CHAMBERS'S INFORMATION FOR NUMBER 62. CONDUCTED BY WILLIAM AND ROBERT CHAMBERS, EDITORS OF CHAMBERS'S LANGUAGE, in the largest sense of the term, may be defined as the means by which thought is expressed. Thought, as is well known, may be expressed by means of mute signs, as frowns, sighs, kind looks, gestures of the body; or by inarticulate sounds, as groans, cries, sobs, laughter. The first are usually called natural language, and the second inarticulate language; and these means of expression partly belong to the lower animals. Finally, there is articulate language, peculiar to man alone, and consisting of a multitude of sounds, each of which represents a distinct idea. To this last mode of expression, generally known by the simple term language, our attention is for the present to be directed. First, it is sufficiently clear that the vocal organs of ran are constituted with a view to his expressing himself by speech. The larynx, epiglottis, pharynx, tongue, palate, and lips, are all of them framed in such a manher as to show incontestibly that they were designed for producing such sounds as we employ in articulate language. It is scarcely less obvious that there is a distinct faculty of the mind for language. Some have powers of expression above all other intellectual endowments, so as to be considered as merely men of words. Others have good general powers of mind, but want adequate powers of expression, so that their gifts become of comparatively little use to their fellow-creatures. These diversities seem to show that language an intellectual faculty independent of all others. If, then, we consider that it is the nature of all faculties to be active, we can be at no loss to conceive how a variety of human beings, in a primitive condition, would begin to form language. They could not, indeed, be together, without beginning to use both their voices and mental gifts in a gabble, from which it would be but a work of time to resolve certain conventional Hounds, as expressive of particular ideas. The imitative faculty would also help to form language. Objects would be named by words formed from sounds connected with them, as the wind from its whistling noise, the cow from its lowing, and so on. The Celtic language, which is probably one of the first that existed upon earth, is full of such descriptive words. In our own language, we still speak of the mewing of the cat and the caring of rooks. The word cuckoo, so exactly descriptive of the note of the bird thus designated, ramifies through several languages. It is spelt coucou in French, and cuculo in Italian. The other point of view in which we may contemplate the hypothesis, is that furnished by observation of the proceedings of children and of uneducated persons in expressing their ideas. The first language of a child is that of inarticulate sounds; it cries when it is hungry, screams when it is angry, moans when it is in pain. A tender mother can tell the state of feeling of her infant by the tone of its voice. Similar to these would be the first indications of feeling in the members of a primitive society; and by such means, unquestionably, they would communicate their sensations to each other. As children take the next step in language by imitation of the speech of the persons around them, they furnish us with no evidence as to the first formation of words in a primitive society; yet it is remarkable that, while the first consonants which children learn to articulate are those which are called labials, because formed by a meeting of the lips, the words denoting father and mother are, in most languages, composed of that very class of consonants. The strong resemblance which subsists between the words in different languages expressive of the first social ties, is also worthy of observation. Thus, the word mother is Em and am in Hebrew and Arabic. Modor in Anglo-Saxon. Madr Matr Persian. Meter .. Greek. Moder Children and uninstructed persons show us how the next step would be taken-namely, how a word, originally applied to an individual or single object, would come to be applied to a whole species of similar objects. If a child, for instance, has been accustomed to call its father pa, it invariably, till it learns better, uses the same word with regard to any male stranger who may come into its presence. It considers that person as a pa. Adam Smith mentions that he had known a clown who did not know the proper name of the river which ran by his own door. It was the river, he said, and he knew no other name for it. His experience had not led him to observe any other river. The general word river, therefore, was, in his acceptation of it, a proper name signifying an individual object. If this person had been carried to another river, would he not, says Dr Smith, have readily called it a river? We can thus see how, in a primitive society, if any of the chance sounds of their first jargon came to be applied to a natural object, such as a certain mountain near by, or a cave in which they took shelter, that sound would come to have a general application whenever they became acquainted with another mountain or another cave. And, in point of fact, we have still in existence examples of such primitive applications. Uisk, the Celtic for water, is the original of the names of a vast number of rivers throughout the wide territories originally peopled by the Celts: for instance, the