350 



SCIENCE. 



[Vol. II., No. 32. 



A UNIVERSAL LANGUAGE AND ITS 

 VEHICLE, — A UNIVERSAL ALPHABET. 



Shall the -world ever see an end of the 

 confusion of tongues? Shall differences of 

 language cease? Or shall, at least, some 

 selected medium of thought be established 

 throughout the world, by "which all men ma_y 

 understand each other on occasion, while still 

 preserving their vernaculars for intercourse at 

 home? A consideration of the subject may 

 enable us to answer these questions. 



Language in all its varieties is a growth ; 

 and eA'ery living language is still growing, 

 shedding leaves here, and pushing out new 

 leaflets there, according to its vigor of vitality. 

 The most copious language of to-day was 

 smaller j'esterday, and smaller still in every 

 generation through which we can trace its his- 

 torj'. We cannot go back to its beginning, 

 for it properlj- had none : it did not spring 

 from a seed, and so take the definite form of 

 a parent language ; but each tongue arose 

 from the crossing and interlocking and blend- 

 ing of shoots from older languages, until the}* 

 grew together, and became a new stem, from 

 which, in turn, shot other branches, to repeat 

 the process to the end of time. 



In the comparative studj^ of languages, and 

 in what we know of human history', we can 

 trace the evidences of this continuous cross- 

 grafting of branch on branch in various direc- 

 tions ; and the oldest tongues are those to 

 which some pecuhar form of growth can be 

 traced back and back through the greatest 

 number of stages. 



If we could follow these oldest languages 

 up to their respective sources, we should find 

 at last a very small vocabularj' of simple 

 utterances used to denote an extremely limited 

 number of ideas. But we should find no 

 primitive natural germ of speech from which 

 the first language had sprung into life and 

 shape. The facultj" of expression^ and the 

 instinct of imitation., are the onlj- primitive 

 parts of language ; but these, at first, were, 

 like primitive creation, 'without form, and 

 void,' until consenting minds agreed on some 

 few associations of sound and sense, and so 

 commenced a form of language. 



Anj' number of different forms may have 

 been thus commenced by isolated families or 

 groups of men. Individual members of dif- 

 ferent families or groups would occasionally 

 come together, and each would enlarge the 

 other's vocabularj', or modify his methods of 

 expression. Thus one maj' have pr(!viously 

 used only a dual number to indicate plurality ; 



another, only an indefinite plural : but mutual 

 intercourse would incorporate, in the common 

 language that would be developed, both of 

 these methods of expressing and defining the 

 idea of plurality. Primitive languages may 

 thus have acquired from each other the many 

 words and forms of speech which they ])0S- 

 sessed in common ; while their independent 

 characteristics would increase in the absence 

 of association. 



On the same principle, a closer intercourse 

 between modern nations must have an amal- 

 gamating effect on their languages, and so 

 tend to produce an ultimate unification of 

 human speech. This closer intercourse is 

 being accomplished in our days by raib'oads 

 and steamships ; and strange ears in all quar- 

 ters of the world are being familiarized with 

 the languages of visitors and immigrants. 

 The interests of commerce, and the influence 

 of example and of social feeling, lead to a 

 more and more general acquisition of the lan- 

 guages thus introduced ; so that, without dis- 

 placing local forms of speech, other media of 

 wider intercommunication are being gradually' 

 extended everywhere. A universal language 

 is thus growing up. Whether it will ultimatel}' 

 take the lines of English, French, German, 

 or some other tongue, will depend on the rel- 

 ative fitness of the competing languages for 

 universalitj-. At all events, the fittest will 

 survive, and the survivor will gradually occupy 

 the whole field. 



The present diffusion of English over the 

 continents of America and Australia, and 

 among sailors of all nations; its growing ac- 

 ceptance throughout the continental countries 

 of Europe ; its establishment in many nuclei 

 in Asia and Africa, and over the vast empire 

 of India, as well as the grammatical simplicit}' 

 of the' language, and its power of incorpora- 

 tion of foreign elements, — all point to English 

 as the probable universal tongue of the future." 



The only alternative to such adoption of the 

 fittest among existing languages would be 

 the creation of a new form of scientific speech ; 

 but this would require a universal consent 

 among nations, and a combined effort, that 

 may fairlj- be considei'ed impossible as prelimi- 

 naries to the institution of such a language. 

 The creation of a new form of speech adapted 

 for universal use is certainly within the power 

 of science and invention to accomplish ; but 

 the aid of a pre-existing language, all but 

 universal, would be required for its introduc- 

 tion and establishment. In the far future, 

 such a form of scientific speech may find the 

 world prepared for it, and the medium for its 



