584 



Language 



LANGUA'GE. 



Original 

 languages 

 of Britain. 



Slavonic. 



Sanscrit 

 and Indian 

 languages. 



a fragment, and consequently containing but a small 

 part of its words ami phrases, is still highly curious, 

 from its exhibiting the early state of that language, and 

 enabling us to ascertain the near relation of the Saxon, 

 German, Danish, Swedish, Icelandic, and Anglo-Saxon, 

 to the Gothic, as well as the affinity of all of them to 

 thy Phoenician, the original Greek, and even the Per- 

 sian and Sanscrit. The Celtic is by no means yet ex- 

 tinct ; dialects of it are spoken in the Highlands of 

 Scotland, in Ireland, in Wales, in that part of France 

 named Bretagne, and in the Spanish province of Bis- 

 cay. Both, in the modes of inflection, resemble the 

 Greek; in the roots from which vast multitudes of 

 their words themselves are formed, the most striking 

 similarity can easily be traced. 



Of the original language of our own country, there 

 is some difficulty in fixing-the origin. So far as can be 

 conjectured, it rather appears, that the earliest inha- 

 bitants spoke the Celtic language, and that, by suc- 

 cessive impulses of the tide of population, new races 

 of settlers spreading in different directions, superindu- 

 ced certain dialects of the Gothic. Accordingly, we 

 can collect from our venerable Saxon historian Bede, 

 that in his day four languages prevailed in Britain 

 the Irish, the British or Cumraig, the Piclish or Scan- 

 dinavian, and the Anglo-Saxon. Of these, it is pro- 

 bable that the relation was not very distant ; and if the 

 ascending line were far enough folio wed up, they would 

 all be found to terminate in one. 



The languages of the various other countries of Eu- 

 rope underwent similar revolutions ; but it would be 

 tedious to trace them through their separate stages. In 

 the southern states, the Latin tongue had been uni- 

 versally established, under the dominion of the Romans. 

 The incursions and establishment of the northern tribes 

 introduced new modes of speech, which, blending more 

 or less with the native tongues, gave rise to the various 

 modern languages of southern Europe. 



Towards the north-east of Europe, the Slavonic 

 tongue, with its affiliated dialects, Bohemian, Polish, 

 Hungarian, Lusatian, Carinthian, Dalmatian, and the 

 widely extended Russian, have for many centuries 

 prevailed. The affinity of the Slavonic through its 

 different dialects to the Macedonic Greek, is apparent 

 in many of its inflections, but above all in its radical 

 terms, when thoroughly analysed and stripped of the 

 additions and mutations introduced in the channels 

 through which it has passed. 



While the primitive tongue appears thus to have been 

 carried in various forms to the north and west, its pro- 

 gress eastward gave rise to a different though not less 

 remarkable set of languages. Of these the most emi- 

 nent is the Sanscrit, a polished and elegant tongue, and 

 fixed in the writings of its classic authors at a period it 

 5 thought prior to the commencement of the Christian 

 era. Both in the roots of verbs and forms of grammar, 

 the Sanscrit is found to bear so close an affinity both 

 Greek and to Latin, that those philological writers 

 who have attended to its structure, do not hesitate in 

 msidermg it as a branch of that primeval tongue which 

 as gradually transplanted into various climates, be- 

 coming SfMKfii in India, Pohlum in Persia, and Greek 

 on the shores of the Mediterranean. 



Sanscrit though it has now in a great measure 



d to be a living tongue, is considered in India as 



language of science ; and it is pretty certain, that it 



< immediate parent of the numerous languages 



still spoken through that vast peninsula as far as Vhe 



.orders of China. Two-and-thirty at least of those 



more obscure and inferior languages, have been recog- 



nised and distinguished by the missionaries at Seram- Language. 

 pore ; and it is worthy of notice, that while many of * "V^ 

 those vary considerably in their inflections, the radical 

 parts of their words exhibit a similarity sufficient to as- 

 certain their common origin. 



To the eastward of India, we find a language prevail- chinc 

 ing, totally dissimilar in many respects to those which tugvuure 

 have already come under notice, the language of China, 

 made up in a great measure of monosyllables, and which 

 can hardly be said to have any inflections for distin- 

 guishing nouns, verbs, or attributives. Its distinct 

 words are very few, but these are varied in pronuncia- 

 tion by accent, emphasis, and other marks, to fit each 

 of them for expressing many different ideas, a mode 

 of speech so inconvenient and embarrassing, that re- 

 course must often be had to the written character for 

 indicating the particular meaning. These written cha- 

 racters constitute in fact the substantial part of the Ian- 

 guage : they are extremely numerous, amounting it is 

 said to no less than eighty thousand, formed from 214 

 roots, termed keys or elementary characters, each of 

 which is itself significant, and by additions to which, 

 not to the vocal sounds, all the varieties of meaning are 

 conveyed. In this language, from its peculiar struc- 

 ture, as well as in the languages of many remoter tribes 

 and islands, so many changes appear to have taken 

 place, that the traces of the primitive language have 

 almost ceased to be discernible. 



Having thus endeavoured to take a general view of Perfection 

 the actual progress and filiations of language in the of language, 

 different quarters of the globe, it remains only to notice 

 the circumstances which constitute THE EXCELLENCE 

 AND PERFECTION OF LANGUAGK. These may in gene- 

 ral be stated to consist in perspicuity and adequate copi- 

 ousness, affording accurate expressions for all tiie vari- 

 ous conceptions and separate ideas of the human mind ; 

 precision, having always one definite meaning to each 

 word; regularity of structure; and euphony or harmony 

 in its sounds. No language possesses all of these qua- 

 lities completely ; some, however, approach nearer than 

 others to perfection. Any inquiries, however, into the 

 comparative excellencies of each, and particularly the 

 discussion of the much agitated question, whether those 

 languages are to be deemed most perfect, which, like 

 the ancient Greek or Latin, mark the changes of nouns 

 and verbs by inflections of the words themselves ; or 

 those which, as the modern languages of Europe, have 

 recourse to separate particulars and auxiliary words ? 

 are subjects which belong more properly to RHETORIC. 

 The same remark applies to the discussions regarding 

 the use of language in composition, and the various 

 modes in which it may be best adapted to the use of the 

 poet, the orator, the historian, and the philosopher. 



It may be right here just to mention, the ingenious Wilkin's 

 but visionary attempt of Bishop Wilkins to construct philosophi- 

 a philosophical language and real character, in which the cal lan ' 

 objects of knowledge were to be arranged under certain guage ' 

 heads and divisions, and words and characters to be 

 formed with changes corresponding to each. The im- 

 practicability of reducing such a system to practice, 

 and bringing into use even among the learned such a 

 language, is too obvious to require discussion. 



The writers upon language most deserving attention, 

 are mentioned under the article GRAMMAR; to tho.'-e 

 taken notice of there may be added, Townsend On the 

 Character of Moses, vol. iii. ; Jenisch Comparison of 

 European Language; and Dr. Dewar's Dissertation on 

 Language, in the 7th volume of the Edinburgh Philoso- 

 phical Transactions; Bryant's Mythology; Pezron's 

 Antiquities. (3j 