Esk in Scotland, the Ouse and Isis in England, the Ouse in Holland, the Aisch in Bavaria, the Esker in Turkey, and the Uska in Southern Russia. Grammarians have been struck by the remarkable fact, that the imperative mood is in most languages the simple form of the verb. For instance, in Latin, the imperative moods of the verbs, dicere, to say, sonare, to sound, vivere, to live, are dic, sona, vive. When, in Latin, the syllable bam is added to the imperative, it forms, in an immense number of instances, the imperfect of the indicative: thus, sona-bam, I did sound; vive-bam, I did live. This has suggested to philosophical inquirers into the origin of language, that entreaties and commands, expressions of the necessities and unregulated passions of primitive men, were the first form of the verb which they used, and that all other forms proceeded from these. Some even go so far as to say that this form of the verb must have preceded the formation of names of things. It is, however, generally admitted, that names of objects or nouns, and verbs, or words expressive of the motion and state of being of objects, were most probably the parts of speech first formed; and next to these, prepositions, or that class of words which define the motion of verbs and show the relations of objects. "The noun and verb," says an eminent writer, "had each its archetype in matter and motion; and the preposition that marked local relation, and the termination or auxiliary that denoted the tenses of a verb, had each its original in space and time long anterior to the appearance of man upon earth." Words expressive of the physical qualities of objects would probably be next introduced. Then words expressive of the nature, manner, quality, or intensity of the motions of those objects. The latter class of words grammarians have named adverbs. honoured. The names of nations, countries, rivers, lakes, and mountains, were originally compounded on the same principles; so that the proper names of loca lities in different countries still serve as a sign to indicate by what primitive race the regions so named were inhabited in past centuries. The social feelings must have speedily given rise to the possessive pronoun; for it is natural to suppose that men would early learn to say my father, my brother, my daughter. When division of property began to be instituted, the selfishness and acquisitiveness which form such active principles in human nature, would lead to the frequent use of the possessive pronoun, and to the odious distinctions between "mine and thine" (meum et tuum), which still create so much disturbance amongst us. Language, after being first concrete, and then metaphorical, became, in process of time, abstract. There are two kinds of metaphor which pervade all language. The first kind of metaphor is used when the name of any object, in which a particular quality predominates, is diverted from its original signification to denote a similar quality in some other noun. For instance, the name for was applied to men noted for their craftiness. A king of England was called Coeur de Lion, that is, heart of a lion, on account of his courageous deeds. The same kind of metaphor is used when we speak of the "silver moon." All languages abound with similar expressions. When the natives of Otaheite first saw horses, they called them "mighty hogs." The French call potatoes pommes de terre, literally, "apples of the earth.” When man began to compare the qualities of surrounding objects, and to form consecutive sentences, another set of words, called by grammarians conjunctions, would necessarily be introduced. The word conjunction is derived from con, with, and jungo, I join, because it joins sentences together. Interjections, or words intended to rouse the attention of the hearer, or to express the excitement of the speaker, would be used in the very earliest stages of society. The article, or word which is used to point out the noun, was apparently the last part of speech which was added to language. The other kind of metaphor is used when we adopt a term originally applied to some physical object to denote some metaphysical abstraction. It has been observed that a sort of natural analogy exists between what comes within the scope of the senses and the abstract conceptions of the mind. Hence the metaphors of all nations, in every stage of civilisation, are similar. No nation has yet been known to call truth darkness, or error light. Among all tribes, the word heart has been used metaphorically to express affection, the word rock to denote security, and sleep to signify death. The words used by the primitive members of society seem to have been all simple and uncompounded. What we now call compound words were, in many instances, originally composed of two distinct words, which, in process of time, have become inseparably joined. The two words which were united to form a third, were definitions of the object designated. Analogy and order can be traced in the construction of most primitive words; and it is probable that no word was originally formed from mere caprice. Even proper names, which now seem so destitute of signification, were originally indicative of some circumstance respecting the individuals or nations whom they designated. Thus, the King of the Goths, who was engaged in the destruction of the Roman empire, derived his name (Alarie) from two words