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The following diagrams illustrate the method: Les cartes, planches, tableaux, etc., peuvent dtre film^s A des taux de reduction diff6rents. Lorsque le document est trop grand pour dtre reproduit en un seul clichA, il est film6 A partir da Tangle supArieur gauche, de gauche h droite. et da haut An bas, en prenant le nombre d'images nAcessaire. Les diagrammes suivants illustrent la mAthode. by errata led to ent une pelure, fapon A 1 2 3 32X 1 2 3 4 5 6 I* -T ^ii' p^^ " ' i : I '"TT -■-)"*' — ""fi -^^.— ..- I .p -ic^ — __— ^.j .^.^^^.^ '' ;.'^r*^."""""i i a" i Ta''^ C. Y. R I1.E Y,l Wachinrton, THE LANGUAGE OF PALAEOLITHIC MAN: f^^^'^^t^i-m. BY ;?^R] DANIEL GfBRINTON, M.D., Professcr of American Linguistics and Archaology In the University of Pennsylvania. W •i Read before the American Philosophioal Society, October 8, 1888. PRESS OF MacCALLA & CO., Nod. 287-9 Dock Strut, Puiladrlpria. 1888. MP ■» •-1 'v4"<<. JblUl "AV .,2 1914 r ... !•» I III I m m mmrtmmiiimtmtmmmm^iimmmm^mimmm % I l | 10 I I ^ .\0 ^ ne Language of PalaoUthU Man. By Daniel G. Brinton, M.D. {Read before the American Philosophical Society, October s, 1888.) ArchiEologists tell us that the mar ufacturers of those rude stone implements called palaeoliths wandered up and down the world while a period of something like two hundred thousand years was unrolling its eventless .centuries. Many believe that these early artisans had not the power of articulate expression to convey their emotions or ideas; if such they had, they were confined to inarticu- late grunts and cries. Haeckel proposed for the species at this period of its existence the designation Homo alalus, speechless man. Anatomists have come forward to show that the inferior maxillary bones disinterred in the caves of La Naulette and Schipka are so formed that their original possessors could not have had the power of articulation.* But the latest investigators of this point have reached an opposite conclusion. t We must, however, concede that the oral communi- cation of men during that long epoch was of a very rudimentary character; it is contrary to every theory of intellectual evolution to suppose that they possessed a speech approaching anything near even the lowest organized of the linguistic stocks now in existence. By an attentive consideration of some of these lowest stocks, can we not form a somewhat correct conception of what was the char- acter of the rudimentary utterances of the race? I think we can, but, as I believe I am the first to attempt such a picture, I offer it with becoming diffidence. The physiological possibility that palieolithic man possc'^ed a language has, .as I have said, been already vindicated ; and that he was intellectually capable of speech could, I think, scarcely be denied by any one who will contemplate the conception of sym- metry, the technical skill, and the wise adaptation to use, mani- fested in some of the oldest specimens of his art ; as for example the axes disinterred from the ancient strata of San Isidro, near Madrid, those found forty feet deep in the post-glacial gravels near ♦ "L'homme chcUeen n' avaltpas la parole," MortlUet, La PrehUtoriqtte AntiqitiU de VHomine, p. 250 (Paris. 1883). t See Dr. H. Steinthal, Der Unpnmg der Sprache. 8. 264, et »eq. (Berlin, 1888), who re- hearses the discussion of the point with aufilclent fullness. , - . • 'i I Trenton, New Jersey, or some of those figured by De Mortillet as derived from the beds of the Somme in France.* We have evidence that at that period man made use of fire ; that he raised shelters to protect himself from the weather; that he possessed some means cf navigating the streams ; that he could occasionally overcome pow- erful and ferocious beasts; that he already paid some attention to ornamenting his person ; that he lived in communities ; and that his migrations were extensive.f In view of all this, is it not highly improbable that he was destitute of any vocal powei-s of expressing his plans and his desires ? I maintain that we should dismiss the Homo alaius as a scientific romance which has served its time. More than this, I believe that by a judicious study of existing languages, especially those which have suffered little by admixture or by distant removals, we can picture with reasonable fidelity the character of the earliest tongues spoken by man, the speech of the Palneolithic Age. This primitive utterance was, of course, not the same everywhere. It varied indefinitely. But for all that it is almost certain that in all localities it proceeded on analogous lines of development, just as languages have everywhere and zt :A\ times since. By studying