LANGUAGE. 
168 
the word really fignlfies in Sanfkrit), by a connexion of 
commerce or conqueft with Hindooftan, and by the adop¬ 
tion of its religion, early acquired gentler propenfities; 
and, by their victories and traffic in the illands to the ealt- 
ward, diffieminated, in unequal portions, a tincture of ci¬ 
vilization and of the arts. 
Dr. Leyden informs us that the languages of the 
iflanders are polyfyllabic, wliilft thofe of the continental 
nations, extending from India to China, are inonofylla- 
bic. In this cafe, the vocabulary muft be too limited to 
admit of each objedt being exprefi'ed by a diltindt word, 
and the fpeaker muft have recourfe to a variety of intona¬ 
tions to difcriminate thofe confuting of the fame letters, 
but of different fignification; and to this method it ap¬ 
pears they have recourfe. The monofyllabic texture is 
lead apparent in the countries bordering on Bengal, but 
increases in advancing eaftward, until we reach China, 
where it exclulively prevails. 
In all the continental regions from India to China, the 
religion of Buddha is the reigning form of luperffition. 
Literature and fcience are preferred in the Pali language, 
in which the native authors chiefly compofe their works, 
and the priefts celebrate the rites of their religion ; the 
vernacular tongues, with their refpedtive alphabets, being 
confined to buflnefsand converfation. 1. Aracan limits 
the eaftern province of Bengal, but their languages have 
no affinity. The inhabitants are admitted by the Birmans 
to have preceded them in civilization. Their alphabet 
correfponds in arrangement with the Devanagari. Many 
Pali compofitions are tranflated into the vernacular tongue; 
but their titles are fufficient to demonflrate that they moltly 
relate to the mythology and hiltory of the Hindoos. 2. 
The language of Pegu is confidered by Dr. L. as original, 
and it is laid to have no affinity with thofe of the adjacent 
countries. 3. The powerful and enterprifing nation of 
Birmans fpeak a dialed! of the Aracan language, which 
has undergone fome changes from their peculiar pronunci¬ 
ation. They pofl'efs a multitude of books in every branch 
of literature, but chiefly tranilations from the Pali. 4.. The 
Siamese are divided into two tribes, of which the more 
ancient inhabit the country bounded by the Menam and 
the river of Cambodia. Their language is alfo confidered 
by Dr. L. as original, though connedted with fome of the 
Chinefe dialedfs. Here, alfo, the Pali language and the 
religion of Buddha has given currency to the expreflions 
and legendary traditions of India. 5. The Laos are re- 
prefented as fpeaking a more ancient and lefs corrupt dia¬ 
led! of the Siamefe. In their country are found the mod 
remarkable veftiges of the founders of the religion of Bud¬ 
dha; and their laws and inftitutions are faid to have been 
adopted by their welfern neighbours. 6. The language 
of the Anam, or people of Cochin-china and Tonquin, 
appears to have a greater affinity with the Chinefe, than 
with thofe to the weft. The people are ledlaries of Bud¬ 
dha, and employ the Chinefe characters in their conipofi- 
tions, although they pofl'efs a peculiar alphabet. 
Dr. Leyden has enriched his valuable efi'ay by the firffc 
fpecimen of the Pali language we have yet feen exhibited. 
He is, undoubtedly, fully juflified in coniidering this 
widely-extended language as approaching much nearer 
the pure Sanfkrit than any other dialed!. 
The exiftence of 'three original and diltindt languages in 
countries proximate, if not adjacent, feems to us a very 
queftionable fadt. We may venture to predidt, that, in 
the fame maimer that the advancement of phyfical know¬ 
ledge will be found to reduce the number of fubftances 
confidered as elementary, fo a more perfedt acquaintance 
with the languages fpoken in the world, will diminifh the 
number accounted original. It may be true, that thofe 
of the Indo-Chioefe nations of the continent have no other 
affinity with Sanfkrit than might be naturally luppofed to 
refult from the influence of the Pali, operating through 
the medium of their religion, and of their literature. Bur, 
all the particulars communicated by Dr. Leyden appear 
to us to authorife the dedudtion, that the balls of thele 
tongues is the Chinefe. Their monofyllabic ftrudture, and 
the variety of intonations neceffary to difcriminate figni¬ 
fication, feem ftrongly to countenance this conjedfure, in 
itfelf highly probable. We think it alfo confirmed by the 
fimilarity of the corporeal configuration of all thefe peo¬ 
ple with the Chinefe, though the prominent charadteriftics 
of feature are, as might be expedted, more forcibly marked 
in the latter. 
