OF LANGUAGES. 



107 



The result at which we hope to have arrived may be briefly 

 summed up as follows : — 



All languages must, according as the propensity towards 

 specializing and generalizing prevails, be divided into two 

 classes, which we have called concrete and abstract. Differ- 

 ence in internal disposition determines difference of origin. 

 We know of no concrete language which can be regarded as 

 related to a primitive abstract language, or to have developed 

 into an abstract idiom unless through the introduction of 

 a foreign abstract element, which introduction produces an 

 entire change. A transition from concrete to abstract, though 

 possible according to the laws of nature, cannot be actually 

 pointed out, and the distinction may therefore be considered 

 to be a fixed one to all intents and purposes. 



This assertion does not exclude the fact, that one language 

 may be in one subdivision and another in another subdivision 

 of the same class, and yet both may be originally related to 

 each other, In like manner there exist different varieties in 

 the same species in the several kingdoms of nature. 



The concrete class ignores totally the distinctions founded 

 on gender, while gender is the keystone to the abstract system. 



Both classes admit of subdivisions, and in the concrete as 

 well as in the abstract classes the peculiar formation of the 

 terms of kinship is chosen as the principal criterion. 



The external disposition, as manifested in the outward 

 formation, combined with the material mode of thinking 

 manifested by a language, betrays fully the peculiar character 

 of an idiom. 