simple and isolated languages, those which have suffered least by contact with others, or by alterations in conditions of culture, we can catch some glimpses of the character of man's earliest signifi- cant expressions, the "baby-talk of the race," if I may use the expression. I have gleaned a certain number of such traits in the field of American linguistics, and present them to you as curiosities, which, like other curiosities, have considerable significance to those who will master their full purport. The question I am about to consider, is, you will observe, quite different from that which concerns itself with the origin of linguistic stocks. Many of these unquestionably arose long after man had acquired well-developed languages, and when the cerebral convolu- tions whose activity is manifested in articulate expression had acquired a high grade of development through hereditary training. How such stocks may have arisen has been lucidly set forth by my learned friend Mr. Horatio Hale. He demonstrates by many ex- * See, «Mr initance, PUto x of Morttllet, ifiufe PrtkUtoHqve; CMUUhM. A^t Prm*- toriqua de TEtpagne, plate on p. 27. 1 1 have coUected the evidenoe for this la an BaMy on Prehbtorio Anshaeologf , in the leanotrapMc Encydopedia, Vol. U. '' ' ^!.iy.jwniiii).4y i My|.l .JHW.WI ?W1!"*V" De Mortillet aa e have evidence aised shelters to 1 some means cf overcome pow- ne attention to lities; and that is it not highly ■s of expressing uld dismiss the rved its time, udy of existing J by admixture ble fidelity the ! speech of the le everywhere, certain that in »pment, just as By studying Fered least by of culture, we earliest signifi- may use the 1 traits in the as curiosities, :ance to those jbserve, quite n oi linguistic rter man had bral convolu- :pression had tary training. t forth by my by many ex- Ixw). Afitt PtOHi- ihiuAogf, In the I amples that in the present cerebral evolution of man, infants develop an articulate language with the same natural facility that any other species of animal does the vocal utterances peculiar to its kind.'" But in this essay I am contemplating man as he was before hun- dreds of generations of speaking ancestors had evolved such cere- bral powers. I begin with some observations on the phonetic elements. These are no other than what we call the alphabet, the simple sounds which combined together make up the words of a language. In all Euro- pean tongues, the mere letters of the alphabet, by themselves, have no meaning and convey no idea; furthermore, their value in a word is fixed ; and thirdly, arranged in a word, they are sufficient to convey its sound and sense to one acquainted with their values. Judged by certain American examples, all three of these seem- ingly fundamental characteristics of the phonetic elements were absent in primitive speech, and have become stable only by a long process of growth. We find tongues in which the primary sounds are themselves significant, and yet at the same time are highly vari- able ; and we find many examples in which they are inadequate to convey the sense of the articulate sound. As exemplifying these peculiarities I take the Tinni or Athapas- can, spoken widely in British America, and of which the Apache and Navaho in the United States are branches. You know that in English the vowels A, E, I, O, U, and the consonants, as such, F, S, K, and the others, convey to your mind no meaning, are -not attached to any idea or train of ideas. This is altogether different in the Tinn6. We are informed by Bishop Faraud,t a thorough master of that tongue, that its significant radicals are the five primi- tive vowel sounds. A, E, I, O, U. Of these A expresses matter, E existence, I force or energy, O existence doubtful, and U exist- ence absent, non-existence, negation or succession. These vowels are "put in action," as he phrases it, by single or double conso- nants, ■' which have moi;e or less value in proportion as the vowel is more or less strong." These consonantal sounds, as we learn at length from the works on this language by Father Petitot, are also materially significant. They are numerous, being sixty-three in • 8«e hbt addien on "The Origin of Langnages and the Antiquity of Speaking Man," In the Proceedings qf the American AMoclaiiuti for the Advaneemtnt (if Sdmee, Vol. xxxv, p. 27». t IHz-/tu<( ^fw cAei {«< jShUMKWW, p. W. * ' all, and are divided into nine different classes, each of which con* veyg a series of related or associated ideas in the native mind. Thus, the labials express the ideas of time and space, as age, length, distance, and also whiteness, the last mentioned, perhaps, through association with the white hair of age, or the endless snow- fields of their winter. The dentals express all that relates to force terminating, hence uselessness, inanity, privation, smallne^s, feeble- ness; and also greatness, elevation, the motor power. The nasals convey the general notion of motion in repetition ; hence, rotation, reduplication, gravitation, and, by a singularly logical association, organic life. The gutturals indicate motion in curves ; hence, sinu- ousness, fli;xibility, ebullition, roundness, and by a linear figure different from that which underlies the Latin rectitudo, justness, cor- rectness. The H, either as an aspirate or an hiatus, introduces the ideas of command and subjection, elevation and prostration, and the like.