The Chinese language is not only one of the moll an¬ 
cient in the univerfe, but is, perhaps, the only language 
of the early ages which is Hill fpoken and living : it is 
indeed as extraordinary as the people who fpeak it, and 
has no relation whatever to any known language. Its 
genius is fuch, that no laws of analogy can comprehend it. 
It has no alphabet, and the words which compofe it con- 
lift of one fyllable only, and are very few in number. 
The words always remain the fame; that is to fay, mono- 
fyllables, even when two are united to fignify one Angle 
thing ; whether they are written or pronounced, they re¬ 
main always feparate and diltindt, and are never blended 
into one. Thefe monofyllables never produce but one 
found. When they are written by the European alpha¬ 
bet, they begin by the letters ck, tch,f, g or j, i, h, /, m, n, 
vg, p, s, ts, v, ou ; the final letters are a, e, i, 0, oi, ou, u , /, 
”> g- 
The charadters of the Chinefe language were originally 
traced, in molt inftances, with a view to exprefs either 
real images, or the allegorical figns of ideas; a circle, for 
example, for the fun, and a crefcent for the moon. A 
man was reprefented by an eredt figure, with lines to mark 
the extremities. The difficulty and tedioufnefs of imita¬ 
tion foon occafioned a change to traits more fimple, and 
more quickly traced. A faint refemblance, however, Itill 
remains, in a few inftances, of the original forms in the 
prefent hieroglyphic characters ; and a gradation of their 
changes is traced in feveral Chinefe books. Not above 
half a dozen of the prefent charadters conlift each of a fin- 
gle line ; but molt of them confift of many, and a few 
even of feventy different ftrokes. A certain connexion is 
to be perceived in the arrangement of the written charac¬ 
ters of the Chinefe; as if it had been originally formed 
upon a fyftem to take place at once, and not to grow up, 
as other languages, by flow and diftant intervals. Up¬ 
wards of two hundred charadters, each confifting of a few 
lines, are made to mark the principal .objedts of nature. 
Thefe may be confidered as the genera or roots of lan¬ 
guage, in which every other word or fpecies, in a fyltema- 
tic ienfe, is referred to its proper genus. The heart is a 
genus, of which the reprefentation of a curve iine ap¬ 
proaches fome what to the form of the objedt; and the fpe¬ 
cies referable to it include all the fentiments, paffions, 
and affedtions, that agitate the human breaft. Each fpe¬ 
cies is accompanied by fome mark denoting the genus, or 
“heart.” Under the genus “hand” are arranged moll 
trades and manual exercifes. Under the genus “ word,” 
every fort of fpeech, ftudy, writing, underftanding, and 
debate. A horizontal line marks a unit; crofted by ano¬ 
ther line, it ftarids for ten. The five elements, of which 
the Chinefe fuppofe all bodies in nature to be compound¬ 
ed, form fo many genera, each of which comprehends un¬ 
der it a great number of fpecies. As in every compound 
character or fpecies, the abridged mark of the genus is 
dilcernible, a perfon is foon enabled to confult the Chi¬ 
nefe dictionary, in which thefe charadters are arranged 
under their proper genera. The charadters of the genera 
are placed at the beginning of the didtionary, in an order, 
which, like that of the alphabet, is invariable, and foon 
becomes familiar to the learner. The fpecies under each 
genus follow each other, according to the number of 
ftrokes of which each confifts, independently of the one 
or few which ferve to point out the genus. The fpecies 
wanted is thus foon found out, and its meaning and pro¬ 
nunciation are given through other words in common ufe, 
the firft of which denotes its fignification, and the other 
itsfound. When no one word is found to render exadtly 
the 
