18&5.] «^1' [Brinton. 



number of needless accessories are brought into every sen- 

 tence. 



The nature of the relations expressed by inflections may be 

 manifold, and it is one of the tasks of philosophic grammar to 

 analyze and classify them witli reference to the direction of 

 mental action they imply. 



It is evident that where these relations are varied and numer- 

 ous, the language gains greatly in picturesqueness and force, and 

 thus reacts with a more stimulating effect on the mind. 



§ 8. The Development of Languages. 



Humboldt believed tbat in this respect languages could be 

 divided into three classes, each representing a stage in progres- 

 sive development. 



In the first and lowest stage all the elements are material and 

 significant, and there are no true formal parts of speech. 



Next above this is where the elements of relation lose their 

 independent significance tohere so used, but retain it elsewhere. 

 The words are not yet fixed in grammatical categories. There is 

 no distinction between verbs and nouns except in use. The plural 

 eonve3's the idea of many, but the singular not strictly that of unity. 



Highest of all is that condition of language where every word 

 is subject to grammatical law and shows by its form what cate- 

 gory it comes under ; and where the relational or formal elements 

 convey no hint of anything but this relation. Here, only, does 

 language attain to that specialization of parts where each ele- 

 ment subserves its own purpose and no other, and here only does 

 it correspond with clear and connected thinking. 



These expressions, however, must not be understood _ in a 

 genetic sense, as if historically one linguistic class had preceded 

 the other, and led up to it. Humboldt entertained no such view. 

 He distinctly repudiated it. He did not believe in the evolution 

 of languages. The diff'erences of these classes are far more 

 radical than that of sounds and signs; they reach down to the 

 fundamental notions of things. His teaching was that a lan- 

 guage without a passive voice, or without a grammatical gender 

 can never acquire one, and consequently it can never perfectly 

 express the conceptions corresponding to these features.* 



* See these teachings clearly set forth in his Essay, Ueber das verolcichende 

 Sprachstudiuni in Beziehung auf die verschiedenen Epochen der Sprachentwick- 

 lung, Werke, Bd. iii, especially, s. 255 and s. 262. 