* You will observe that in some of these cases the signification of a sound includes both a notion and its opposite, as greatness and smallness. This is an interesting feature to which I shall refer later. Turn now to another language, the Cree. Geographically it is contiguous to the Tinn6; but, says Bishop Faraud, who spoke them both fluently, they resemble each other no more than the French does the Chinese. Nevertheless, we discover this same peculiarity of materially significant phonetic elements. Howse, in his Cree Grammar, observes that the guttural K and the labial W, constitute the essential part of all intensive terms in that language, " vt^hether the same be attributive, formative, or personal accident." Indeed, he maintains that the articulate sounds of the Cree all express rela- tive powers, feebleness or force, independent of their position with reference to other sounds. You may inquire whether in the different groups of American tongues the same or a similar signification is attached to any one sound, or to the sounds of any one organ. If it were so, it would give countenance to those theories which maintain that tiiere is some fixed relation between sound and sense in the radicals of lan- guages. I must reply that I have found very little evidence for this theory ; and yet some. For example, the N sound expresses the notion of the ego, of myself-ness, in a great many tongues, far • Fetttot, DUUofmaixt de (a Langue DtaU DMiiU, Introduction. h of which con- itive inind. 1 space, as age, tioned, perhaps, \\e endless snow- : relates to force mallne% feeble- er. The nasals hence, rotation, cal association, es; hence, sinu- a linear figure fo, justness, cor- introduces the rostration, and signification of s greatness and hall refer later, raphically it is ho spoke them lan the French ime peculiarity «, in his Creg I W, constitute Jge, " whether nt." Indeed, 1 express rela- position with 5 of American id to any one e so, it would that there is dicals of lan- dence for this expresses the tongues, far »>W.i^bil i i»yj ' il»i ' MfflW t l'l the pronominal , we, you, they, do 880;. Thlsreveftla nouns altogether. Petitot calls this phenomenon "literal aflBinity," and shows that ia the Tinn6 it takes place not only between consonants of the same group, the labials for instance, but of different groups, as labials with dentals, and dentals with nasals. These differences are not merely dialectic; they are found in the same village, the same family, the same person. They are not peculiar to the Tinn6 ; they recur in the Klamath. Dr. Behrendt was puzzled with them in the Chapanec. " No other language," he writes, " has left me in such doubt as this one. The same person pronounces the same word differently ; and when his attention is called to it, will insist that it is the same. Thus, for devil he will give Tixambi and Sisaimbui; for hell, Nakupaju and Nakapoti"* Speaking of the Guarani, Father Montoya says, "There is in this language a constant Chang- ing of the letters for which jio sufficient rules can be given, "f And Dr. Darapsky in his recently published study of the Araucanaian of Chile gives the following equation of permutable letters in that tongue : B = W = F = U = fT = I — E = G = GH = HU.J The laws of the conversion of sounds of the one organ into those of another have not yet been discovered, but the above ex- amples, which are by no means isolated ones, serve to admonish us that the phonetic elements of primitive speech probably had no fixedness. There is another oddity about some of these consonantal sounds which I may notice in passing. Some of them are not true elemen- tary sounds ; they cannot stand alone, but must always hav6 another consonant associated with them. Thus, the labial B is common in Guarani ; but it must always be preceded by an M. In Nahuatl the liquid L is frequent ; but it is the initial of no word in that lan- guage. The Nahuas apparently could not pronounce it, unless some other articulate sound preceded it. Albornoz, in his Grammar of the Chapanec Tongue%, states that the natives cannot prohounce an initial B, G, Y, or D, without uttering an N sound before it. The third point in the phonology of these tongues to which I alluded is the frequency with which the phonetic elements as graphi- • Apuntet tdbre la Lengna Chapaneca, MS. t Arte de la Ijengua Quarani, p. 93. X Iji Lengua ArauewM,, p. 15 (Santiago de (Me, 1888). i Albornoi, Arte de la Lengua Chapantea, p. 10. IJIH-I.