1885.] 4 J [Brintbn. 



On the surface, this is not apparent. Only one of the races 

 named — the Malayan — is monoglottic. All the others seem 

 to speak tongues with no genetic relationship, at least none in- 

 dicated by etymology. The profounder study of language, how- 

 ever familiar to modern science, leads to a different conclusion — 

 to one which, as cautiously expressed by a recent writer, teaches 

 that " every large, connected terrestrial area developed only one, 

 or scarcely more than one, fundamental linguistic type, and this 

 with such marked individuality that rarely did any of its lan- 

 guages depart from the general scheme."* 



This similarity is not to be looked for in likeness between 

 words, but in the inner structural development of tongues. To 

 ascertain and estimate such identities is a far more delicate 

 undertaking than to compare columns of words in vocabularies ; 

 but it is proportionately more valuable. 



This has yet to be done in any general way for the native 

 tongues of America, and what I here present may be considered 

 as merely clearing the road for some later investigator, well 

 equipped from the arsenal of the higher linguistics. 



The task — no light one — which such an investigator would 

 have, would be, first, to ascertain what structural traits form the 

 ground-plan or plans (if there are more than one) of the lan- 

 guages of the New World. Upon this ground-plan he would 

 find very different edifices have been erected, which, nevertheless, 

 can be classified into groups, each group marked by traits com- 

 mon to every member of it. These traits and groups he must 

 carefully define. Then would come the separate question as to 

 whether this community of traits has a genetic explanation or 

 not. If the decision were affirmative, we might expect conclu- 

 sions that would carry us much further than etymological com- 



* "Diese thatsachen scheinen darauf hinzudeuten, dass jeder grossere in sich 

 zusamrnenhangende Kindercomplex nur einen Oder doch nur ganz wenige 

 sprachgrundtypen herausbildet, so eigenartig, dass selteu eine sprache ganz aus 

 dern allgemeinen rahmen heraustrit.t." Dr. Heinrich Winkler, Uralaltaische 

 Volker unci Sprachen, s. 147 (Berlin, 1884). 



PROC. AMER. PHILOS. SOC. XXIII. 121. G. PRINTED OCTOBER 17, 1885. 



