu, Chun-chih Lee, Jackson T.-S. Sun, Hsiu-fang Yang and Dah-ah Ho, eds., Studies on Sino-Tibetan Languages: Papers in Honor of Professor Hwang-cherng Gong on his Seventieth Birthday (Language and Linguistics Monograph Series W-4). Taipei: Institute of Linguistics, Academia Sinica.
van Driem, George. 2005. The language organism: The Leiden theory of language evolution, pp. 331-340 in James W. Minett and William S-Y. Wang, eds., Language Acquisition, Change and Emergence: Essays in Evolutionary Linguistics. Hong Kong: City University of Hong Kong Press.
Kortlandt, Frederik Herman Henri. 1985. A parasitological view of non-constructible sets, pp. 477-483 in Ursula Pieper and Gerhard Stickel, eds., Studia linguistica diachronica et synchronica: Werner Winter sexagenario anno MCMLXXXIII gratis animis ab eius collegis, amicis discipulisque oblata. Berlin: Mouton de Gruyter.
Kortlandt, Frederik Herman Henri. 1998. Syntax and semantics in the history of Chinese, Journal of Intercultural Studies, 5: 167-176. Click here to read: ["http://www.kortlandt.nl/publications/art158e.pdf"]
Kortlandt, Frederik Herman Henri. 2003. The origin and nature of the linguistic parasite, pp. 241-244 in Brigitte Bauer and Georges-Jean Pinault, eds., Language in Time and Space: A Festschrift for Werner Winter on the Occasion of his 80th Birthday. Berlin: Mouton de Gruyter. Click here to read: "http://www.kortlandt.nl/publications/art206e.pdf"
Salverda, Reinier. 1998. Is language a virus? Reflections on the use of biological metaphors in the study of language, pp. 191-209 in Mark Janse and An Verlinden, eds., Productivity and Creativity. Studies in General and Descriptive Linguistics in Honor of E.M. Uhlenbeck. Berlin: Mouton de Gruyter.
Salverda, Reinier. 2003. Letter to the Editor, New Scientist (1 February 2003), 2380: 25.
Wiedenhof, Jeroen Maarten. 1996. Nexus and the birth of syntax, Acta Linguistica Hafniensia, 28: 139-150. Click here to read: "http://www.wiedenhof.nl/ul/tk/pbl/articles/birthsyx.pdf"
The Leiden School
The Leiden school is a school of thought in linguistics that models languages as memes or benign neurological parasites, and tries to use rigorous mathematical tools borrowed by analogy from biological evolution to model the origin and spread of language in general and specific languages in...
definition, memes are meanings, i.e. isofunctional neuroanatomical
Neuroanatomy
Neuroanatomy is the study of the anatomy and organization of the nervous system. In contrast to animals with radial symmetry, whose nervous system consists of a distributed network of cells, animals with bilateral symmetry have segregated, defined nervous systems, and thus we can begin to speak of...
constructs corresponding to signs
Signs
Signs is the plural of sign. See sign .Signs may also refer to:*Signs , a 2002 film by M. Night Shyamalan*Signs , a journal of women's studies...
in the sense of Ferdinand de Saussure
Ferdinand de Saussure
Ferdinand de Saussure was a Swiss linguist whose ideas laid a foundation for many significant developments in linguistics in the 20th century. He is widely considered one of the fathers of 20th-century linguistics...
. Meanings thrive, replicate incessantly and constitute the essence of language. An essential characteristic of memes is that linguistic meaning
Linguistic meaning
The nature of meaning, its definition, elements, and types, was discussed by philosophers Aristotle, Augustine, and Aquinas. According to them 'meaning is a relationship between two sorts of things: signs and the kinds of things they mean '. One term in the relationship of meaning necessarily...
s have the nature of non-constructible sets in the mathematical sense and do not abide by constraints governing Aristotelian
Aristotelianism
Aristotelianism is a tradition of philosophy that takes its defining inspiration from the work of Aristotle. The works of Aristotle were initially defended by the members of the Peripatetic school, and, later on, by the Neoplatonists, who produced many commentaries on Aristotle's writings...
logic such as the principle of the excluded middle. The Leiden conception of the meme contrasts with the Oxford definition as a unit of imitation, a behavioural notion that in Leiden is captured by the term mime
Mime
The word mime is used to refer to a mime artist who uses a theatrical medium or performance art involving the acting out of a story through body motions without use of speech.Mime may also refer to:* Mime, an alternative word for lip sync...