signifying universal king. The name Ariovistus is compounded of two words which mean much When the primitive men, advancing from early necessities and simple tangible ideas, found it necessary to have words to represent the abstractions of the mind, they still proceeded according to the dictates and ans logies of nature. We have some trace of the course which they followed, in the history of the words which have been used to express the immaterial part of man. They felt that there was something within their corporeal frames which gave these impulse and direc tion, and they naturally formed the idea that this some thing was of an incorporeal nature. They also felt in the wind a something possessing strength and force, but which was impalpable to the sight. The wind, there fore, became at once a fitting emblem to describe the immaterial principle or soul of man. Hence, the Latin anima, the soul, is derived from the Sanscrit an, the wind. The Greek psyche, the soul, is connected with, and probably derived from, psychos, cold air. The Greek pneuma, a spirit (whence pneumatology, mental science), is from pneo, to blow. Our word spirit is from spiro, to breathe or blow. The Hebrew word for spirit signifies air or breath. Our word ghost or ghaist, a spirit, is of Saxon origin, and the same with gu blast of wind. These things evidently are so by virtee of a law of the mind, causing it every where to form the same ideas respecting the same things, and every where to pursue the same line of operations under cer tain circumstances. The first framers of language pursued a similar course whenever they wanted a word to express any conception of the mind. In all languages, every ter expressive of mental operations is borrowed from the material world. Some of the terms thus applied are singularly appropriate. For instance, the word refer tion signifies, primarily, the throwing or bending back of light; but, when applied metaphorically, it significs, says Locke, "the bending back of the mind to tar a view of its own operations." The same may be said of the verb to ruminate, which, in its original accepta tion, means the action of an animal in chewing th cud; but, metaphorically, it signifies the action of the mind in recalling and meditating upon the knowled (or mental food) previously acquired. Adjectives are constantly and familiarly used in a metaphorical sen Thus we say "a warm heart," "" a superior mind;" 65 adjective superior is simply a derivative from the Latin adjective superus, high. Prepositions are frequently used to convey metaphysical ideas. The words above, below, under, beneath, were originally applied to express the relations of natural objects. The primitive members of society, perceiving that the rain and the sunshine, the thunder and the lightning, proceeded from above, probably applied words synonymous with above to express what they admired and venerated in mental character. As below is the opposite to above, their ideas of what is degraded and vicious were expressed by terms synonymous with below: hence those common phrases "he is above deception," "she is under a mistake." In the present stage of language, we have become so habituated to the use of terms applied metaphorically, that we seldom reflect on their original import. There are many instances in which the metaphorical word remains, when its primary signification has been forgotten. For instance, the word capricious does not suggest the idea of a goat, although it is derived from the Latin caper, a goat, to denote the character of a person who bounds from subject to subject, without paying due attention to any; like a goat, which bounds from rock to rock, without settling long in any one spot. During one period of the world's history, the only language may be said to have been that of metaphor. History, religion, systems of philosophy and of morality, were all wrapt up in allegory and metaphor. This is still peculiarly the language of the Eastern nations; perhaps it is mainly attributable to their imaginative and poetic temperament. The language of poetry, in every clime, is almost exclusively that of metaphor. DIVERGENCE OF LANGUAGE. It is impossible, at this distance of time, to calculate the amount of influence which this incapacity of articulating certain sounds must have had during the first periods of the world's history, in occasioning the present divergences of languages. It is a matter of daily observation, that children have great difficulty in articulating certain sounds: every child has some particular way at first of pronouncing certain consonants, and uniformly exhibits the same peculiarity in the pronunciation of all words in which those particular consonants occur. Might not the dispersing children of a primitive society in this manner have carried away varieties of pronunciation, to be in time modified so far that resemblance was nearly or entirely lost? It seems natural to some men to sink certain consonants and to substitute others; this is particularly the case with those letters which have an organic affinity; thus, the Hebrew name David is in Greek Dabid. The Celtic word pen signifies an elevation; hence, the mountains which traverse Italy from north to south are called the Apennines. But the consonants which compose the word pen vary in different languages. Thus, in Scotland, we find the letter p converted into b in the names of mountains, as