1000000030

L A N

aod Ihefe changes mufl al\'lays correfpoo.J <vith the chaoge

of cir.:nlllfboct's in Ihe peuplewho n",ke

u:~

of tllJI par–

ticular I.\nguagc: for wheo aoy paniclI!.lr I,t of idedS be–

come prevalent among any foeiclYof IOcn , IVords mun be

adoPled 10 exprefs lhem ; and fromIher" Iholangcagc mufl

2ITome its

chara<~er.

Hence Ihe reafon whyIbe language

all barbarous and unc;",lizcJ people is ruJe anc uncol–

tiv.Hed ; while Ihufe

oaliúr,~

which

hl.ve

1mproved Ihei r

reafuoiog C,!Collies, and made

fom~

progrefs io Ihe po–

lite arts, have beco 00 lefs diflinguilhed by the Cu?eriorilY

of their laoguage thao by Iheir pre·emioence io olher re–

fpeéh.- Tbe laog·,agc of a br"ve alld martial people is

bold aod oervuus, although pcrhaps rudo aod ooeoltivated;

while the Iaog'-"ge of tboCe oations io whieh loxury and

cffemioaocy prevail, is fluwiog aod harmooiuus, bot de–

void of furce ar.d eoergy of exprefliuo.

may be euor.Jercd as a geocral rule, that the

laoguage of a:1y ollioo is ao exaa ir.d,x of Ihe fl,te

of Iheir mio:ls, But as mao is naturally ao imitativc aoi

mal, aod io mmers of this k:ml never has recourfe tO

¡oveotioo but through oeceflity; if by fome accideot aoy

part of a oatioo filOold be feparated from Ihat

comr.to

–

nity to whic!! thcy bclooged, aCter a laoguage had been

¡ovented, they

wo~ld

retaio the fame geoeral fouods aod

Uiolll

of laoguage with thofe frum whom they were fe–

parated; although io procefs of time thefe I\VO people,

by living io cO'Jntries of a diflimila r oatore, or beiog

en–

gaged io differeot occupOlioos, aod leadiog a "ilfereot

maooer of life, might in time 10Ce aH koowledge of ooe

aoother,

.(f~me

a dilferent

oatior.al

char.éler aod oppo–

fite difpuGtioos of Oliod, and forOl e:.ch of them a·dif–

l inét language to ¡hemfe"-es, total!y differeot io geoios

ami flyl e, though agreciog with one ano ther in the fuo–

damental

foor.ds

aod generol idicm : fo that if this par–

ticular idiom, forrned before their rtparatioo, filOUld hap–

peo to be

more

pecoliarly adapted to the geoios of one

of toefe pcóple thao the otl:er, that particular people

whofe oatural geoius aod Oyle of language IVas not in con–

cord with ¡he

idiom

IVhich they h. d adopted, IVould ,,–

bour ooder ao iocooveoieoce 00 this accuuO! ",h,eh tr,ey

'never IVould be able entirely to

o,·trcom~;

ar.J this in–

convenieoce \Vould pre,'eot their langu'ge from aminiog

fueh a degree of perfeaioo, as the geoios of the people

wóuld otherwife naturally have Itd them

10.

Thus lao–

gua~es

hal'e becooriginally formed; and thus th?t happy

c~o,'ord

of circumflaoces which have coocorrcd

raife

fome

laogO]~CS

tO that height of pcrfeélion which they

h.ve

attaioed m,y be

ear.ly

aecounted for, while olloy

in<fteaoal efforts haYe been maele 10 " ife olher langoagcs

tO ,he fam e degrce of excelknce.

\Ve filall OOt here eOler ul'0o an)'

fruit~efs

ioquiries,

IVilh a vie" todifcover if ooly ooe Llngo:<ge lOa, origioa l–

Iy formed, ur if any lango'r.e that IVe are

ae(lu~inlcd

with has a greater claim to Ihat OIueh

COl';c.I

pre-emi ·

oenee th.'o others. \ Ve have feeo, thdl Ihe\liico\'cry of

hngnar,c is cot; rcly wid,in

Ollr

rc;¡rh,

~nd

cvidcntly

lhe

i O\'(,II~¡on

of fllan ;

:!Iht

thercfort.: IlI,n the

inven:ion

flf

difl'creot bogltagcs hy difieren!

focicti~s,

is cXlrcm<lv

I'ro!¡~ble.

