LANGUAGE. 



we are too much obliged to have recourse 

 to hypothesis in tracing the progress of 

 improvement in any department ot'science. 

 We are unable always to ascertain (as 

 Mr. Stewart observes) how men have 

 actually conducted themselves on parti- 

 cular occasions, and we are then ltd to 

 inquire in what manner they are likely 

 to have proceeded, from the principle of 

 their nature, and the circumstances of 

 their external situation. In such inquiries 

 the detached facts which the remains of 

 antiquity, or the narrations of travellers, 

 or the actual appearances of language at 

 present, afford us, serve as landmarks 

 lor our speculations. " In examining the 

 history of mankind, as well as in examin- 

 ing the phenomena of the material world, 

 when we cannot trace the process by 

 which an event has been produced, it is 

 often of importance to be able to show 

 how it may have been produced by natural 

 causes. The steps in the formation of 

 language cannot probably be determined 

 with certainty; yet .f we can show, from 

 the known principles of human nature, 

 how all its various parts might gradually 

 have aj'isen, the mind is not only to a cer- 

 tain degree satisfied, but a check is given 

 to that indolent philosophy, which refers 

 a miracle whatever appearances both 

 in the natural and moral worlds it is un- 

 able to explain." 



6. Diodorus Siculus and Vitravius sup- 

 posed, that the first men lived for some 

 time in the woods and caves, like the 

 beasts, uttering only confused and inar- 

 ticulate sounds ; till, associating for mu- 

 tual assistance, they came by degrees to 

 JLISC articulate sounds, mutually agreed 

 upon, for arbitrary signs or nur'ks of 

 those ideas in the mind of the speaker, 

 which he wanted to communicate to the 

 hearer. By what degrees they proceeded 

 from inarticulate to articulate sounds, 

 these writers do not attempt to point out, 

 and unless we admit that those articulate 

 sounds were connected with certain feel- 

 ings, in the same manner as what are 

 called the natural signs, or, that they 

 were easily produced, (which will not be 

 allowed by any who have attended to the 

 structure of the organs of speech) the 

 account we have received from a better 

 informed historian will not lose its ground. 

 Moses leads us to understand that the ru- 

 diments of language were given to man 

 by his Maker. Here was the first step, 

 and here it is reasonable to believe the 

 divine communication ceased, and that 

 man was left to complete what he had 

 been taught to begin. Let us then sup- 



pose the u^e of articulation given, and its 

 application in some instances pointed out, 

 in the invention of the names of animals ; 

 which, we may observe, is in fact the first 

 step which would probably have been 

 taken, presupposingthe use of articulation, 

 if no divine interposition had taken place. 



7. Words would originally be simply 

 the signs of things, and further, of indi- 

 viduals. New objects, for which necessity 

 required a name, would receive different 

 names from those already given ; but if 

 there were a striking similarity between a 

 new object, and one which had already- 

 received a name, the old name would be 

 transferred. One of the principles of as- 

 sociation is similarity, and the new im- 

 pression would recal the ; deu of a former 

 object which it resembled, and conse- 

 quently the word with which that object 

 was connected; and thus, what originally 

 was a name for an individual only, would 

 gradually become the name of a multi- 

 tude. Thus Lee Boo, who had beeii 

 taught by his fellow voyagers to call a 

 great Newfoundland dog by the name of 

 Sajlor, used to call every dog he saw 

 Sailor. There is little or no difficulty at- 

 tending the appellation and classification 

 of sensible objects : it is an operation sim- 

 ple and easy, if some articulate sounds 

 were known. 



8. When several objects had received 

 the same name, it would sometimes be 

 necessary to distinguish them. Our pro- 

 cedure in such cases is, to connect with 

 the name of the object the name of a dis- 

 tinguishing quality, or some word of a 

 restrictive force, or to specify some rela- 

 tion which it has with other objects ; but 

 this supposes that to be already done, 

 which we must suppose is to be done. 

 Now we must bear in mind that similarity 

 (sensible, external similarity) and local 

 connection, are those principles of asso- 

 ciation which are known to be most active 

 in the minds of the illiterate and unculti- 

 vated, and that they must also have been 

 the most active in the minds of all men in 

 the rude states of society. A peculiar 

 colour (which would furnish one criterion 

 of distinction) would, therefore, suggest 

 the idea of .some object remarkable for 

 that colour ; and the name of this second 

 object, joined with the name which the 

 first had in common with others, would 

 confine this general term to the particu- 

 lar object which it was intended to spe- 

 cify. This is a procedure so simple, that 

 we may expect to find some traces of it 

 still remaining to us ; and accordingly, 

 among others, we have the expression, 