Ben Lomond, Ben Lawers, and Ben Nevis. In Spain, the consonants p and n are retained, but g is inserted; thus, in Biscay, there is a mountain called Pegna Cerrada, and another in Leon is called Pegna de San Romano. The Celtic word still retained in the Welsh language for a flow of water is awon: there are eight familiar instances in which the w in this word has been changed into v; for the name given to four different rivers in Wales, and to four in England, is Avon. Londoners make a constant practice of substituting v for w and w for v. It seems natural, also, to sink one part of a word and to retain another. Instances of these abbreviations are very frequent. Thus, the monosyllable priest is derived from the Greek reißúrigos (presbyteros). The words church and kirk both come from the two words xvgiou oxos (kuriču oikos), literally," the house of the Lord." The word deacon is derived from a word of four syllables, diazovos (di-ak-o-nos). From the Greek word yaλaxTos (galaktos), milk, the following words have sprung : Lacte in Latin. Leite .. Portuguese. Leche in Spanish. The remarkable divergence in the languages of different nations is in part attributable to the following causes-First, it is an ascertained fact, that few languages have any claim to be considered as the primitive dialect of any one race. Most languages afford indisputable traces of having been derived from some other language. Like many well-known operations in chemistry, by which the union of two or more substances produces a compound different in its properties and in its appearance from any one of its constituent parts, 50, in many instances, several languages have contributed to form a new language, differing in its structure according to the proportion in which its constituent elements have been combined, and yet possessing distinctive characteristics of its own. These character- The principal sounds in a word are frequently transistics frequently vary according to slight peculiarities posed. The natives of Somersetshire, for instance, in the anatomical structure of the vocal organs of the always say claps instead of clasp, aps instead of asp, individuals by whom it is spoken. It is well known birsh instead of brush. The word garnet is derived that many people find it difficult, and in some cases from the Latin granatus, and purpose from propositus. impossible, to pronounce certain consonants. A foreigner False orthography may also have been the cause of has great difficulty in articulating the English th, in some variations in languages. A few centuries ago, it such words as thine, thee, and that. The English, on was considered marvellous when a gentleman or lady the other hand, seldom succeed in giving the right could either read or write. Du Guesclin, Constable of pronunciation to the guttural sound ch, which is of France, who died towards the close of the fourteenth such frequent occurrence in the German language, and century, could not sign his own name. During these which is daily pronounced by the natives of Scotland, periods of ignorance, many changes must have been is such words as loch, light, and many others. Many made in the methods of spelling, and consequently of persons are said to lisp, because they cannot pronounce pronouncing words. Inattention and the love of novelty the sound sh. The Ephraimites forfeited their lives may also be assigned as causes of many divergences in from their incapacity of pronouncing this sound. If languages. the Greeks had been at the fords of Jordan, they would likewise have found themselves in a similar predicament, for the syllable sh does not occur in the Greek language. The word shibboleth means an ear of corn, and in the Septuagint it is rendered by the word oraxus (atachus), which in Greek has the same signification as the Hebrew shibboleth; but no Greek word could be found to express the sound sh; therefore in the Septagint the narrative is imperfect. The natives of Jaheite could not be taught to say Captain Cook. They always called him Taptain Toot. The letter o does not In all these words the first syllable of the original is omitted, and only part of the remaining syllables retained. occur in their alphabet. A dialect is now in the process of formation in the West Indies, which has greatly attracted the attention of philologists, because it develops the principle upon which all languages at present existing are presumed to have been formed. It is called the Talkee-talkee, or Negro dialect. Its basis is the modern English, with which it combines many Dutch, Portuguese, and Spanish phrases. When a Negro attempts to speak English, he finds a difficulty in pronouncing the sound th, and substitutes d; he introduces vowels, even where they do not properly occur; and softens the language by omitting the harsh consonants, frequently substituting liquid ones. All these peculiarities are of course found in this new language; for instance, drie is three in Talkeetalkee; dem is them; bakka is back; holi is hold; bruiloft is bridal; wilni is wine; morro is more. The language still retains so much English, that our countrymen in the colonies can generally understand it. A version of the Scriptures in this language has been issued by the Bible Society. Many objections were made to this version. Those who contemplated the future mental emancipation of the Negro, contended that, by giving stability to a mere