406 DIFFERENCES OF LANGUAGE. 



to such an imperfect instrument of thought and communi- 

 cation as a monosylhibic language affords. They have 

 inflexions and derivations, both for nouns and to express 

 times *. The same observations are applicable to the 

 Mandsliurs f, or Mantchoos. 



The Japanese, too, another numerous people of Mon- 

 golian formation, have a well-formed polysyllabic language, 

 without any resemblance to that of the Chinese J. 



The monosyllabic language of so large a portion of Asia 

 appears the more remarkable, when it is contrasted with the 

 languages of the native Americans, who, in the form of the 

 head, approach closely to the characters of the Mongolian 

 variety. In the capability of inflexion and composition, 

 and in the consequent length of words §, many of the Ame- 

 rican tongues ofter a complete contrast to those of China, 

 Thibet, &e. 



America is also distinguished from the old Continent by 

 the great number of its diff'erent languages. Mr. Jeffer- 

 son II states, that there are twenty radical languages in Ame- 

 rica for one of Asia. " More than twenty languages are 

 still spoken in the kingdom of Mexico, most of which are 

 at least as different from one another as the Greek and the 

 German, or the French and Polish. The variety of idioms 

 spoken by the people of the new Continent, and which, 

 without the least exaggeration, may be stated at some hun- 

 dreds, oft^ers a very striking phenomenon, particularly when 

 we compare it to the few languages spoken in Asia and 

 Europe %.'' 



* Adeluxg, Mithridates,^. 50 L f Ibid. p. 514. + Ibid. p. 572. 



^ Humboldt informs us that Notlazomahuiztespixcatatzin is the term of 

 respect used hy the Mexicans in .addressing the priests. Political Essay, v. i. 

 p. 139. note. || Notes on Virginia, p. 104. 



5 Political Essay, v. i. p. 138. 



This statement is corroborated Ijy Vater, who observes, that *'• in Mexico, 

 where the causes producing insulation of the several tribes have been for a 

 long time in a course of diminution, Clavigero recognized thirty-five diffe- 

 rent languages {Suggio ili Storia Americana, t. iii. append, ii. c. 3. p. 282). 

 And those with which we are acquainted by written accounts are quite 

 radically distinct, and almost unconnected with each other." Mithridates, 

 V. iii. p. 273. 



