POWELL] PHILOLOGY CLiri 



fined; that is, tlie assertion may be affirmative, negative, or 

 conditional; we shall call the words which perform this office 

 modals. Again the object may be qualified, limited, or de- 

 fined; we shall call the words which perform this office 

 adverbs. Thus the six parts of speech are the subject, verb, 

 object, adjective, modal, and adverb. 



The grammars of the higher languages have hitherto ])een 

 constructed on the theory that the classical languages were the 

 proper standard of comparison, but in English certainly there 

 is a tendency to construct grammar on the theory that the 

 standard of comparison must recognize the subject, the asserter, 

 and the object, which are then treated as defined or modified 

 by subordinate elements. Already this change has made 

 much progress, for practical teachers find that the elements of 

 grannnar when considered in this n^anner are far more simple 

 and lend themselves better to intelligent instruction. 



ETYMOLOGY 



Etymology is the science of the derivation of vocables or 

 spoken words. Human cries are probably the elements from 

 which words are derived, and words have been evolved there- 

 from by the gradual difi'erentiation of specialized sounds as 

 the apparatus of speech has been developed. 



That words may serve the purpose for which they are 

 designed in expressing concepts they must be enunciated l)y 

 the speaker and heard by the person addi-essed. In making 

 and receiving the sounds of speech the persons who are in 

 daily association cooperate, so that the development of speech 

 is a demotic process, for words must not only be spoken Init 

 heard, and they must be informed with tlunight if tliey 

 convey thought. In tribal life, which is the earliest society, 

 the tribe constitutes the body of persons by whom a hmguage 

 is developed. 



We shall hereafter see that in this state an intertribal lan- 

 guage is evolved which involves other methods of speech not 

 produced by the vocal organs. This intertribal language is 

 gesture speech. Gesture speech thus seems to be the normal 

 language for intertribal communication so long as tribes 

 remain distinct. 