barbarous and fluctuating jargon, it was shutting up the avenue to future improvement; and that, though it might be advantageous to place the Scriptures within the comprehension of the Negro, yet that this version would render all the literature of England and of the world inaccessible to him, unless it could be possible to convey it in the barbarous Talkee-talkee. Time only can show whether the Talkee-talkee is destined to hold a higher place than it does at present in the scale of languages. A period might be mentioned when the English language was in a similar state of dissonance and incongruity. It is, as we shall hereafter require to mention, composed, like the Talkee-talkee, of a heterogeneous medley of languages; but its jarring elements are now amalgamated, and it is universally admitted to be one of the most polished languages of the world, The political history and government of a country have considerable influence upon its language. In an enlightened community, in which a judicious attention is paid to the elementary education of the whole people on a uniform plan, varieties of dialect must in time almost cease, and a common style of speech be used. But where little attention is paid to this subject, or where no uniform principle is pursued, all kinds of jargons and dialects will abound. Great Britain is at present in the latter condition; the dialects of Yorkshire, Lancashire, Somersetshire, Cornwall, and some other counties, bear little resemblance to a pure English speech. A uniform system of education, communicated by teachers sent forth from a central institution, along with a greater intercourse by means of travelling, might be expected in time to eradicate this unseemly diversity. CLASSIFICATION AND ANALOGIES OF LANGUAGES. both the passive form of the verb and the inflected cases of the noun. The remaining step of simplification was, to substitute the natural distinctions of gender for those previously in use, which were formed on arbitrary principles, depending chiefly on the termi nation, and to do away with the necessity of making the adjective agree with the noun in gender and number. This was effected by the English. The whole history of this process reminds us of that of many mechanical inventions, which at first were complex in the extreme, but which by degrees were made to part first with one unnecessary wheel, and then with another, thus becoming more and more simple in their structure, and perhaps more available for the purposes for which they were designed. As grammatical systems are thus found to vary in process of time, and in languages, too, which are evidently derived from the same root, languages are classified more with regard to their vocabulary than according to the structure of their grammar. In the best systems of classification, parti cular attention has been paid to the agreement in sound of those words which are used in the first stages of society. When terms expressive of hunger, thirst, the sun, moon, stars, are found nearly alike in several languages, it is apparent that the nations by which they are used belonged, in bygone centuries, to the same tribe, and migrated from the same district. The study of languages often enables us to trace the origin of nations, when all other avenues of information are lost in obscurity and fable, and it is hence, in other words, the study of man's history. We are mainly indebted to the German critics for whatever advance may have been made in the comparative study of languages. Adelung, a German, was among the first who awakened the attention of Europe to this important study, and he has been followed by his countrymen Grimm, Bopp, and others whom it is needless to mention. It appears that the result of an extensive study of languages, is the conviction that two sorts of analogy prevail among them: first, a resemblance in words; and, secondly, in grammatical structure. Three different grammatical systems seem to prevail among languages; that is to say, the formation of parts of speech, and of the inflections from the primitives of the language, may be effected in three different ways namely, first, by changes in the letters which compose the roots; second, by the addition of formative syllables to the root; and, third, by the use of separate words, instead of inflecting the roots. Which of these systems is the most ancient, is a question which has created much dispute. Humboldt, Bopp, and also Adam Smith, contend that the second method was the first adopted. It appears, from the history of languages, that, with the remarkable exception of the Chinese, in which the relations of syntax supply the place of inflected words, a gradual progress of simplification has been going on in all languages. Thus the Greek and most of the Oriental languages have a passive form of the verb, inflected cases of the noun, and a dual form. The Latin, which probably was partly derived from the Greek, retained the passive verb and inflected declensions, but rejected the dual form. The Italian and French, which were derived from the Latin, rejected The number of languages and dialects, ancient and modern, has been computed by Adelung to be 3064: namely It would take more space than our limits permit to give a tabular view of all languages: the following summary contains the principal families, and the classes in which they are generally placed : I. Monosyllabic Class.