Show THE THI MERIC N LANGUAGES TRUTH is a growth the result of long observation and of earnest research Its clarification is usually a slow process process process pro pro- cess in many ways essentially a function function function tion of time The elements which genius has woven into the monumental generalizations and truths of our modern civilization had each to struggle through the mists of ages ere it stood out clearly to the view and revealed its natural affiliations During the long lapse of years clouds of ignorance prejudice and superficial observation has enveloped the subject of the American a origine covering the with false shadows and often showing them in distorted contour The light that has been thrown upon the subject through the labors of the few that have devoted themselves to a broad and p penetrating investigation incipient though their work is has shown that the Indian is grossly misjudged He had virtues and genuine capacities above what even the most liberal in general have been ready to admit And in neglecting America the anthropologist has neglected one of the richest and most promising fields that can engage his attention In this general neglect no part of the field has suffered more than the linguistic tic in which the loss of timely action can never be fully repaid by the most energetic energetic energetic en en- endeavors that may now be made Yet although so much has been lost to it through lack of appreciation and foresight of the past the highly important tant results attained in recent years through the legitimate application of philology render it the most important branch h of American archaeology Whitney Language and the Study of Language Langu Langu- age Lecture IX f i We have been accused by Europeans and with only too much cause of inefficiency inefficiency inefficiency and indifference in preserving complete and accurate records concerning concerning concern concern- ing mg the race we have all but displaced Until within the last few years there I was not an educational institution in If America that had a chair devoted to the investigation of American languages And among educated people generally so I little is known about this subject and so much indifference and contempt is shown that it would be beneficial could the purposes of the study and the incentives incentives incentives tives held out to th the student be more widely known The present hastily written article has been penned brie briefly y to discuss a few of these objects As a key to a valuable literature or as media of communication and for purposes of trade and commerce no plea can be made in behalf of the American tongues Such literature as formerly existed existe among the uncivilized natives of Mexico Central America and Peru a literature by no means scant was all allbut allbut allbut but totally destroyed by the early Spaniards who in their fanatical endeavors ors to blot out everything not Spanish r P followed out a thorough Neither have the languages under consideration any utility in commercial commercial commercial com com- mercial transactions at the present time Co Consequently we must draw our reasons from other standpoints Everybody knows klOWS that our knowledge concerning j the great Aryan family is the outcome of the work of diligent philologists It is probable that in no other way could we have learned that the Greek and Roman German and Welshman P. P Persian erSlan an and d Brahmin had h d once lived together as one people This science alone has enabled us to picture the culture and customs of this primitive people Now in just this same manner the philological method may be applied to the study of the American Ameri Ameri- can problem It has been demonstrated by this method that there is essentially a unity in the red race notwithstanding the wide diversities in physical characteristics characteristics characteristics charac charac- and in customs among the several tribes There was everywhere upon this continent a common type of speech found in every tribe whose speech h has s been examined without an exception and the persistence of this type upon the western hemisphere together with its absence from other quarters of the globe justifies the conclusion as to the unit unity and perhaps common ancestry of the Columbian peoples The seemingly hopeless confusion of oft t tribes ibes has been reduced to order by linguistic comparison com arison Through this channel we now know positively that the V huts and Utes perhaps the lowest type of North American Indian belong to the same sam great family as the Coman- Coman ches of Texas of Arizona Pimas Pietas of the Rio Yaqui and nd Rio Gila as the enlightened Aztecs and T of the Valley of Mexico and also as the of and the cas of San Salvador Likewise we know the members of the great Algonquin stock of the eastern United States and Canada as also of the several other great North American families These are a sample of results having great ethnologic value that have already been reached t through rough a study of the Indian languages The thoughtful student of man will often question himself as to the relation existing between thought and language the mental idea and the sound representing it in discourse as to the origin of inflection and the grammatical grammatical grammatical gramma gramma- relations Answers to the many questions arising upon