8 



ON THE CLASSIFICATION 



The study of classical and modern languages has assumed a 

 more enlightened form. The discovery of Sanskrit has revolu- 

 tionized that branch of philological research and produced, 

 as it were, a regeneration in it. More recently Chinese and 

 the so-called agglutinative languages have been embodied 

 in the research ; the deciphering of hieroglyphics and cunei- 

 form inscriptions has added new authentic material to the 

 knowledge of ancient dead and of modern living languages ; 

 African, American, and Australian dialects have begun to 

 form an intrinsic part of comparative philology, and the 

 sphere of that science now comprises the languages of the 

 globe, embracing every spoken dialect, however insignificant 

 and unimportant it might at first sight appear. These are vast 

 strides indeed towards the development of the science of 

 language, and how much more progress may be expected in 

 future, if the new material keeps pouring in as it has done 

 up till now, and the same unflagging zeal for scientific truth 

 remains undiminished. 



But though the systems previously mentioned prove the 

 great and gradual progress which has been made in the 

 methodic arrangement oflauguages, this arrangement refer- 

 red mostly to the outward appearance, or rather to the 

 differences existing in the morphologic constitution of 

 languages, so that it was this exterior which seems to have 

 especially excited the attention of scholars and given rise to 

 the various classifications. This mode of proceeding is 

 useful for practical purposes, as it provides the student with 

 a substantial frame wherein to arrange and to distribute the 

 various dialects, but it does not aim at an explanation of 

 the existing differences and difficulties. 



It is therefore the object of this discourse to suggest a 

 classification of languages, which, while admitting the import- 

 ance of these external marks, assigns to them only the part 

 of characterizing the different dialects belonging to the 



