LITERARY NOTICES. 



369 



eralize their minds ; but the many derived 

 from their toilsome labors absolutely no 

 fruit. On the contrary, this mill-horse toil- 

 ing up and down, and round and round, ever 

 treading the same old tracks of declension 

 and conjugation, ever "parsing" and trans- 

 lating without being able to see whither it 

 all tended, could serve only to dull and 

 deaden all the faculties of the mind, and to 

 stamp out all originality. 



The old school in language had a theory 

 of the oiigin of the various tongues of man- 

 kind : they all sprang from one the He- 

 brew. Whether true or false, this theory 

 was unproductive of results which could, 

 by any possil)ility, inform or instruct the 

 mind, for it was at the same time affirmed 

 that the descendants of the Hebrew language 

 were purposely so distorted that human in- 

 genuity would ever fail to show a connec- 

 tion between the children and the parent, 

 or between the children themselves. But, by 

 the researches of modern scholars, even the 

 arbitrary (for so they, till recently, seemed 

 to be) modifications of words, as found in 

 declension, conjugation, and the like, have 

 been traced to their sources, and good rea- 

 sons ascertained why they are thus and not 

 otherwise. In this way caprice is elimi- 

 nated from language, and law set up in its 

 place ; language is made amenable to scien- 

 tific treatment. 



Prof. Whitney's book outlines with won- 

 derful clearness the science of language; 

 and in the deservedly popular series to 

 which it belongs there is not one volume 

 which surpasses this as a simple and lucid 

 exposition of a scientific theme. His method 

 is to start from obvious, familiar truths, to 

 exemplify by facts that are well known, and 

 hence he is always, in his speculations, with- 

 in easy reach of the reader. This common- 

 sense mode of treating his subject is seen in 

 Prof. Whitney's discussion of the question, 

 How is language obtained by us ? " There 

 are few," he says, " who would not at once 

 reply that we learn our language ; it is taught 

 us by those among whom our lot is cast in 

 childhood." And this reply the author ac- 

 cepts as the true one, rejecting two other 

 answers : that language is a race-character- 

 istic, and as such inherited from one's par- 

 ents, like the physical constitution ; and 

 that it is independently produced by each 



individual, in the natural course of his 

 bodily and mental growth. Tlie author 

 then proceeds to show that language is not 

 inherited, and that it is not evolved by the 

 mind of the individual, but simply learned, 

 acquired by hearing and practice. 



As an illustration of the influence upon 

 language of conservative and alterative 

 forces. Prof Whitney very happily selects a 

 verse (Matthew xii. 1) from the Anglo-Saxon 

 Gospels and compares it with the same verse 

 in our modern English : " Se Hselend for on 

 reste-doeg ofer seceras ; soihlice his leorning- 

 cnihtas hyngrede, and hi ongunnon pluc- 

 cian thu ear and etan." Modern version : 

 "Jesus went on the Sabbath-day through 

 the corn ; and his disciples were an hungred 

 and began to pluck the ears of corn and to 

 eat." In the Anglo-Saxon version it is not 

 easy for the ordinary English reader to rec- 

 ognize the words as familiar, and yet, by 

 translating it as Uterally as we can, we find 

 that almost every element in it is still good 

 English. Thus: The Healing (one) iared 

 on rest-day over (the) acres ; soothly, his 

 learning-knights (it) hungered, and they be- 

 gan (to) pluck the ears and eat. By means 

 of this one passage Prof. Whitney indicates 

 all the change-influences to which language 

 is subject. These are: "I. Alterations of 

 the old material of language ; cJiange in the 

 words which are still retained as tlie sub- 

 stance of expression ; and this of two kinds 

 or sub-classes: 1. Change in altered form; 

 2. Change in content or signification. II. 

 Losses of the old material of language, dis- 

 appearance of what has been in use ; and 

 this also of two kinds: 1. Loss of complete 

 words ; 2. Loss of grammatical forms and 

 distinctions. III. Production of new mate- 

 rial ; additions to the old stock of a lan- 

 guage, in the way of new words or new 

 forms ; external expansion of the resources 

 of expression." Five chapters of the work 

 are devoted to an exposition of the influence 

 of these various causes upon language. 



We have not space for more than mere 

 mention of the titles of the remaining chap- 

 ters of the work, viz.. Dialects ; Indo-Euro- 

 pean Language ; Linguistic Structure ; Ma- 

 terial and Form in Language ; Other Families 

 of Language : their Locality, Age, and Struct- 

 ure ; Language and Ethnology ; Nature and 

 Origin of Language. 



VOL. VII.- 



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