290 
REPORT— 1847- 
it. Syllables, beginning and ending with a vowel, and having besides a conso¬ 
nant between them, are already to be suspected of contraction, unless the cos- 
sonant be a servile one, as the liquids and the sibilating sounds generally ut 
Indeed this dilFerence between the degree of substantiality of the consonMO 
is a jWwtTfnl element for the dev»>lopmcnt of u ords into an oigauic stnirtuir. 
Monosyllables with two substantial consonants arc the lurthfst extnns’i.' 
which monosyllabic languages can arrive. This whole reason procet'htpM 
the fundamental assumption, that in languages oi this nature (haviDjtw*. 
full roots, or seutonce-formiiig words) there is a rational corresponorw 
between tJie unity of perception and of sounds. Two equally strong Wj 
sonants again of the same organ of speech (as two labials, two Ungu8U,»t>- 
soon), may come under the head of animple iricreaseand light roodinesW’ 
the one impression. But syllables with two mute cousonajits of two u|^ 
organic classes presuppose a union of two, which requires ungmaly '> 
syllalilos. . 
Other varieties can exist within this dark and almost unexplored sp • 
by ditferent systems of position and accent; but ti»e line ol • 
always lie in the approach to the breaking up of the character 
fulness and Uolation of the single words. The only preparation whic . 
a literature of four tliousand years, the Chinese presents for sucii a c ^ 
is the use of some of its unchangeable roots as signs of grammatical re > 
A nation whicli formed itself into existence from such a stale ot the ang 
could as easily make that great step, whicli leads to affixes ami ^ 
inflexions, us the unumnificd Chinese is incapable and unwilling W do ’ • 
is the feeling of the absolute independcnCB and isolating substantiality 
word in a sentence, which makes him contemplate such u change * 
decay and burburisin. He (ix|>rc«8cs daylight by two words 
actly in the same order dtiy light : but he cannot condescend to subtM^ 
the second to the first, by saying (with one accent) day'dight. , ^ 
The tendency to compound syllables is also in itself a tendency W 
change. The distinction between words and syllables, by tlic formation o 
lysyllabic words, is the dcclaJation of the entrance into the fccoi P 
stage, the organic one of thy words. Kvery coiupogitiou prodiioes or p I* 
decouipositiim ; it presupposes a third thing, uniting two dwtinctum^oT; 
eeption and tlioughL One of the things thus united will be m P . ^ 
time subordinated to the other, as the determinative or accessory. * ^ 
of more fhan one syllable is the expression of a compound notion: » 
tutes the expression of a higher unit by the subordination of 
notion under another simple one. The former loses the acceut; 
unity of accent tlieru is no unity of the word in speech. Tlie Cbm ^ 
no real compound wonls; for in apparent conipositiuns, 
horsc-man, each component word, as we have already observed, p 
its own accent, and Ihen; is a pnu!*e between them. 
If we fix our regard on the second great class of languages, tbet* . 
no mistake as to which is the last forniutiun, the goal of the ''bole 
i-s evidently tliat of jierfect inflexions. We say advisedly, the la^^ . . 
tion, not miirtdy the moat perfect. No language can have ^ 
had not formative particles (affixes and suffixes) before: and di®*® 
theniselvc-a niust once have been independent particles; finally. 
be no particle, which was not originally a substantial word, and pt* 
a substantial syllable. 
1 hw is ilio result both of our exauiination of the phenomena of 
ana ot our speculative reasoning. The first showed us, that sucQ ^ 
cose in the languages, the history anti formation of which we know* 
