93 PRINCIPLES OF LINGUISTIC SCIENCE. 



our Bible translation, to Sbakspeare, and much is found which is no longer good 

 English. Go back five hundred years, to Chaucer, and our own tongue is only 

 partially intelligible to us. Another five hundred years carries us to the Anglo- 

 Saxon of King Alfred, a totally strange form of speech, as much so as the 

 modern German ; and yet each one of the thirty or forty generations between 

 lis and Alfred was as singly intent on transmitting to its successor the language 

 it received from its predecessor as is our OAvn. 



^'hesc facts and conditions are of universal occurrence in linguistic history. 

 All language is handed down in the manner described, and is subject to the 

 same disturbing forces. The process of transmission always has been, and al- 

 ways will be, imperfect. Ko tongue remains the same during a long period of 

 time. This is the fundamental fact on which rests the whole method of lin- 

 guistic investigation. 



We see now what is meant when language is spoken of as having an inde- 

 pendent existence, as being organic, or an organism, as growing or developing, 

 and so on. These are only figurative modes of speech. Language has no ex- 

 istence, save in tlu; minds and mouths of those who employ it. It is an aggre- 

 gate of signs of thought, deriving their significance from the intelligent agree- 

 ment of speakers and hearers. It is in their power, and subject to their Avill. 

 As they maintain it in existence, so their consenting action modifies and alters 

 it. It cannot be changed hastily or capriciously, because it depends upon gen- 

 eral consent, which can be won only for such modifications and extensions as 

 are in accordance with its already established rules. Individuals are constantly 

 trying experiments of alteration upon it, with childish errors of expression, with 

 bad grammar, with slang, with artificial turns of phrase, and arbitrarily coined 

 words. But these are, for the most part, only laughed at as blunders, or put 

 down as mannerisms and vulgarisms. Individual authority, except in special 

 cases, is too weak to force itself upon public opinion. The speakers of lan- 

 guage constitute a republic, in Avhich authority is conferred only by universal 

 suffrage, and for due cause. High political rank does not give power over 

 speech. The grammatical blunders of an emperor do not become the rule to 

 his subjects. But individuals are allowed to introduce novelties and changes 

 into the general speech ; thus, for instance, to name their own inventions or 

 discoveries, if they do it discreetly ancl suitably ; and great masters of the art of 

 speech, poets, orators, are permitted to touch even the more intimate and sacred 

 parts of language. Is it called fqr 1 is it in accordance with the usages and 

 analogies of the language? is it offered or supported by good authority? — 

 such are the consideraticms by which, in any given case, general consent is 

 won or repelled, and this decides whether the proposed change shall be ire- 

 jected, or shall become part and parcel of the universal speech. 



As, then, an organic being grows by the gradual accretion of homogeneous 

 organic matter, as its existing parts and processes form the new addition, in order 

 to help the life and functional action of the being, so language extends by the 

 addition of material accordant with its substance, evolved by its formative 

 methods, and intended to secure the end of its existence, the expression of the 

 thoughts of those who speak and write it. It thus presents striking and in- 

 structive analogies with organic life ; but to call it an organism outright, as some 

 do, and to claim that its growth is independent of human agency, and that its 

 study is, therefore, to be ranked among the physical sciences, is palpably and 

 seriously to misinterpret it. Language is an institution, constantly midergoing, 

 at the hands of those who us(> it, adaptation to their varying circumstances and 

 needs. Between all determining causes and their results in its development 

 stands, as middle term, the human mind, seeking and choosing expression for 

 human thought.' Its every part is a historical product. Its study is a historical 

 Bcieuce, a branch of the study of the human race, and of human institutions. 



