Bow-wow theory

A bow-wow theory is any of the theories by various scholars, including Jean-Jacques Rousseau and Johann Gottfried Herder, on the origins of human language.
Bow-wow theories suggest that the first human languages developed as onomatopoeia, imitations of natural sounds. The name "bow-wow theory" was coined by Max Müller, a philologist who was critical of the notion. The bow-wow theory is largely discredited as an account of the origin of language, though some contemporary theories suggest that general imitative abilities may have played an important role in the evolution of language.