^$B'- 'Observations on Languagto 



would soon lose their knowledge, arts, and civilization -i 

 and with them the great mass of their ideas. In other 

 words, they would become, in a moderate number of 

 years, absolute savages. With these ideas, they would 

 of course lose the v/ords, by w^iich they were denoted. 

 Particularly, they would lose the names of all the parts, 

 and of all the furniture, of a house, except such as were 

 retained in a tveeJctvam ; of all the utensils, and of all 

 the parts of dress, except such as are used by India?is ; 

 and of all employments, beside such, as Indians pursue. 

 Out of their language would vanish the terms, which 

 belong to agricultural, mechanical, and manufacturing, 

 business ; to navigation, and commerce; to the science, 

 and business, of government ; and to the liberal arts, 

 and sciences ; the greater part of those words, which 

 pertain to religion, and morals ; and to decency, and re- 

 £nement of manners. Universally, they would lose al- 

 snost all those words, which denote ideas, formed by 

 composition, abstraction, and comparison. But these 

 various sorts of words constitute almost the whole lan- 

 guage of a civilized people. 



They would also lose the names of those natural ob- 

 jects, presented to them in the country, whence the 

 colony emigrated, and not found in their present resi- 

 dence» 



2c%. At the same time, they would form new words^ 

 f0 express such natural objects, as were different from 

 those, vjhich they had known before, and such employ- 

 ments, as were nezv to them; and, universally, for such 

 new ideas, as they had occasion to communicate. These, 

 hovv'cver, would be few. 



Thus their language would by this cause become 

 greatly changed. Most of it v/ould vanish : a part 

 would be retained; and a part v*/^ould be new. 



Among the words, Avhich they retained, w^ould in all 

 probability be found the najnes of near, and important, 

 natural relations ; as father, mother, brother, sister, &c. ; 

 the personal pronouns ; the names of the most common 

 natural objects, ojid of the most familiar, and important'^ 

 actions. The Mohekaneeivs have the same personal pro- 

 nouns with those of the Hebrew language ; and in ail 



