Synonyms
Definition
The ding-dong theory constitutes an early theory of the origins of spoken language postulating that the meaning of the words derives from what things sounded like.
Introduction
The idea behind the early speculative theory of ding-dong theory is sound symbolism which is a nonarbitrary connection between phonetic features of linguistic items and their meanings. Max Muller at the early stages of his work on the evolution of language proposed the ding-dong theory by stating that meaning comes from sounds. According to this hypothesis, the origin of language emerged evolutionary with the names our ancestors gave to objects, activities, and natural occurrences after an identifiable sound associated with it in real life (Mandavilli 2016). An important characteristic of this notion is the fact that words having high front vowels were used to name small or jagged objects in comparison to words having round vowel which...
This is a preview of subscription content, log in via an institution.
References
Mandavilli, S. R. (2016). On the origin and spread of languages: Propositioning twenty-first century axioms on the evolution and spread of languages with concomitant view on language dynamics. ELK Asia Pacific Journal of Social Science, 3(1). Retrieved from https://www.elkjournals.com/MasterAdmin/UploadFolder/Sujay%20On%20the%20origin%20of%20spoken%20language%20final%20final%20final/Sujay%20On%20the%20origin%20of%20spoken%20language%20final%20final%20final.pdf
Mitchell, R., Myles, F., & Marsden, E. (2013). Second language learning theories (3rd ed.). London: Routledge.
Müller F. M. (1877). Lectures on the science of language. London: Longmans, Green. Retrieved from https://archive.org/details/lecturesonscien02mluoft
Author information
Authors and Affiliations
Corresponding author
Editor information
Editors and Affiliations
Section Editor information
Rights and permissions
Copyright information
© 2018 Springer International Publishing AG, part of Springer Nature
About this entry
Cite this entry
Themistocleous, D., Anastassiou-Hadjicharalambous, X. (2018). Ding-dong. In: Shackelford, T., Weekes-Shackelford, V. (eds) Encyclopedia of Evolutionary Psychological Science. Springer, Cham. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-319-16999-6_1119-1
Download citation
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-319-16999-6_1119-1
Received:
Accepted:
Published:
Publisher Name: Springer, Cham
Print ISBN: 978-3-319-16999-6
Online ISBN: 978-3-319-16999-6
eBook Packages: Springer Reference Behavioral Science and PsychologyReference Module Humanities and Social SciencesReference Module Business, Economics and Social Sciences