-.H . '.■aWWCTiaini.iii.iim.w.ii) cally expressed, are inadequate to convey the idea. I may quote a remark by Howse in his Cree Grammar, which is true probably of all primitive speech, " Emphasis, accent and modifications of vocal expression which are inadequately expressed in writing, seem to constitute an essential, perhaps the vital part of Indian language." In such modifications 1 include tone, accent, stress, vocal inflection, quantity and pause. These are with much difficulty or not at all inchic'able in a graphic method, and yet' are frequently significant. Take the pause or hiatus. I have already mentioned that in Tinnd it correlates a whole series of ideas. M. Belcourt, in his Grammar of the Sauteux, an Algonkin dialect, states that the pause may com- pletely change the meaning of a word and place it in another class ; it is also essential in that language in the formation of the tenses.* This is the case in the Giiarani of South America. Montoya illus- trates it by the example : Peru o'u, Peter ate it ; but Peruou, Peter came; quite another thing you will observe.f The stress laid on a vowel-sound often alters its meaning. In the Sauteux, Belcourt points out that this constitutes the only distinc- tion between the first and second persons in participles. In the Nahuatl this alone distinguishes many plural forms from their sin- gulars ; and many similar examples could be cited. With difficulties of this nature to encounter, a person accustomed to the definite phonology of European tongues is naturally at a loss. The Spanish scholar Uricoechea expresses this in relating his efforts to learn the Chibcha of New Granada, a tongue also charac- terized by these fluctuating phonetics. He visited the region where it is still spoken with a grammar and phrase book in his hand, and found to his disappointment that they could not understand one word he said. He then employed a native who spoke Spanish, and with him practiced some phrases until he believed he had them per- fect. Another disappointment. Not one of them was understood. He returned to his teacher and again repeated them ; but what was his dismay when not even his teacher recognized a single word ! After that, Uricoechea gave up the attempt. | Leaving now the domain of phonology and turning to that of lexicography, I will point out to you a very curious phenomenon in primitive speech. I have already alluded to it in quoting M. Peti- * Prlncipet de la langue det Sauvaoet appelUi Sauteux. Introd. t AriK de la Lengua Quarani, 6 mat bien 2Upi For el P. Antonio Bull de Montoya, p. 100. t OrainaUca de la Lengua Chibcha. Introd. I. I may quote a ! true probably of fic.itions of vocal writing, seem to ndian language." , vocal inflection, :ulty or not at all ently significant, ed that in Tinn6 in his Grammar pause may com- in another class; 1 of the tenses.* Montoya illus- liPeruou, Peter leaning. In the the only distinc- ticiples. In the s from their sin- rson accustomed i naturally at a is in relating his gue also charac- he region where 1 his hand, and understand one ke Spanish, and s had them per- N3& understood. ; but what was a single word I iiing to that of phenomenon in loting M. Peti- de Montoya, p. 100. II tot's remark that in Tinn6 a sound often means both a notion and ' its opposite ; that, for instance, the same word may express good and bad, and another both high and low. To use M. Petitot's own words, "a certain number of consonants have the power of express- ing a given order of ideas or things, and also the contradictory of this order." In Tinn6, a great many words for opposite ideas are the same or nearly the same, derived from the same significant ele- ments. Thus, son good, sona bad ; tezo, sweet, tezon bitter ; ya immense, ya .very small ; inla one time, inlasin every time ; and so on. This union of opposite significations reappears in the ultimate radicals of the Cree language. These, says Mr. Howse,* whose Grammar I again quote, express Being in its positive and negative modes; " These opposite modes are expressed by modifications of the same element, furnishing two classes of terms widely different from each other in signification. " In Cree the leading substantive radical