The first example involves the sixth of the books in the Chronicles of Narnia series, The Magician's Nephew. In this book, the great lion Aslan (who represents Christ Himself) creates the world of Narnia. Out of all the animals he creates, he chooses some to receive the gift of language. In being given language, they are given, in effect, a soul. In addition, they are warned that if they disobey Aslan, they will lose the ability to speak, and thus become mere "dumb animals. " This actually happens in the final book in the series, The Last Battle. As Aslan brings the existence of Narnia to an end, all of the creatures, living and dead, from that world are forced to face him as they travel through a magical door. Some look at him and lose their abililty to speak. These animals disappear into Aslan's shadow. The others, who retain the power of speech, are welcomed into his paradise. Obviously, Lewis meant this to be a Narnian version of the Last Judgment.
The second example involves That Hideous Strength, the last book in Lewis' science fiction trilogy. In this book, the villains, who are associated with the fictional National Institute of Coordinated Experiments (NICE), are attempting to impose radical social engineering on Britain, while being--unwittingly--under the power of demonic forces. They have discovered that the great magician Merlin of Arthurian legend is in fact not dead, but merely awaiting a resuscitation after centuries' of sleep. They hope to recruit Merlin to their side in order to use his magical powers to achieve their own aims. They are opposed by a small band of Christians led by Ransom, the hero of the two earlier books in the series. As it turns out, Merlin is a Christian and he joins forces with Ransom and his associates. He is sent to NICE as an instrument of angelic powers, to destroy it. The first stage of this process of destruction occurs during a banquet honoring the titular director of NICE. During the banquet, the attendees begin to speak gibberish, revealing that they have lost the power of human speech--the first stage in their punishment. This, of course, recalls the story of the Tower in Babel in the Bible, which Lewis clearly alludes to in the title of the book, which is taken from an old poem about the Tower of Babel.
In short, for Lewis, language in and of itself is a moral good, as it is a gift from the Creator. Given some of the evidence I have presented in earlier blog postings bringing into question the notion that human language evolved in a Darwinian sense, I would say that Lewis is clearly justified in expressing such an idea. This is just another example of what a profound thinker Lewis really was. Thus, it is not surprising that fifty years after his death, Lewis' legacy endures.
Image of C. S. Lewis from telegraph.co.uk