CLIV ADMINISTRATIVE REPORT [eth. ann. 20 



111 the evolution of social groups one tribe coalesces with 

 another. Some tribes develop their numbers to such an extent 

 that they fall apart and no longer actively cooperate in 

 the development of oral speech. The coalescing of distinct 

 tribes or of fragments of distinct tribes is one of the great 

 agencies in the evolution of language. Distinct tongues render 

 mutual aid in the process. The language originating in this 

 manner is compounded, and a wealth of synonyms is produced 

 which readily take on specialized meanings highly advanta- 

 geous, particularly to people \vho extend over a wide area of 

 country in search of food or impelled by a desire for barter, 

 and especially is it advantageous for tribes or portions of tribes 

 that migrate to new habitats. In early society migration is a 

 potent agenev in the evolution of language. New scenes origi- 

 nate new thought, and new thought promotes new expression, 

 and the new expressions are most readily learned from new 

 tongues. It is thus that the vocables of a language are 

 multiplied as svnonvms hv the coalescing of distinct languages, 

 which words ultimately have specialized meanings. 



This process has been continuous among mankind. Small 

 tribes have become great trilies, and tribes have become 

 nations, and nations have been absorbed by nations until the 

 multitudinous tongues spoken in savagery have been greatly 

 reduced in number and the tongues spoken by the developed 

 nations of civilization have become few in number. This is 

 the grand factor in the evolutiDii of languag-e, thoroughly 

 attested by the history of civilization, for the tribes of savage 

 and barbaric people are found witli a much greater diversity 

 of tongues than the peoples of civilization. 



New thous'hts come with advancin<>- culture. The words 

 bv which the new concepts are expressed may be new words 

 from new languages, but often, and perhaps usually, the new 

 thoughts are expressed by the old words. It is a slow process 

 by which the new thoughts are expressed by differentiated 

 words derived from distinct tongues. When new meanino-s 

 are desired, some modification of the old words is made. In 

 this manner one word is derived from another. Languages 

 inteorate bv coalescino- and differentiate words as iiarts of 

 speech by derivation. 



