HUMAN SPEECH 51 



certain contradicting statements notwithstanding, that languages are 

 to be found in which this phonetic definiteness is lacking and in which 

 individual variation of pronunciation takes place practically without 

 limit. It is of course freely granted that a certain amount of sound 

 variation exists in every language, but it is important to note that such 

 variation is always very limited in range and always takes place about 

 a well-defined center. All known forms of speech, then, operate with a 

 definite apparatus of sounds; statements to the contrary will in most 

 cases be found to rest either on a faulty perception on the part of the 

 recorder of sounds unfamiliar to his ear or on his ignorance of regular 

 sound processes peculiar to the language. Naturally the actual phonetic 

 systems found in various languages, however much they may resemble 

 each other in this fundamental trait of definiteness, differ greatly in 

 content, that is in the sounds actually employed or neglected. This is 

 inevitable, for the vast number of possible and indeed existing speech 

 sounds makes an unconscious selection necessary. Even so, however, 

 it is at least noteworthy with what persistency such simple vowel 

 sounds as a and i and such consonants as n and s occur in all parts of 

 the world. 



Even more than in their phonetic systems languages are found to 

 differ in their morphologies or grammatical structures. Yet also in 

 this matter of grammatical structure a survey from a broad point of 

 view discloses the fact that there are certain deep-lying similarities, 

 very general and even vague in character, yet significant. To begin 

 with, we find that each language is characterized by a definite and, 

 however complex, yet strictly delimited grammatical system. Some 

 languages exhibit a specific type of morphology with greater clearness 

 or consistency than others, while some teem with irregularities; yet in 

 every case the structure tends to be of a definite and consistently car- 

 ried out type, the grammatical processes employed are quite limited in 

 number and nearly always clearly developed, and the logical categories 

 that are selected for grammatical treatment are of a definite sort and 

 number and expressed in a limited, however large, number of gram- 

 matical elements. In regard to the actual content of the various mor- 

 phologies, we find, as already indicated, vast differences, yet here again 

 it is important to note with what persistence certain fundamental log- 

 ical categories are reflected in the grammatical systems of practically 

 all languages. Chief among these may be considered the clear-cut dis- 

 tinction everywhere made between denominating and predicating terms, 

 that is between subject and predicate, or, roughly speaking, between 

 substantive and verb. This does not necessarily imply that we have in 

 all cases to deal with an actual difference in phonetic form between 

 noun and verb, though as a matter of fact such differences are generally 

 found, but simply that the structure of the sentence is such as to show 