. In contrast to memes, the fecundity
Fecundity
Fecundity, derived from the word fecund, generally refers to the ability to reproduce. In demography, fecundity is the potential reproductive capacity of an individual or population. In biology, the definition is more equivalent to fertility, or the actual reproductive rate of an organism or...
of mimes as replicators and their fidelity of replication are limited, more so in pre-linguistic contexts.
Language is a mutualist symbiont and enters into a mutually beneficial relationship with its hominid host. Humans propagate language, whilst language furnishes the conceptual universe that informs and shapes the thinking of the hominid host. Language enhances the Darwinian fitness of the human species. Yet individual grammatical and lexical meanings and configurations of memes mediated by language may be either beneficial or deleterious to the biological host. The symbiosis is rendered more complex than just simple mutualism both by the physiological discrepancy between language as an overall condition and the nature of individual ideas conveyed through language as well as by the ecological difference between vertically and horizontally transmitted memes. The symbiotic theory of language propounded by George van Driem
George van Driem
George van Driem, born 1957, is a linguist at , where he holds the chair of Historical Linguistics and directs the .-Background:George van Driem has conducted field research in the Himalayas since 1983...
grew out of the Leiden school of language evolution fathered by Frederik Kortlandt
Frederik Kortlandt
Frederik Herman Henri Kortlandt is a professor of descriptive and comparative linguistics at Leiden University in the Netherlands. He is an expert on Baltic and Slavic languages, the Indo-European languages in general, and Proto-Indo-European, though he has also published studies of languages in...
.
Out of Symbiosism grew Symbiomism
Symbiomism
Symbiomism is the philosophy of George van Driem about mind and man’s place in nature that grew out of Symbiosism. Symbiosism is the linguistic theory that recognises language to be a memetic life form inhabiting the human brain. Human beings are unique symbiotic relationships in which the...
, the philosophy about mind and man’s place in nature.
Resources
van Driem, George. 2003. The Language Organism: The Leiden theory of language evolution, in Jiří Mírovský, Anna Kotěšovcová and Eva Hajičová, eds., Proceedings of the XVIIth International Congress of Linguists, Prague, July 24-29, 2003. Prague: Matfyzpress vydavatelství Matematicko-fyzikální fakulty Univerzity Karlovy.van Driem, George. 2004. Language as organism: A brief introduction to the Leiden theory of language evolution, pp. 1-9 in Ying-chin Lin, Fang-min Hsu, Chun-chih Lee, Jackson T.-S. Sun, Hsiu-fang Yang and Dah-ah Ho, eds., Studies on Sino-Tibetan Languages: Papers in Honor of Professor Hwang-cherng Gong on his Seventieth Birthday (Language and Linguistics Monograph Series W-4). Taipei: Institute of Linguistics, Academia Sinica.
van Driem, George. 2005. The language organism: The Leiden theory of language evolution, pp. 331-340 in James W. Minett and William S-Y. Wang, eds., Language Acquisition, Change and Emergence: Essays in Evolutionary Linguistics. Hong Kong: City University of Hong Kong Press.
Kortlandt, Frederik Herman Henri. 1985. A parasitological view of non-constructible sets, pp. 477-483 in Ursula Pieper and Gerhard Stickel, eds., Studia linguistica diachronica et synchronica: Werner Winter sexagenario anno MCMLXXXIII gratis animis ab eius collegis, amicis discipulisque oblata. Berlin: Mouton de Gruyter.
Kortlandt, Frederik Herman Henri. 1998. Syntax and semantics in the history of Chinese, Journal of Intercultural Studies, 5: 167-176. Click here to read: ["http://www.kortlandt.nl/publications/art158e.pdf"]
Kortlandt, Frederik Herman Henri. 2003. The origin and nature of the linguistic parasite, pp. 241-244 in Brigitte Bauer and Georges-Jean Pinault, eds., Language in Time and Space: A Festschrift for Werner Winter on the Occasion of his 80th Birthday. Berlin: Mouton de Gruyter. Click here to read: "http://www.kortlandt.nl/publications/art206e.pdf"
Salverda, Reinier. 1998. Is language a virus? Reflections on the use of biological metaphors in the study of language, pp. 191-209 in Mark Janse and An Verlinden, eds., Productivity and Creativity. Studies in General and Descriptive Linguistics in Honor of E.M. Uhlenbeck. Berlin: Mouton de Gruyter.
Salverda, Reinier. 2003. Letter to the Editor, New Scientist (1 February 2003), 2380: 25.
Wiedenhof, Jeroen Maarten. 1996. Nexus and the birth of syntax, Acta Linguistica Hafniensia, 28: 139-150. Click here to read: "http://www.wiedenhof.nl/ul/tk/pbl/articles/birthsyx.pdf"