Language and State: An Inquiry into the Progress of Civilization

Xing Yu

Sep 2013 · University Press of America

About this ebook

This book argues that a primitive society is formed on the basis of kinship ties while a civilized society is formed on the basis of linguistic communication. When humans communicate with each other through language, they extend the distance of communication. The extension of communication distance helps expand communities. States are gradually formed. This means that as these communities grow, they become too large to be supported only by the ties of kinship. The use of language and the development of linguistic communication underlies the establishment of governments, the introduction of laws, the holding of elections, and the flourishing of history, philosophy, literature, art, religion, etc. This book presents a new theory about the importance of language in the growth of the states.

About the author

Xing Yu is a political scientist who taught at two universities in China in the 1980s and 1990s. He obtained a bachelor’s degree in art from Sichuan Foreign Languages Institute in Chongqing, China in 1982, and a master’s degree in law from Fudan University in Shanghai, China in 1985. He now works as a freelance writer and translator in British Columbia, Canada.