is eth, which originally meant both Being and Not-Being. In the present language elh remains as the current positive, ith as the current privative. It means within, ut without ; and like par- allelisms run through many expressions, indicating that numerous series of opposite ideas are developments from the same original sounds. I have found a number of such examples in the Nahuatl of Mex- ico, and I am persuaded that they are very usual in American tongues. Dr. Carl Abel has pointed out many in the ancient Cop- tic, and I doubt not they were characteristic of all primitive speech. To explain their presence we must reflect on the nature of the human mind, and the ascertained laws of thought. One of these fundamental and necessary laws of thought, that usually called the second, was expressed by the older logicians in the phrase Omnis determinatio est negatio, and by their modern followers in the formula, " A\% not not- A ;" in dther words, a quality, an idea, and element of knowledge, can rise into cognition only by being limited by that which it is not. That by which it is limited is kndwn in logic as its privative. In a work published some years ago I pointed out that this privative is not an independent thought, as some have maintained, but that the positive and its privative are really two • See How«e, Qrammar of the Cree Language, pp. 16, 134, 186, 16», etc IMMI* if aspects of the same thought.* This highly important distinction explains how in primitive speech, before the idea had risen into clear cognition, both it and its privative were expressed by the same sound; and when it did rise into such cognition, and then into expression, the original unity is exhibited by the identity of the radical. Thus it happens that from such an unex|)ected quarter as an analysis of Cree grammar do we obtain a confirmation of the start- ing point of the logic of Hegel in his proposition of the identity of the Being and the Not-being as the ultimate equation of thought. The gradual development of grammar is strikingly illustrated in these languages. Their most prominent trait is what is called incor- poration. Subject, verb, direct object and remote object are all expressed in one word. Some have claimed that there are Ameri- can languages of which this is not true; but I think I have shown in an essay published a few years ago,t that this opinion arises from our insufficient knowledge of the alleged exceptions. At any rate, this incorporation was undoubtedly a trait of primitive speech in America and elsewhere. Primitive man, said Herder, was like a baby; he wanted to say all at once. He condensed his whole sen- tence into a single word. Archdeacon Hunter, in his " Lecture on the Cree Language,'' gives as an example the Scriptural phrase, " I shall have you for my disciples," which, in that tongue, is expressed by one word. J So far as I have been able to analyze these primitive sentence- words, they always express being in relation; and hence they par- take of the nature of verbs rather than nouns. In this conclusion I am obliged to differ with the eminent linguist Professor Steinthal who, in his profound exposition of the relations of psychology to grammar, maintains that while the primitive sentence was a single word, that word was a noun, a name.§ It is evident that the primitive man did not connect his sentences. One followed the other disjointedly, unconnectedly. This is so • The Religious SmHment; lit Source and Aim. A OotiMbutlon lo the Science qf Settgion. By D. O. Brlnton, p. 81 (New York, ]«76). The statement In the text can be iUgebraicaUy demonatntted In the mathematical form of logic as set forth by Prof. Boole, thus: A — not (not - A); which, in ita mathematical expression becomes! X — X . Whence by transposition and substitution we derive, a;' — 1 ; in which equa- tion 1 — ^. See Boole, An InvetUgalion into the Laws qf Thought (London, 1854). t On Poty»ytUhesi» and Incorporation, in Procteding$ of the American Pbllotophlcal Booleiy, 1885. t On the Grammatical OonttrucHon of the Ore* Language, p. 12 (London, 1876). fl Steinthal, QramaUk, Logik w^ Ptgchohgie, s. 825. ilf;: artant distinction ad risen into clear sed by the same n, and then into e identity of the :ted quarter as an ition of the start- n of the identity ation of thought, igly ilhistrated in at is called incor- te object are all there are Ameri- nk I have shown >inion arises from IS. At any rate, imitive speech in ;rder, was like a ed his whole sen- his "Lecture on ptural phrase, " I igue, is expressed •imitive sentence- hence they par- n this conclusion rofessor Steinthal of psychology to :nce was a single ect his sentences, dly. This is so lom to the Science of it in the text can be as get forth by Prof, expression becomes, — 1 ; in which equa- ondon, 1864). lericon Pbllotophlcal ion, 1876). 