58 



ON THE CLASSIFICATION 



further proved that their construction is a manifestation of 

 the general character of a dialect, and that the innate incli- 

 nation reappears again in different forms of speech. 



CHAPTER VII. 



APPEARANCE OF THE GENERAL CHARACTER OF A LANGUAGE 

 IN OTHER FORMS OF SPEECH. 



Next to the words of relationship the pronouns, as the 

 substitutes of nouns, have preserved most distinctly the 

 original genius of a dialect. It has been previously 

 observed that in some languages the terms of kinship are 

 retained in conversation, where others would use in their 

 stead pronouns. This fact is one of the many indications 

 which show that both nouns and pronouns are constituted 

 alike in many respects. The connection existing between 

 both manifests itself in various ways. The words for 

 " father " and " mother " differ in the Zulu language accord- 

 ing to the pronoun with which they are associated. TJbdba 

 signifies "my father," Umame "my mother," TJyihlo " thy 

 father," Unyoho " thy mother, " Tlyise " his (her) father," and 

 Unina " his (her) mother." 67 The West Australian languages 

 combine also in a peculiar manner pronouns with terms of 

 kinship and of relationship. " We two," " you two," and 

 " they two," when applied (a) to brothers, sisters or friends, or 

 when (b) to parent and child or to uncle and nephew, and 

 when (c) to husband and wife or to persons who are greatly 

 attached to each other, become respectively (a) N gal-la, Ngal-a, 

 and Ngan nitch, (b) Neiv-bal, Neiv-bal and New-bin, and (c) 

 Bula, Bul-ala, and Bul-lana. m 



The American languages betray in this respect likewise a 

 strong tendency towards concretion. The terms of relation- 

 ship, the names of the various members and organs of the 



(67) The Zulu and other dialects of South Africa by the Rev. Lewis Grout, 

 Journ. of the Amer. Oriental Society, Vol. I, page 404. 



(68) See : Vocabulary -of the Dialects of South-Western Australia, by 

 Captain G. Grey, London, 1841, page xxii. 



