Abstract
MR. LEWIS introduces his excellent study of infant speech somewhat dramatically by reminding us how, exactly half a century ago, Max Müller's saying “No thoughts without words” left linguistic studies somewhat in the air. To some, the aphorism went too far ; to others not far enough. For the psychologist it was going too far, for obviously symbolic thought without words does occur. Linguistically it did not go far enough, for words mean more than ideas, and in their most important function they are as much a form of human action as any type of bodily behaviour.
Infant Speech: a Study of the Beginnings of Language
By M. M. Lewis. (International Library of Psychology, Philosophy and Scientific Method.) Pp. xii + 335. (London: Kegan Paul and Co., Ltd., 1936.) 12s. 6d. net.
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MALINOWSKI, B. Infant Speech: a Study of the Beginnings of Language. Nature 140, 172–173 (1937). https://doi.org/10.1038/140172a0
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1038/140172a0