13 plainly marked in American tongues that the machinery for con- necting sentences is absent. This machinery consists properly of the relative pronoun and the conjunction. You will be surprised to hear that there is no American language, none that I know, which possesses either of these parts of speech. That which does duty for the conjunction in the Maya and Nahuatl, for instance, is a noun meaning associate or companion, with a prefixed possessive.* Equally foreign to primitive speech was any expression of time in connection with verbal forms; in other words, there was no such thing as tenses. We are so accustomed to link actions to time, past, present, or future, that it is a little difficult to understand how this accessory can be omitted in intelligible discourse. It is perfectly evident, however, from the study of many American tongues that at one period of their growth they possessed for a long interval only one tense, which served indifferently for past, present, and future ;t and even yet most of them form the past and future by purely ma- terial means, as the addition of an adverb of time, by accent, quantity or repetition, and in others the tense relation is still un- known. | In some tongues, the Omagua of the upper Orinoco for example, there is no sort of connection between the verbal stem and its signs of tense, mode or person. They have not even any fixed order. In such languages there is no difference in sound between the words for "I marry," and "my wife;" "I eat," and "my food," be- tween " Paul dies," "Paul died," "Paul will die," and "Paul is dead."§ Through such tongues we can distinctly perceive a time when the verb had neither tense, mode, nor person ; when it was not even a verb nor yet a verbal, but an epicene sound which could be adapted to any service of speech. • In Maya the conjunction " and " is rendered by yta, a compoand of the possessive pronoun, third person, singular y, and ett, companion. The Nahuatl, ihxian, is precisely (he same la composition. t Die meisten amertkanischen Sprachen haben die Eigenthttmltchlcett, dass in der Regel die Haupttempora in Anwendung kommen und unter diosen besonders da« Piiiaens, selbat wenn Ton elner beatlmmten, besonders aber von einer unbestimmten Vergangenheit gesprochen wird. J. J. von Tschudi, Organigmui der Kheitm Spracke, s, 196. The same tense is also employed for future occurrences. What das-ical gram- marians call "the historical present," will Illustrate this employment of a single tense for past and fliture time. X The Chlqulta of Bollvl* Is ao extreme example. " La distinction du paas«, dn pr^ sent et du flitnr n'extate pas dans cette langue «trange." Arte v VoedmlaHo d« la Lmgua CMiiuUa. Por L. Adam, y V. Henry, p. x. iOnthe Verb M American Lamguaoe$. By Wllhelm von Humboldt. Translated by D. G. Brlnton, In Proceedingi of the American PhUomphlcal Society, 18S5. »4 It is also evident that things were not thought of, or talked of, out of their natural relations. There are still in roost An^erican tongues large classes of words, such as the parts of the body and terms of kinship, which cannot stand alone. They must always be accompanied by a pronoun expressing relation. Few American tongues have any adjectives, the Cree, for instance, not a dozen in all. Prepositions are equally rare, and articles are not found. These facts testify that what are called " the gram- matical categories" were wholly absent in the primitive speech of man. So also were those adjectives which are called numerals. There are ^^merican tongues which have no words for any numerals what- ever. The numerical concepts one, two, three, four, cannot be expressed in these languages for lack of terms with any such mean- ing.* This was a great puzzle to the missionaries when they under- took to expound to their flocks the doctrine of the Trinity. They were in worse case even than that missionary to an Oregon tribe, who, to convey the notion of soul to his hearers, could find no word in their language nearer to it than one which meant " the lower gut." A very interesting chapter in the study of these tongues is that which reveals the evolution of specific distinctions, those inductive generalizations under which primitive man classified the objects of the universe about him. These distinctions were either grammatical or logical, that is, either formal or material. That most widely seen in America is a division of all existences into those which are considered living and those considered not living. This consti- tutes the second great generalization