THE PSYCHOLOGY OF LANGUAGE. 817 
We have dwelt at some length on the phenomena exhibited 
by a very young child, because there the feelings are scarcely 
(if at all) restrained by reason. We may observe similar 
phenomena in all cases where sentiment prevails over 
reason. Moreover, in the case of the child, the phenomena 
are simple, for feeling is not yet modified and complicated 
by reason. From our observation of the child, we can best 
realise the nature of our language in its origin, for all human 
beings have to pass through that stage of existence. It is 
from the child that we learn that language is not, in the 
first instance, a thing that is taught or learnt, but it is a 
natural, spontaneous expression of the feelings that are 
active in the soul. 
The first beginning of actual language occurs when the 
speaker realises that the sound indicates thought. He must 
understand his own speech before he can endeavour to make 
others understand it. But he will not seek to understand 
the sounds he utters until he desires to communicate his 
thought to someone else. Then he will find that sound is 
not only the most convenient means of attracting attention, 
but it is also more capable of expressing thoughts than any 
other means at his command. Even imitative gesture fails 
at a distance, and in the dark, and can at best express only 
a small number of simple thoughts. 
Moreover, the speaker feels, though he may not be able 
to account for the feeling, that there is inherent in the 
succession of sounds a power of expressing and conveying 
feelings. A single tone may convey little meaning; but, as 
soon as two tones are heard, or sounded together or in succes- 
sion, there is, besides the effect of the tones themselves, the 
feeling connected with the interval between them. If the 
second note is in harmonic agreement with the first, there 
is a corresponding feeling of harmony and pleasure produced 
in the soul of the hearer. If, on the other hand, the second 
note is not a “harmonic” of the first, there is a feeling of 
unrest, of disturbance, produced in the soul, and this feeling 
continues unless and until the discord is felt to be but a 
transition to another state of rest and concord. The ear, 
like every other organ of perception, remembers and expects, 
and the effect of sounds on the soul depends on this expecta- 
tion being gratified or disappointed. 
The conflicting vibrations of discordant sounds are re 
ceived by the nerves of hearing, are by them conveyed to 
the central station of the soul, and occasion conflicting im- 
pulses which disturb the balance of the nervous system. 
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