birth, when his dawning reason guides his first attempts at imitating the familiar words which he has most frequently heard, and with which he is beginning to associate ideas. The various motions of the upper vocal organs in producing articulations, as also the different positions and degrees of opening of the mouth in uttering vocal sounds, are so distinct and so well marked, that the deaf and dumb may be taught to read the spoken thoughts on the lips of the speaker. Man, impelled by a law of his constitution, formed by imitation and analogy all the vocal signs which, consequent on his refined perceptions and extended social relations, he required for the expression and communication of his thoughts and feelings. In the formation of an articulate language, he instinctively modified his natural cries into a resemblance of the noises produced by the things signified, that the words might recall the ideas. Thus he originally named many animals; thus, also, savages and infants still name the objects which are new to them. The mystery which veils the primitive psychology of humanity, could, in great measure, be unravelled by a study of man in the first years of life and the first stages of society. Imitation of the sonorous effects of nature, of the cries of animals, and the mechanical noises of industry, produced all the radical words expressive of the properties and actions which recalled the various sensations of hearing. The analogy of the function and effect of the vocal organs with those of the other organs, extended, by comparison, this process of onomatopoeia to the denomination of things destitute of sound. Onomatopoeia,” says Ch. Nodier, "has been the mechanical agent of language, and comparison its intellectual agent.' The important part which onomatopoeia assumes in the formation of language would, if properly understood, assist in its acquisition. The innumerable prototype sounds of nature, like the endless variety of colours and forms which adorn the external world, are reducible to a few elements. Hence, the number of sounds and articulations which form the elements of all languages, is not very considerable; but, by varying the intonations of the vocal sounds, and the degree of force of the vocal articulations, the human voice is capable of modifying them indefinitely. Many nations, among which may be particularly mentioned the English, express different ideas by a change in the accentuation of their words. But the Chinese surpass all other people in this respect: their spoken * Notions Elémentaires de Linguistique. language, although composed of less than 500 radical monosyllabic words, can, by quantity and modulation in pronouncing them, multiply the expression of ideas to 1203 vocables, according to Abel Rémusat,* and to a few thousands, according to other writers. A very limited number of vocal elements have, by means of their diversified intonations and combinations, been found sufficient for the purposes of oral expression; and people, in all countries, yielding to the influence of the climate in which they live, have adopted those which suited their peculiar habits. Hence, there are sounds and articulations which exclusively belong to each language, whilst those which are more general in nature and more easily produced are common to all. But even in the production of these, there exist between various nations slight shades of difference, which arise from local circumstances peculiar to each people, and which are with difficulty appreciated by those who are unused to them. The predominance of one of the vocal elements over the other, is chiefly determined by the nature of the climate. Softness is the characteristic of the languages of warm countries, as indolence is that of the people; they abound in vocal sounds; whereas less genial climes impart to their people an energy which is marked in their idioms by a predominance of articulations. Such is the effect of a warm or cold climate in respectively relaxing or contracting the muscles, and in producing softness or energy of vocal action, that, under its influence, the southern nations of Europe indulge in full, open, long sounds, and varied intonations, which render their pronunciation clear, sonorous, and musical; whilst, in advancing towards the north, the languages lose more and more in fulness and distinctness, and, with few exceptions, are characterised by close and short utterance, as also by numerous articulations, which give them force and rapidity at the expense of melody. It is this difference in the euphonic composition of languages which made Charles V. wittily observe, that English should be used in speaking to birds; German, to horses; Italian, to women; French, to men; and Spanish, to God. All articulate languages are, in their present form, purely conventional, although the original words of the primitive languages from which they are derived, were instinctive imitations of natural sounds, or modifications of such cries as were uttered under the impulse of emotion. Articulate words directly repre * Recherches sur les Langues Tartares. sent ideas: and, with the natural signs of the language of action, which are always united to them as indispensable auxiliaries, there is no thought of the mind, no sentiment of the heart, which they cannot express. In this happy union of the natural and conventional signs consists the perfection of language. Articulate words are the readiest signs of ideas, and the most appropriate to their object. More convenient than natural signs, they can be used at any time, and in any position, by day or by night, standing or lying down, in health or in sickness, and simultaneously with most of the occupations of life. The advantage which the ear possesses, of not being, like the eye, diverted by surrounding objects, the inexhaustible variety of sounds and intonations which can be produced without effort, and the charm which sympathy attaches to the vibrations of the human voice, all favour the use of speech as a vehicle of thought. In the act of speech, our being seems divided into two distinct individuals in intimate communion with each other-the one speaking, the other listening; the one executing, the other judging the performance. No other vehicle of thought so effectually elicits this double action of the mind; none so intimately communicates with the brain; none so perfectly fulfils the functions of signs, or favours solitary meditation. The numberless intonations and inflections of the voice can manifest the slightest or the deepest emotions, and can exhibit the minutest shades of ideas. The voice, modified as it is by the vocal organs, is so delicate and so docile, so rapid and so flexible; it is capable of so much cultivation, and endowed with so many resources; that it is the best interpreter of thought, and the most effective instrument of the human mind. * SECT. IV.