100 PROCEEDINGS OF THE CAXADIAX INSTITUi E. 



the qualifying adverbs had come into use, some youth in whom the- 

 linguistic instinct was particularly strong, would hit upon a compen- 

 dious mode of expressing the sense of these qualifying words, not by 

 incorporating them with the vei'b or the noun, but by changing the 

 vowel of the verb or the noun to coiTespond with that of the adverb. 

 The difference in the two methods is easily understood, and we can 

 readily see how either of them might occur to an intelligent boy or 

 girl. If bodha signifies " to know," and am or ami is '• I," and an ia 

 " then," the Aryan lad might affix the pronoun to the verb, and for 

 "I know," would say succinctly, bodhami, know I. If he wishes to 

 s]jeak of a past time, he will prefix the adverb in an abridged form, 

 and for ease of pronunciation will shorten the suffixed pronoun. In- 

 stead of saying an bodhami, "then know I," he will say, briefly, but 

 intelligibly, abolham, and thus produce the Aryan imperfect with its 

 Avell-known " augment." Another lad, the leader in a second 

 isolated group, has been accustomed to use the word daraba for 

 " strike " or " struck," in a vague and general sense, with no ])articu- 

 lar reference to time. He wishes on some occasion to say distinctly, 

 " now striking." Hu is " now " or " here," and he might say, " hu 

 daraba ; " but a quick sense of euphony suggests to him the happy 

 idea of changing the vowels of the verb to correspond with that of the 

 adverb ; he says, " darubu," or, in an abridged form (with the pro- 

 noun prefixed) yadrubu, " he is now striking ; " and his companions, 

 with equally ready appi-ehension, at once catch his meaning, and con- 

 form to his method of speaking. The germ of a new system of inflec- 

 tion is thus formed, and is quickly developed into a language of the 

 Semitic type. This, however, it should be observed, is not the only 

 mode in which languages of this type may have originated. As we 

 shall see presently, there is evidence to show that the method of in- 

 flection by internal vocalic change may have been, in some cases, 

 among the very earliest products of the language-making faculty. 



The logical result to which we are brought by our course ol 

 reasoning is evident enough. The indeetions of a language must be 

 coeval with the language itself, and must originate ivith its first speak- 

 ers. This, as has been seen, is the view of Renan. But no writer 

 has expressed more clearly and forcibly than Professor Max Miiller 

 the important truth, that the mould of each linguistic stock bears> 

 evidence of having been formed at once for all time. " In the gram- 