of the primitive mind, the first, as I have said, having been that into Being and Not-being. The distinctions of Living and Not-living gave rise to the animate and inanimate conjugations. A grammatical sex distinction, which is the prevailing one in the grammars of the Aryan tongues, does not exist in any American dialect known to me.f It is true that abstract general terms are absent or rare in the • A striking example is the Chiqulta of Bolivia. " No se puede en chiquito, ni contar do8, treg, cuatro, etc., ni decir segundo, tercero, etc." Arte y Vocabvlarto de la Lengua Chiquita, p. 19 (Paris, 1880). t Those distinctiODB, apparently of sex, called by M. Luoien Adam anlhropie and mef- anlkropic, jrrhenic and metarrhenie, found in certain American tongues, belong to the material, not the formal part of the language, and, strictly speaking, are distinctions not really based on sexual oonsiderationa. See Adam, Du Qeare dans {«a IHvenet Languei (Paris, 1883). If moBt primitive tongues. On the other hand, we find in them a great many classificatory particles. These correspond only remotely to anylhing known in Aryan speech, and seem far more abstract than generic nouns. I will illustrate what they are by an example takeii from the Hidatsa, a dialect of the Dakota. The word for sled in that dialect is mida-maidutsada. The first part of this compound, mida, means anything of wood or into which wood enters. Fire is midt because it is kept up with wood. With the phonetic laxity which I have before noted, the first syllable mi may as correctly be pronounced bi or wi. It is a common nominal prefix, of vague significance, but seems to classify objects as distinc- tives. Ma designates objects whose immediate use is not expressed j /denotes instrument or material ; du, conveys that the cause of the action is not specified ; tsa intimates tl.e action is that of separa- ting; da, that this is done quickly (tsa-da, to slide).* Thus by the juxtaposition of one classificatory particle after an- other, seven in number, all of them logical universals, the savage makes up the name of the specific object. This system was probably the first adopted by man when he be- gan to set in order his perceptions within the categories of his un- derstanding with the aim of giving them vocal expression. It is a plan which we find most highly developed in the rudest languages, and therefore we may reasonably believe that it characterized pre- historic speech. The question has been put by psychological grammarians, which one of the senses most helped man in the creation of language, or to express it in modern scientific parlance, was primitive man a visuaire or an auditaire ? Did he model his sounds after what he heard, or what he saw? The former opinion has been the more popular, and has given rise to the imitative or " onomatopoetic " theory of language. No doubt there is a certain degree of truth in this, but the analysis of American tongues leans decidedly toward classing primitive man among the vhuaires. His earliest significant sounds seem to have been expressive of motion and rest, energy and its absence, space and direction, color and form, and the like. A different opinion has been maintained by Darwin and by many who have studied the problems presented by the origin of words from a merely physical or physiological standpoint, but a careful investi- * Wuhington Matthews, Qrammatt and Dtettonart/ qf the Language <4 Ifie ISdatea (New York. 1878). ■'? gktion shows thAt it was the sensn of sight farther (hftti of heariAf Which wai the promftet to vocal utterance. Bat the consideration of the souree of primitive significant sounds lies without the bounds of my present study. It will be seen from th<'se remarks thnt the primitive speech of man was far more rudimentary than any language known fo us. It had no grammatical farm } so fluctuating #ere its phonetics and so ihuch depended on gesture, (one, and stress, that its words could Aot have been reduced to writing, nor arranged in alphabetic s^uence ; these words often signified logical contradictories, and which of the antithetic meanings wa& intended could be guessed only from the Accent or a sign ; it possessed no prepositions nor conjunctions, no numerals, no pronouns of any kind, no forms to express singular or phiral, male nor femsle, past nor present ; the different vowet-sounds and the different consonantal groups conveyed specific significanc«, and were of more import than the syllables #hich they fornied. The concept of time came much later than (hat of space, and for a long while was absent. V ■IMMM mip heariiif leration bounds wech of us. 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