June 10, 1887.] 



SCIENCE. 



573 



vidual. In the same way, the language of the 

 individual is to be defined as a psychological ac- 

 tivity associated with movements of the organs 

 ■of speech, — its physiological side. Every indi- 

 vidual has his own language, as he has his own 

 ideas ; and from analogous causes, as each nation 

 has its own manner of ideal conception, so it ex- 

 presses the same in its own peculiar way, and also 

 finds different sounds for the physiological form. 

 To learn a foreign language is, accordingly, not 

 merely to acquire a foreign vocabulary whereby 

 to translate one's preconceived notions, but it is 

 to penetrate into a foreign mode of thought which 

 alone is capable of suggesting its own individual 

 form of expression. As Techmer asserts, "He 

 who, in any case, will speak rationally, must 

 think. He who will learn to speak in a particular 

 language, be it English or Chinese, must learn to 

 think in that language." 



All language goes back to associationfi of the 

 perceptions awakened by the different properties 

 of objects. Out of these associations, at first un- 

 conscious, in the course of time, are developed 

 conscious, apperceptive associations in series, com- 

 binations, and organized systems. These, in their 

 turn, may serve as centres from which are devel- 

 oped the combinations of human speech, — those 

 of form (inflections, etc.) as well as those of mean- 

 ing (synonymes, etc.). Upon the mass of uncon- 

 scious associations thus formed depends the prac- 

 tical command of language ; on the conscious, 

 apperceptive, and systematic associations, on the 

 other hand, is based the theoretical knowledge of 

 language. It is to be borne in mind that all asso- 

 ciations at first conscious through practice acquire 

 the property of working unconsciously. In ac- 

 coi'dance with whathasbeen said, language-study, 

 then, may be of two kinds. It may be, on the 

 one hand, in order to attain the practical com- 

 mand of a language, that is, we may seek the 

 language as the form of thought ; or, on the other 

 hand, it may be to acquire a theoretical knowledge 

 of language, in which case the language becomes 

 the subject of thought. A cliild, at the outset, 

 learns language only as the form of thought. 

 The development of consciousness is almost iden- 

 tical with the acquisition of language ; or, other- 

 wise stated, idea and word are to all intents and 

 purposes acquired conjointly. Later on, the child 

 learns language through language itself, and not 

 only with the ear, but with all the organs of sense. 

 Every new perception finds an expression in lan- 

 guage to describe it ; and the idea resulting from 

 the perception is so associated with the word, that 

 the word immediately reproduces the idea, and the 

 idea the word. It is also to be noticed that the 

 formulation of rules of language through the tra- 



cing of analogy is taking place unconsciously ; 

 that learning the language is proceeding within 

 the boundaries of the language itself ; and that 

 the acquisition of the spoken language is the only 

 end in view. One principle, originally formu- 

 lated by Preyer in ' Die Seele des Kindes,' is of 

 importance for its application elsewhere : the 

 healthy child understands spoken language much 

 sooner than it can itself produce by imitation the 

 sounds, syllables, and words that have been heard. 

 Furthermore, only what is interesting and intel- 

 ligible to the child is firmly impressed upon its 

 mind : all else is in a short time forgotten. Fur- 

 ther to be remarked is the fact that the forms of 

 expression learned by the child are simple, unaf- 

 fected, and idiomatic. 



The problem presented in learning a foreign lan- 

 guage for practical use is how to obtain, with the 

 least possible expenditure of time and energy, 

 such a complete mastery of the mechanism of the 

 language that it will, as in the case of one's native 

 speech, unconsciously accompany thought, and 

 become its form. That the case as thus stated 

 has its difficulties becomes at once apparent. In 

 the first place, we can have neither the time nor 

 the opportunity to hear or to speak the foreign 

 language that we had in the case of our own. 

 And even if we have, on the one hand, the ad- 

 vantage of being able to think and to reason, and 

 the knowledge of one language system already 

 acquired, it implies, on the other hand, a direct 

 disadvantage : the native language holds fast our 

 thoughts, between which and their forms of ex- 

 pression there is such an intimate union that it 

 will be found difficult at first to make room for 

 new ones. The organs of speech, again, have 

 been accustomed, through constant repetition, to 

 produce without conscious exertion one system of 

 sounds, which the ear through constant hearing 

 has grown able to differentiate with the utmost 

 sharpness. The foreign sounds, on the contrary, 

 produced on an entirely different basis, are not 

 readily differentiated by the ear, and are only to 

 be imitated by careful practice. 



A. H. Sayce, several years ago, in an article in 

 Nature,^ wrote, "Our present system of teaching 

 languages ... is based rather upon empirical 

 haphazard than on scientific principles." The re- 

 mark is as applicable as ever. In spite of, the 

 progress made in recent years in our knowledge 

 of the fundamental laws of language, and par- 

 ticularly of its phonetics, but little has been done, 

 except in isolated cases, to apply in practice what 

 has been scientifically established beyond all ques- 

 tion. While all else has advanced, language-in- 

 struction has been content to stand still, notwith- 

 1 Nature, May 29, 1879. 