BlIt thefe t!iWer\'llt

f(l~:t'ties,

io I', oeefs

timr, bchovcd to intcrmix

w:tr

t1f

c,,'mm!'IC~,

and

tlll.:ir

ddLrent

Ianól1,'¡:~s

WOl:!.l

E!.~\\ :(~

b.!\:f)í1l':

r.lix ~·.{,

L A N

Heo:c du,;og the foccelEon of many ages, while lit:

priocipies of Ianguage \Vere not uoderllooJ, maoy dlff,–

ren¡ laoguages mufl have been formed, wlule other! may

have fuok ioto o'lli\'ion, efpecially io thoCe early ages be–

fore the ioveotion of letters, which alooe could prefelve

their melllory_ [n vain, therefore, IVould we endcavllUr

to difcover the Ilate 01' thofe oatioos or laoguage, of

which \Ve have bot obfcore traces io hillury. Iodeed we

have no reafoo to lament om lofs io this particular; for

foppof,ogfuch adifcovery coulo be made,

IVe

coold derive

little ad<'aotage from it. T he antiquity of a

laogu,~,

does oot imply aoy degree of excellence: fome natioos

have made more proglefs in improviog their mental fa–

culties, and refiniog thei r laoguage, in a feIV years, than

ot},crs have dooe io maoy ages.

\Ve

Ihall therefore Ime

this fobjeél, and proceed

make fome remarks 00 Ihe

vaotag~s

or defeéls of fome of thofe

idi.ml

of 1'0-

guage \Vit!! which wc are moO iotimately acquainted , as

this may perhaps lead us to fome diICoverie; of real uti–

lity to ourfelveL

As the IVords

¡D IO~I

and GEN tUS ofa laoguage are

ofteo confounded, it IVill ue oecelTdfy to inform ¡he rea–

der,.lhat by IDI

0~1

we would here he ooderOood to mean

thalgemrol mode .¡ arrollging'IVordi illlo¡,ntenw'1JJhich

prevoi/¡ ill ony particular loaguag';

aod bytheGEN lu s

of a laog'Jage we meao lO

ex~refs

th, p.1rticulor [el o[

ideal 1uhich th, 'lJJordi

al1y loaguogr, tilher ¡rom

thcir.fonr.atien or

1II11

Iriplicity

are

1110.//

not"rol& apl

Iv ,xciI( ill Ih, mini o[ anl .nt 'who htan il propul¡

ullard.

Thus although the

El1gliJh, Frtnch, Italian,

aod

JJp31/~7)

laoguages , oeady

a~ree

io the fame general

DIO

yet the P".ti Clll<r

G l N

s of eaeh is lemark–

auly diITereot : The

Ellgli/h

is oaturdly bold nmoos,

aod flroogly articolatca ; the

Frcnch

is weaker, aod

more fivwiog; the

ltalio/:

morefoothiog and harmonius;

aod the

SpOlJijh

more gr?vt, fooorous, aod Ilatdy.

Nuw, whco weexaJ:1ine the fe veral languagcs whieh hare

beco moll eflee\}]ed io Europc, we liod that there are

ooly tll'O

dillio<~

IDIOl

amur.g them ",hieh are erreo–

tial!y

dillinguin,~d

from or.e ,oother ; ano alllhefe lan–

go' ges are di':iJed bttwceo Ihtfc til'O id:om!, followiog

lomelimes the ooe, and fometimes the othel', eitl"r

wholly or in r2rt. The I,ng

"ñr.es

whieh may ue

f.id

adhere

the lirO IDIOM, are Ihofe which io Ih,ir coo–

flruftion íuiloll' the ordér uf o. I,,:e;

tlldt

is, exprds

their

id~as

io tite oatural order io which t!,ey occur

the m:nd; the

fuhj~l'l

whd

o~:

I¡;nos Ihe aR:o:l

'Pl'w–

inci

firH ;

then the

ittt;(\~, a~c{\,pr!r.i~d \~ilh

its

fc.\·('r~1

moJi:icatioos ; ,,,d. IJ!! cf ñl!, the

o~j,él

to whICh It

has refcrcoce.- Thefe

p~ay

Le rr0rnly calkJ

ANALO–

GOU! laogu'ges:

,,~d

of t:,is b,J are the Eoghlh ,

Freoeh, and 01011 of the modero I..ogt:ages in [,:rop' –

T he

l~n~llagcs

\Vhich may be refeifcd

th~

0ther t–

1, are th"l< whieh follow 00 otber o:·Ja inth,:",'o–

(11

118i('1l

d',lll

Wh.H lhe

tal!~

or falle)'

úf

1!1~ L'umrJ'~r,l~\Jy

fu r,geH;

rUI1\Ctilnes

llukir.g lhe

ohj l'~l,

flHil::tim':s

Ih!.:

,1~tIJr.J

;¡[ld

l'umctir:1ts

Ihe tl1üdili(,;'Iliu\I

\lf

tllt:

a~li¡)n.

1t:..

'(\!t:

follo\V

lhe

lll hn pal

t5.

T hl'

Cl¡;·.rillioJll

whirh

t:ll~

1ll':: i1t

occdion

;\\{,idcn

1", t1le r.lltirubr m.llincr uf

¡' .

·,, ;:I.~

th ..

'ir

\\lord!; . [\\:

\\!JI

lb'l'y,m:

m.l ..

!..:

(Ll I..:t ..

1.\

¡he

othcrs with

w~{;;:!

I:-'l')'

o'l~'.ht

b·:(J,ll· ...

.!,

:;1

\\ht~·

l ',