-Chinese, Siamese, Avanese, Japanese. II. Shemetic or Semetic Class-Aræmean (Chaldee, Syriac), Hebrew, Phoenician, Arabic. III. Indo-European or Indo-Germanic Class.-Sanscrit, Celtic, Teutonic or Gothic, Pelasgic or GrecoLatin, Sclavonic, Hungarian, Tartarian or Turkish. IV. The Polynesian Class, consisting of the dialects spoken in the Indian archipelago and islands of the South Seas. V. The African Class.-Reinains of the ancient Lybian in the north; Soosoo and Foulah (between the rivers Senegal and Gambia); Ashantee; Amaare, spoken in parts of Abyssinia; Hottentot, in the south; Caffre, extending from the south along the east coast as far as Delagoa Bay. VI. Polysynthetic Class, extending from north to south of both continents of America, and comprising Chilian, Peruvian, Brazilian, Mexican, Western dialects of North America, Boreal dialects of North America, &c. The contrast between the first and the last of these classes, presents an apparent anomaly. The Chinese languages have existed among a polished people from very remote antiquity, and yet are as rude and simple as if they had been just devised for the use of a nation but recently emerged from barbarism; whereas the languages in common use among the wild tribes of America, are complex and difficult in their structure and seem as if they had been invented by a people who had made great advances in civilisation. It has consequently been surmised that America was at one time the residence of a civilised people, of whom the Indian tribes are the degenerated remains. WRITTEN LANGUAGE. characters are 214 in number, and are called keys. These The first origin of written language may be traced to a desire, apparently natural to man, to perpetuate a record of his actions, thoughts, and feelings, beyond the narrow span of his own existence: he knows that the past is no longer his, that the present is fast fleeting away, and therefore he seeks to be in some way connected with the future. Even savages devise means of transmitting to their children's children a record of themselves. The American Indians at this day carve upon the handles of their tomahawks figures of warriors without heads, to denote how many of their enemies they have scalped. The Mexican picture-writing appears to have been equally simple. When the Spaniards first invaded Mexico, the natives painted an exact representation of the Spanish ships upon cloth, which they sent as expresses to their emperor, Montezuma. The records of their empire were delineated in the same manner. A conquered town was represented by a house, generally with some emblem annexed, to show what particular town was meant. Some of these paintings, which may well be considered as the most curious specimens of art which have yet been discovered in America, are carefully preserved in the Bodleian Library at Oxford. The representation of natural objects seems to have been the first step which was taken in the art of writing. The next step was probably the delineation of invisible ideas by symbolic representations; such, for instance, as strength, which was represented by the figure of a lion, on account of the great strength of that animal. As civilisation adFaneed, more time was devoted to writing, and it was then discovered that part of an object would represent an idea as well as the whole. Thus, a sceptre was made to represent a king. Smoke ascending, symbolised fire. A battle was represented by two hands, one holding a bow and the other a shield. By degrees, these signs became conventional; that is to say, it became a matter of agreement that certain ideas should be represented by certain signs. This kind of symbolic writing was much in use among the Egyptians. It has been proved by Champollion, who devoted twenty years to the investigation of the subject, that the symbolic characters which they used were limited to 864, which he has arranged under the following eighteen classes :- Total, 864 The reason of this limitation is very obvious. As all natural objects might be used as symbols, the number of characters might have been multiplied ad infila, unless regulations had been made to restrict the number. By degrees, as these characters became universally known as fixed and permanent signs of the ideas they represented, less trouble was taken in their accurate delineation, so that they were made less and less like the visible object of which they were originally the image. At length, all traces of resemblance were lost, but the character, in its abridged and mutilated form, still continued to be conventionally recognised as the sign of the same idea of which it was originally the symbol. This is the exact state in which the written III. DEMOTIC, SO called from dnuorixos (dēmotikos), “ of the people," because it was in common use. It was also called epistolographic. Another name for it is enchorial, from syxwgios (egchorios), "of the country," because the characters were different from those of Greece. This kind of writing was a still further reduction or simplification of the others, approaching very nearly to the Chinese method. Nothing was known in Europe respecting the meaning By degrees, as knowledge increased, and as writing HEBREW LETTERS. It ap ΝΑΜΕ. MEANING. Beth. Ox. Vau. Armour. This table might be extended throughout the whole language of China now stands. The elementary Chinese Hebrew alphabet, but the foregoing examples will suf 181 |