THE ORIGIN OF LANGUAGE 63 



and verb together, soon becomes freed from some 

 of tbese ideas, and finally retains a very much, 

 narrower content, until in the end a real concept is 

 formed, which can then be used in quite new connec- 

 tions. Exactly where in the developing mind and 

 speech of a child the change takes place no one can 

 say, but the significant fact is that the change does 

 occur. 



Just what is the meaning of this parallel between 

 the development of child language and the origin of 

 race language may not be wholly clear. It is a law in 

 the organic world that the development of an animal 

 from the egg repeats more or less of the past history 

 of the race, and this law has sometimes been used to 

 explain the parallel we have just drawn. But this 

 hardly seems legitimate, because in the development 

 of language we are not dealing at all with that type 

 of heredity which has controlled the evolution of 

 animals. Language is not transmitted by organic 

 heredity, but is acquired anew by each generation, 

 and the laws of repetition which apply elsewhere 

 may not apply here at all. It seems probable that 

 the explanation of the reason why the child goes 

 through these stages is simply that they represent 

 the simplest, straightest, and easiest course by which 

 the developing mind can reach the end. Before he 

 can imitate a sound the child has wants which he can 

 express only by emotion cries. He learns only a 

 word at a time; and when he has onlv one or two 

 words he simply connects the sound of each word 

 with the experience in his life in connection with 

 which he has learned it. The word "up" was 

 learned in connection with his being taken up, and he 

 simply pronounces the word when he wishes to be 



