Bronisław Malinowski

From The Problem of Meaning in Primitive Languages (1923) by Bronisław Malinowski

' . . . I . . , at grips with the problem of primitive languages from Papuo-Melanesia, had been driven into the field of general Semantics.³'

    ³ Cf. my article on " Classificatory Particles in the Language of Kiriwina," Bulletin of School of Oriental Studies, Vol. II. and Argonauts of the Western Pacific, chapter on " Words in Magic — Some Linguistic Data."

Supplement II, The Meaning of Meaning (1923) by Ogden and Richards.
New York : Harcourt etc. 1964 (?), p. 298.

From Bentham's Theory of Fictions, 1932 by Charles Kay Ogden

Language as we know it today is essentially the creation of savages—persons, not doubt, of broad minds and great ingenuity in some respects,¹ but holding less advanced views on the subtler aspects of science and jurisprudence. Science discovered their shortcomings several centuries ago, and in Bentham's view the legal profession would do well to follow scientific procedure.

' To whatever particular language the aggregate mass of discourse in question belongs, it will undeniably be in the greater degree apt with reference to the uses of human discourse taken in the aggregate, the more it abounds with words by which ambition and obscurity are excluded, or with words by means of which fresh and fresh degrees of conciseness are given to the body of language.

Every language being the work of the human mind, at a stage of great immaturity, reference had to the present state of it, hence it is, that in every language, the most apt, or say the least unapt, not excepted the demand for new words cannot but be great and urgent. In some of the departments of the field of language, including the field of thought and action, and the field of art and science, no reluctance at all as to this mode of enrichment has place :— on the other hand, in others such reluctance has place in a degree more or less considerable. Of this field, the portion in regard to which this reluctance seems to be most intense and extensive, is that which belongs to morals in general, and politics, including law and government, in particular :— of this reluctance, the inconsistency, and the evil effects that result from it to the uncontrovertible ends of human discourse, are apparent. '

¹ Malinowski, The Sexual Life of Savages, 1929.

New York, London, etc., 1932, p. cxxi.

 

From The Nature of Literature, 1942 by Thomas Clark Pollock

In his researches among the primitive peoples of Melanesia, Professor Bronislaw Malinowski noticed that savages frequently use words, not to assist in action, not to convey thought, not to evoke experience, but simply to establish the bonds of social communion between individuals. To this use of language he gave the name of phatic communion, and in so doing expressed a valuable discrimination. In civilized as in primitive communities human beings continually find it necessary to come into relationship with one another, and they frequently use conventional words, as they use smiles and other gestures, . . . simply to assist in this necessary social adjustment and to avoid strained silences. As Professor Malinwski says, "A mare phrase of politeness, in use as much among savage tribes as in a european drawing-room fuliflls a function to whichthe meaning of its words is almost completely irrelevant. Inquiries about health, comments on weather, affirmations of some supremely obvious state of things—all such are exchanged, not in order to inform, not in this case to to connect people in action, certainly not to express any thought. . . .    The modern Exglish expression, 'Nice day to-day' or the Melanesian phrase, 'Whence comest thou?' are needed to get over the strange and unpleasant tension which men feel when facing each other in silence." In phatic communion, "There need not or perhaps even there must not be antyhign to communicate. As long as there are words to exchange, phatic communion brings savage and civilized alike into the pleasant atmosphere of polite, social intercourse."³

    ³ B. Malinowski, "The Problem of Meaning in Primitive Languages," published as Supplement I to The Meaning of Meaning, Harcourt, Brace, 1936, pp. 313, 314, 316.

THE NATURE OF LITERATURE
Its Relation to Science, Language and Human Experience
Princeton University Press 1942, p. 166.

 

Bronislaw Malinowski was born in Krakow, Poland on April 7, 1884 to Lucyan and Jozefa Malinowski. His was an aristocratic and cultured family with deep scholarly interests. Through the acquisition of an outstanding education and many years of fieldwork, he became a very influential British anthropologist and the founder of Functionalism. He attended King John Sobieski public school then continued on to the University of Krakow where he received his Ph.D. in Philosophy, Physics and Mathematics in 1908. In 1913, he lectured at the London School of Economics where he earned his Ph.D. in Science in 1916. It was there that he read The Golden Bough by Sir James Frazer and sparked his interest in anthropology.

http://www.mnsu.edu/emuseum/information/biography/klmno/malinowski_bronislaw.html

 

 

Witkiewicz, Stanisław Ignacy, 1885-1939. Uniform Title [ Correspondence. Selections] Title Listy do Bronisława Malinowskiego / Stanisław Ignacy Witkiewicz ; wstępem opatrzył Edward C. Martinek ; przygotował do druku Tomasz Jodełka-Burzecki. Publisher Warszawa : Państwowy Instytut Wydawniczy, 1981. Description 127 p., [12] p. of plates : ill., ports. ; 19 cm. Note Bibliography: p. 44-[45] ISBN 8306005120 :