TRANSACTIONS OF SECTION H. 709 
Assuming the theory to exist and to be correctly stated, it is of great practical 
importance as leading to the quick, accurate, and thorough, because natural, 
acquirement of a new language. 
In brief, the theory is based on the one phenomenon which must of necessity 
be constant in every variety of speech—viz., the expression of a complete meaning, 
or, technically, the sentence. Words are then described as components of the 
sentence, first, as to the functions performed by them, and next as to the means 
whereby they fulfil their functions. Lastly, languages are considered according to 
their methods of composing sentences and words, 
Phonology and orthography—z.e., pronunciation, spelling, and alphabets—are 
not considered, as these belong to other branches of the development of the 
human mind. 
The theory has been already applied—and, it is claimed, successfully—to 
sixteen languages, including English, Latin, and Hungarian, selected for the 
purpose as being illustrations of every type and every kind of development. 
2. On Group-Marriage in Australian Tribes. 
by A. W. Howirr. 
The native tribes which surround Lake Eyre, in Central Australia, have two 
forms of marriage. One follows upon betrothal of children by their mothers, and 
the other is the subsequent marriage of the woman to a younger brother of her 
husband. On ceremonial occasions this latter form of marriage is extended in the 
tribe by the allotment to each other of men and women who are already allotted 
to each other under one or other of the two marriages. 
This group-marriage also occurs in other tribes in South-east Australia, either 
in the form which it has in the Lake Eyre tribes or as a survival of custom. It is 
also shown by the system of relationship in the Australian tribes to have been at 
one time common to all. 
In the Lake Eyre tribes there is female descent with group-marriage. In 
other tribes in which group-marriage is merely a survival, or is merely indicated 
by the terminology of relationship, there has been more or less an approach to a 
form of individual marriage accompanied by a change from female to male descent. 
Changes such as these are attended also by alteration of the social organisa- 
tion of the tribes. In one direction there has been a segmentation of the tribe 
from a division of two intermarrying exogamous moieties of the tribal community 
to four such divisions, and finally into eight, with a change also in the line of 
descent. In the other direction there has been a partial or complete loss of this 
division of the community into four and eight segments. 
‘The tribe has become organised on a geographical basis into a number of local 
groups, and these localities have become exogamous and intermarrying. In these 
changes in the organisation of the tribes the line of descent has passed from the 
female to the male line. 
In the Lake Eyre tribes a group of totems is attached to each exogamous 
moiety. These remain in existence in the segmentation into four and eight 
groups. 
Th those tribes where the organisation of the tribe has become local, the totem 
groups have either become more or less extinct or have changed in extreme cases 
into magial names without influence in marriage. 
3. The Passing of the Matriarchate. By R.S. Lepper, V.A., LL.M. 
General idea of the matriarchate as contrasted with the patriarchate and the 
modern family. Polyandry. The matriarchal country of S. India: its former wide 
and present narrow extent. The matriarchate as a stage of civilisation: the rule 
or the exception? Malabar only exceptional in its fertility and seclusion, The 
geographical features of the Malabar coast strip: its heavy rainfall, alluvial soil, 
