94 PROCEEDINGS OF THE CANADIAN INSTITUTE. 



Two widely diiferent theories in regard to the formation and growth 

 of language have been maintained by eminent philologists who have 

 written on that much-vexed question. One class, at the head of 

 whom may be placed the great name of Jacob Grrimm, have argued 

 that this formation must have been a gradual process, commencing 

 with a few hundred monosyllabic roots, from which, by slow and pro- 

 gressive steps, continued from generation to generation, have sprung, 

 first, the agglutinate type, and, finally, the inflective form of speech. 

 On this theory, the Chinese represents the primitive cast of language,, 

 the Manchu or Malay would indicate the secondary or intermediate 

 form, and the Semitic and Aryan would display the latest and highest 

 development. The linguistic process, however, does not rest here. Ac- 

 cording to the theojy, as set forth by its most distinguished advocate,* 

 when language has reached its highest stage of synthesis, such as ap- 

 pears in the Sanscrit, the Greek, and the Latin, a disintegrating or 

 analytic force makes itself felt. The too elaborate and cumbrous 

 grammatical system is gradually decomposed ; many inflections disap- 

 pear, and the analytic tongues of modern India, Persia and Europe 

 are formed. 



These views are strongly combated by another class of scholars, 

 among whom a high place is due to the eminent author of the " Gene- 

 ral History of the Semitic Languages." To cite the forcible argument 

 of M. Eenan in his own words : — " Grimm recognizes, with all lin- 

 guists, the fact that the farther we go back in the history of languages, 

 the more synthetic, rich, and complicated we find them ; but he refuses 

 to follow the induction to the end. Instead of concluding from this 

 progression that the primitive language, if we could know it, would 

 be a model of exuberance, he stops shoi't, and supposes before the 

 synthetic period a period of infancy, the reality of which there is no 

 positive fact to prove. I do not think that it is allowable thus to 

 escape from the rule of analogies ; the human mind has no such 

 sudden turns ; its laws operate in a continuous manner. The advance 

 of languages towards analysis corresponds to the advance of the human 

 mind towards a reflection more and more clear. This common ten- 

 dency of the human mind has existed from the first day ; and it is, 

 therefore, in the first day that we must place the highest degree of 



* J. Giinim : " Uber den Uispruii^'- der Sprache ; " Berlin, 1852. His views are summarized 

 and discussed in the Preface to Kenan's work, " De 1 Origine du Lang:uage," 5th edit. Paris, 1875 



