Download or read book On the Origin of Language written by Jean-Jacques Rousseau and published by University of Chicago Press. This book was released on 2012-04-26 with total page 187 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: This volume combines Rousseau's essay on the origin of diverse languages with Herder's essay on the genesis of the faculty of speech. Rousseau's essay is important to semiotics and critical theory, as it plays a central role in Jacques Derrida's book Of Grammatology, and both essays are valuable historical and philosophical documents.