CHAP. IV.J LANGUAGE. 83 



action which gives expression to that idea. As in the over 

 whelming majority of instances that bodily action Kational 

 is vocal, these two component parts of speech have meftS^nd 

 been distinguished respectively as the verbum men- b 

 tale and the verbum oris ; but as such bodily expression is 

 not exclusively vocal, they might, perhaps, be better distin 

 guished as the verbum mentale and the verbum eorporis. The 

 essence of rational language is mental a primary intellec 

 tual power and activity ; while the secondary part, the ex 

 ternal expression (the verbum eorporis), follows the intel 

 lectual activity, as is made evident by our constant process 

 of inventing fresh terms in each science to denote new or 

 better-defined expressions. 



Great ambiguity and confusion, however, exists as to the 

 different senses in which the term language may be Different 

 used, and as to the different kinds of activity language. 

 evoked by it. As has been just said, Kational expression is 

 not exclusively oral, nor is all articulate speech rational. 

 We may altogether distinguish six different kinds of lan 

 guage : 



1. Sounds which are neither articulate nor rational, such 



as cries of pain, or the murmur of a mother to her 

 infant. 



2. Sounds which are articulate but not rational, such as 



the talk of parrots, or of certain idiots, who will re 

 peat, without comprehending, every phrase they hear. 



3. Sounds which are rational but not articulate, such as 



the inarticulate ejaculations by which we sometimes 

 express assent to or dissent from given propositions. 



4. Sounds which are both rational and articulate consti 



tuting true &quot; speech.&quot; 



5. Gestures which do not answer to rational conceptions, 



but are merely the manifestations of emotions and 

 feelings. 



6. Gestures which do answer to rational conceptions, and 



are therefore &quot; external &quot; but not &quot;oral&quot; manifesta 

 tions of the verbum mentale. Such are many of the 



G 2 



