FUNDAMENTAL CONCEPTIONS AND METHODS 15 



conception of the clamor to which this new grammatical form gave 

 rise during the early and middle part of the nineteenth century, and 

 of the denunciation to which it was subjected. According to its 

 assailants its introduction and use was a distinct foreshadowing of 

 the ruin that was impending over the speech. Direful consequences 

 were predicted if the objectionable form should succeed in establish- 

 ing itself in the language. But the construction was too desirable an 

 acquisition to be allowed to disappear. Its usefulness prevailed over 

 all opposition, and at present it is fully accepted, or meets at least 

 only now and then with a protest from some belated survivor of the 

 conflict which once raged so violently. 



It must not be forgotten, however, that the hostility to the intro- 

 duction of new grammatical forms, though sometimes manifesting 

 itself absurdly, is an undeniably healthy hostility. So long as it con- 

 tinues, the speech can be trusted to remain steadfast to its moorings. 

 It is the existence of this feeling which keeps a language moving not 

 from but about its literature. The vocabulary can be increased almost 

 indefinitely without affecting the character or intelligibility of the 

 tongue which retains in familiar use the words employed by its great- 

 est writers. But the moment its grammatical construction undergoes 

 a violent upheaval, that moment the language is on the road to decay 

 and death. For additions there, unlike those made to the vocabulary, 

 do not range themselves alongside of the ones already in use, or 

 usurp at best merely a part of the domain of signification. A new 

 grammatical form is not long content with standing side by side with 

 an old one. It first displaces it from its supremacy, and then super- 

 sedes it altogether: and this means in process of time a complete 

 change in the character of the tongue. 



From the hasty consideration which has been given here of the 

 characteristics which attend the development of cultivated speech, 

 we are enabled to draw certain positive conclusions. A language 

 cannot be made either to improve or degenerate of itself. It is 

 nothing but the reflex of the spirit and aims of the men who employ 

 it, and it will rise or fall in accordance with their intellectual and moral 

 condition. Its continued existence, therefore, depends solely upon 

 the fact whether the men to whom it is an inheritance are cultivated 

 enough to enrich its literature, virtuous enough to elevate and main- 

 tain its character, and strong enough to uphold and extend its sway. 

 All these conditions are necessary to its permanence, but in modern 

 times the last has attained an importance it never before held. The 

 most insignificant of tongues has, it is true, tremendous vitality: it 

 will cling to life long after the most conclusive reasons have mani- 

 fested themselves for its death. Yet it is a question whether under 

 modern conditions any language can be sure of continued existence 

 which does not have behind it the support of a great nationality. It is 



