/ ; 



48 SOCIAL HEREDITY AND SOCIAL EVOLUTION 



at first a star, a sun, a lamp, or a fire, or anything 

 bright. The child has conceived the general idea of 

 brightness and uses this word to apply to this qual- 

 ity. The word ' ' papa ' ' means at first a combination 

 of trousers and whiskers and applies to one man as 

 well as another. He has distinguished between the 

 class of mammas and papas. Later he confines the 

 word to a particular person of the class, but only 

 after years does he come to know what ''papa" 

 really means. The fewer his words the broader their 

 meaning, and as he advances in speaking it is by 

 constantly narrowing the use of the words. Illus- 

 trations are unnecessary. The significant point is 

 that in learning to use language the child begins like 

 an animal. In the first few months he uses only in- 

 tonations and gestures ; but he soon begins to apply 

 sounds, which he learns by imitation, to the crude 

 indefinite impressions made upon him by his sur- 

 roundings. The first words he uses are not the 

 fundamental words of the language, but are such as 

 express his growing experiences. They are the same 

 kind of experiences which animals possess, and 

 which they too express after a fashion, though, of 

 course, the animal never reaches the word stage. 



Primitive Language 



It cannot be too strongly emphasized that the use 

 of word language comes to the child from the imita- 

 tion of his elders and not as a spontaneous develop- 

 ment on the part of the individual. If the child were 

 left entirely to himself, without hearing any speech, 

 he would not in his short life develop the power of 

 using language, Helen Keller did not lack the keen- 

 ness of mind of other children, as has been shown by 



