Babbling and babblers in the works of Jean-Jacques Rousseau

Rousseau’s use of “babbling” works on a number of levels, but never in the one context readers might expect—that of the noises made by young children. It primarily relates to a way of “speaking to say nothing,” which is often thoughtlessly encouraged in children, thereby training their minds to be flighty and vain. But it is also produced in two situations in which it is necessary to open one’s heart and “say everything,” those of confession and intimacy.