LANGUAGE. 



577 



Author of his Being ; according to others, it was entire- 

 ly the fruit of human invention. The former opinion, 

 its advocates contend, is supported by the authority of 

 Moses, who expressly tells us, tint the Creator, alter he 

 had formed the beasts of the field, and the fowls of the 

 air, brought them to the first man tint he might give 

 them names, and that the names so given, were those 

 ich they were afterwards called ; the latter opi- 

 nion however, has been held, not only by maiiy of the 

 ancient philosophers, but by a number of the moderns 

 whether by al*o, who admit fully the authority of Scripture, though 

 re - they contend, that the Mosaic narrative does not imply 

 any special revelation to direct our first progenitor to 

 the use of articulate sound*. Those who consider a 

 special revelation as necessary for the invention, allow, 

 at the same time, that all the faculties and powers re- 

 quisite for forming speech, are given as constituent parts 

 of the human constitution, requiring only a specific im- 

 passe to bring them into action ; at-d those who most 

 eagerly contend for attributing the whole to human in- 

 g*Jsutity, admit, that the invention mu-t have been one 

 of extreme difficulty, which could only have originated 

 with some superior minds, who mi^ht first be led to it 

 by the imitation of certain natural sounds w ith their 

 own voice, and then gradually communicate to the other 

 member* of their tribe, the mode of forming and apply- 

 ing similar soundt for the expression of thought. 



pertkm s* Much insfentliu and erudition have been expended 

 s * .- " t\ . _ i L _ _ i ... , i 



fil*..,.. 



tin, 



OBIT 



question. One side has be< -i i maintained by 

 Simon, CendiUac, Dr. Adam Smith, and alx.vc all, by 

 the Uannd author of the " Origin and Progresa of 



1th other by Delaney. \Vnrburton, Dr. 

 Smith, and other* ; but after all their labour-, 

 obscmiky and uncertainty remain, that we 

 to leave the point undecided, nor in all 

 will it ever receive a complete solution. Two 

 however, we may regard aa established 

 that wherever, from defects in the or- 

 i of nassring. or from seclusion in infancy from hu- 

 man society, no opportunity has been given of learning 

 by imitation to form articulate sound-, the faculty of 

 .pmku>K has always been found wanting, except so far 

 as subsequently acquired, with labour ami perseverance, 

 by instruction from those who previously pratti-xil it ; 

 and that m all cases, the actual power of speVt 

 to be so much limiu-d to the formation of those articu- 

 late nounds onlv which have been learnt in infancy, 

 that it is with the utmost difficulty the pronunciation 

 of any new sound * can be attained at a more advanced 

 gv. These two fart* appear rather to lead to the con- 

 clusion, that besides the mere possession of the organs 

 and faculties of speech, some impulse must have 



to call these into action, so as to lead to the 

 i of language ; but to what extent, or in what 

 hat impulse mav have first been given, it is to 

 to inquire. On this point, the Sacred Scrip- 

 tures are silent ; history does not go no far back into 

 the earliest period* of society as t<> furni-h any infor- 

 mation in regard to it ; and neither from reasoning nor 

 experience, can we derive. satisfactory means of grati- 

 fying nur curiosity. 



whatever manner articulate speech originated, we 

 may safely cowhide, that this primeval language 

 not I" "ild undoubtedly extend no farther 



the <K-caioTi of employ ir:_ it. and sa these, in the 

 i-y of society, could not be numerous, the language 

 in MT must have been equally scanty. It was sufficient . 

 if the imaaraj'sls mean* of commnnicatkin were provid- 

 oi.. in. 'PART n. 



ed, and a foundation laid upon which die entire super- Language, 

 structure could in the progress of society be reared. Sp "~Y"~*' 

 The rudiments of articulate language being once Progress of 

 formed, new occasions for communication would quick- 1 

 ly occur ; these would, of course, require the adoption 

 of new articulate sounds for making the communica- 

 tions required. At all times, men are more dis]M>sed to 

 improve, enlarge, and alter, than to invent. The new 

 signs required would, therefore, in general, be formed 

 from the first rudiments of speech by modification and 

 composition ; retaining still the original meaning, but 

 with such variations superinduced as might point out 

 the new relations to which it was to be applied, or the 

 new associations into which it was to be brought. 



Such may be stated to be the general outline of thr 

 formation and progress of language ; but it is a curious 

 subject of inquiry, by what particular steps, and in 

 what particular lines tile progress was accomplished ; 

 what class of words may most properly be regarded 

 as the ground-work of speech : and what was the march 

 of the human mind, so to speak, in this gradual advance 

 from the first elements, to ail the varieties and forms of 

 words. In such an investigation, we must, it is true, in 

 a great measure rest upon conjecture, but still circum- 

 stances may be ob-er\ ed. v. hich will serve to a certain 

 decree to guide our inquiries. 



Language, then, it is to be observed, is the applica- Significa- 

 tion of articulate sound.- to denote and to communicate 'ion of 

 the emotions, feeling*, and actings of the mind ; now, * '"** at 

 the only motive for making such coinmunicntions 1'y p lex witii- 

 the u-e of SSJMMMB, must at tir.st have been to obtain ou t rfistinc- 

 tlie ."ratification of -ome desire or wish, for which the tion of 

 concurrence of others w;i- deemed in some way neces- Ter t>8 or 

 sary. When the first articulate sounds, therefore, were nouns > * c - 

 made u-e of, it is most probable, that the mental emo- 

 tion or desire, the wii.li lor the concurrence of the per- 

 son addressed, and the object to which these pointed, 

 would all be included in one significant sound ; and of 

 sounds containing this complex jxiwcr, we may con- 

 ccivc the primeval movements of language to have 

 bean formed. Still, however, in these complex sounds, 

 the wish or desire of concurrence, which was the chief 

 ini|H-lling motive to the employment of it, would be al- 

 ways viewed as the predominant part, to which the 

 other parts of the complex signification would be re- 

 garded as subservient. In the constant intercourse of 

 men, even in the earliest period of society, the necessi- 

 tv of new communications, and of new modes of mak- 

 ing them, must soon occur. Similar mental feelings or 

 emotion- might often be excited by totally ditlerent ob- 

 jects ; and. on the other hand, the game object, under 

 different circumstances, might give rise to very- dissi- 

 milar feelings. For the expression of these variation.-, 

 appropriate articulate sounds would l>e required, that 

 the precise point, or the precise object to which it was 

 wished to call attention, might be denoted. The most 

 obvious and easy mode, of accomplishing this, would 

 be to retain the radical part of the primitive sound, and 

 by variations or additions, to indicate the precise man- 

 ner in which it was to be applied. 



\Ve have already observed, that in the complex Iinperatire 

 primeval sounds, the wish or desire of concurrence, mood the 

 which was tnc chief impelling motive of communi- ro0 ' of Ule 

 n, would be viewed as the predominant part. To Ter ' 

 :herefore, the radical sound would be specially ap- 

 propriated, to intimate such de-ire, along with the deter- 

 mination to have it gratified, if that was in tin -peak- 

 oowrr. Now, these arc precisely the character- 

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