TRANSACTIONS. 
I.—On the Philological Genius and Character of the Neo-Hellenic Dialect of the 
Greek Language. By Professor BLACKIE. 
(Read 16th December 1872.) 
Proposition I.—AIl spoken language is a growth, subject, like the creature 
who uses it, to a constant course of mutation ; it is a living organism, developed 
according to certain laws, partly inherent, partly superinduced ; and, though it 
is liable to decay, disintegration, and death, this disintegration, except in special 
cases of extermination, becomes the soil of a new growth, and this death the 
cradle of a new life. The historical action of this process of mutation is to pro- 
duce either new varieties or dialects of one language, or new species of one 
family of languages. 
Proposition IJ]—Though no living language is capable of an absolute 
stoppage, and, according to the Heraclitan doctrine of ravra fet, must either go 
on growing or be exterminated, yet there are certain influences at work in the 
constitution of human society that may retard the process of change to an inde- 
finite period, creating a more or less fixed type, from which deviations are few 
and far between. These influences are of two kinds, internal and external, or, as 
we may say, intellectual and political: intellectual, proceeding from the predo- 
minant and authoritative force of great creative intellects, such as Homer and 
Dante ; political, proceeding from the unifying effect of a stable form of govern- 
ment, and a permanent type of social order. In other words, the changes that 
naturally go on in language, as in everything vital, will be impeded and retarded 
by the traditions of the past so long as these retain a firm hold on the national 
habit of thought and expression. And the duration of the type of any ancient 
language will be in the direct ratio of the force of the controlling influences, 
internal and external. 
VOL. XXVII. PART I. A 
