Language and Cognition: Some Philosophical and Linguistic Considerations Concerning Language Change and Language Development

The paper provides a brief overview of different approaches to language or languages in the history of linguistic thought. It briefly outlines the varying relationships between grammar or linguistics and other disciplines, especially philosophy and philology. Thereafter, the question of the relationship between language and cognition is considered from a viewpoint that does not provide an abstract and generalized answer, but rather offers insight into the processes that either reduce the cognitive potential of a language or enable a language to enhance its cognitive potential. Thus, the paper deals with two opposite processes that occur in the history of every language. One is language change, and the other is language development. These two concepts must be strictly differentiated, although they are often confused. Every language changes with time, and this change is usually “deterioration”, or – as the Indian grammarians called changes in the Indian languages – “ruin” (apabhraṃśa). In the strictly linguistic sense, it could be termed the “loss of distinctions”. This phenomenon reduces the cognitive potential of a particular language: communication becomes more limited or more difficult, and intellectual and cultural contents are impoverished and deteriorated. Language development is the opposite process, whereby a language gradually recovers from such a state of impoverishment thanks to the social, cultural, and intellectual needs of another epoch. Unlike language change, language development enhances the cognitive potential of language. The first process is spontaneous, while the second implies a conscious, systematic effort by the linguistic community. This development is realised through different strategies in languages of different structures, depending largely on the prior history of the respective language. Both processes are illustrated through select examples from European and Indian languages.