-WRITTEN OR ALPHABETICAL WORDS. Man requires for the accomplishment of his destiny as a social and perfectible being, that thought be transmitted beyond the narrow limits of place and time within which articulate language exercises its power. Through speech alone the benefits of intellectual communication would extend but to a few individuals ; nations, provinces, and towns would remain isolated; generation would succeed generation without inheriting the experience of those who preceded them; in a word, mankind would remain for ever in a comparative state of barbarism. The art of writing is * See Maine de Biran's Influence de l'Habitude sur la Faculté de Penser. indispensable to enable man to fix and extend his ideas, to improve and secure his knowledge. To writing, society owes its progress; science, its perfection; genius, its glory; and the world, its civilisation. Written words are composed of two elements, corresponding to the elements of the spoken words: they are the vowels and consonants, which constitute the characters of the alphabet. Vowels are the representatives of vocal sounds; consonants, of vocal articulations; and their combinations, of articulate sounds. Alphabetical words were consequently posterior to articulatè words; and, at this day, there exist many tribes who do not yet possess a written language, although none are destitute of an articulate one. The vowels and consonants are intended to be combined in the written words, in the same manner as the elementary sounds and articulations in the spoken words. Hence, as the articulations are inseparable from the sounds on which they act, so the consonants must be united to the vowels. In a perfect phonographic system each vocal element should always be represented by one and the same character. However, the alphabetical representation of most languages is far from being exact: the written elements do not always correspond to the spoken elements, each to each; nor is the number of the former equal to that of the latter. Owing to this imperfection, it often occurs that a simple character stands for a compound sound or articulation, and conversely that a compound character stands for a simple sound or articulation: i and g, in the words file and gem, are examples of the first irregularity; au and ch, in cause and chaise, are examples of the second. It is the province of orthoepy to determine, for each language, the extent of these irregularities in the pronunciation of its words, as it is that of orthography to determine the peculiarities of its written form; the one deals with vocal sounds and articulations as the other deals with vowels and consonants. The vocal and the alphabetical elements are perfectly distinct: yet the want of a proper analysis of them and the immediate connection which exists between the sign and the thing signified, have often led people to use one for the other, and to apply to the vowels and consonants the properties which belong only to the vocal sounds and articulations. This confusion of ideas should be avoided, as it renders these first notions obscure and intricate to learners. Another very prevalent error in our modern idioms is that of confounding the names of the alphabetical characters with their significations or powers as constituent parts of words. A third error, equally prevalent, is that of attributing sound to consonants: these characters may, in grammatical phraseology, be said figuratively to be articulated; they certainly cannot be said to be sounded. Perspicuity requires the import of the alphabetical characters to be thus expressed, the sound of a vowel, the articulation of a consonant, and the pronunciation of an articulate syllable. These characters are essentially phonographical; but the written words into the composition of which they enter, although merely the representatives of the corresponding spoken words, become, by frequent use, immediate signs of ideas. For the deaf and dumb who read and write, they are exclusively ideographical, that is, directly significant of ideas. It is also in this light that the written words of a foreign language are considered by learners as yet unacquainted with their pronunciation. This written form of language has been almost universally adopted as affording the readiest means of multiplying indefinitely the expression of thought. It has also this advantage, it does not burthen the memory, being composed of only a very limited number of elements, the combinations of which correspond to those of the articulate language. The alphabetical characters possess the two-fold advantage of rendering permanent the transient sounds of the spoken language, and of following them through all their combinations in mental investigations. They contribute with them to the exercise of the intellectual faculties, and to the advancement of civilisation. Conjointly with articulate sounds, they constitute a double system of signs which completes conventional language, and supplies all the deficiencies of the natural one. By means of the written signs the transmission of thought is no longer limited in space or time, and man is rendered, as it were, the citizen of every country, the contemporary of every age. SECT. V.-IMPORTANCE OF THE ARTICULATE AND THE The assistance which the articulate and the alphabetical words lend to each other is of the utmost importance in combining our simple ideas and analysing those which are complex. This |