this topic have frequently been sought in a study of Greek and Latin and the modern European l languages but in vain And I J the reason is clear to him who understands understands understands under under- stands the development of these languages languages languages lan lan- and II the petrifying art of writing We should expect better results from tongues unhampered in their natural development by any great degree of civilization with its concomitant tant forces Such is found in the case of the Indian languages Their transparency and clearness afford the opportunity of following out the operations thoughts and generalizations of the primitive mind These various associations of ideas oftentimes exceedingly strange and curious are most interesting studies for the psychologist psychologist psychologist gist and student In illustration n of the mentioned above-mentioned transparency of many Indian tongues let the phonology of the Tinne tribe of Canada be taken The five primitive vowel sounds of ot this language language language lan lan- guage are A E I 0 O and U. U All of these sounds are significant radicals Thus A expresses matter E existence existence- I force or energy 0 O existence doubtful and U existence absent non-existence non negation or succession The particular signification of the word depends upon the consonants with which they are com combined the latter II having more or orless orless orless less value in proportion as the vowel ismore is ismore ismore more or less strong The consonants of this tongue some three sixty-three in number number number num num- ber have also definite significance These three sixty-three consonants are divided into nine classes each of which represents represents represents a series of associated ideas The labials express the ideas of time and space as age length distance and whiteness the latter probably from association association association as as- with the white hair of age The dentals express the ideas relating to lo force terminating hence uselessness inanity privation smallness feebleness also also- greatness elevation the motor power It is a frequent occurrence occurrence in the Tunic and I Iother other Indian tongues that the same sound closely r The convey the ideas of r repeated motion rotation r reduplication f gravitation and mirabile e dutu organ organic c life The indicate motion in In curves as sinuousness flexibility ebullition ebullition roundness and justness correctness correctness correctness correct correct- ness the latter by a figure different from that underlying the Latin t tAs As Brinton has pointed out the first great generalization made by the primitive primitive primitive primi primi- tive mind is into Being and Not In studying this distinction as shown in the American tongues it is interesting to note how frequently both hoth an idea and its are expressed by the same sound This curious phenomenon is easily explicable when it is assumed as a necessary law of thought that an idea can rise into cognition only through being limited by that which it itis itis itis is not A is not not not A. A. A The idea moreover is not an independent thought but an aspect of the same thought a as the positive These two aspects i. i e. e hold the relation to each other of the positive and ne negative of a quality It is explicable then how the same sound as pointed out in a preceding footnote may designate both an idea and its opposite Illustrations of t this is from the Tinne tongue have already been given This same conception into Being Being Being Be Be- ing and Not-Being Not is found in an in interesting interesting interesting in- in form in the Cree language t Here opposite modes arise by modification f t tion of a single radical and these form two classes of terms the very opposites in meaning The substantive radical in the Cree was eth eth and that meant both Being and Not At present eth is the positive and it ith 1 the priva- priva related sounds may represent both an idea and its opposite Thus in Tunic sou means good soua solta bad tad tezo sweet bitter ya immense ya yap 6 very small Vide Daniel G. G Brinton The Language of Proceedings of American Philosophical Philosophical Philosophical Philo Philo- Society for 1888 t tive e. In a similar manner it means within and ut without A second generalization and that most mot common in American tongues is that dividing objects into Living and Not This distinction is highly important in the languages under con con- It everywhere every gives rise to the animate te and inanimate conjugations Thus in the language of the native Chileans the plural of animate objects was expressed by pu flu prefixed that of inanimate objects by tea added Many other of the kind considered consider d might be given Perhaps those above will serve to suggest to the mind of the read reader r. r some of the many useful applications that a better knowledge of the Indian tongues may enable us to make A little explored field holding out the richest possibilities to the psychologist and student of mankind mankind mankind man man- kind is here revealed Besides being the only source of accurate and reliable knowledge concerning g the inner motives and mental workings of the naturally reticent and exclusive red-man red these languages taken together with those of other peoples should prove very suggestive suggestive suggestive tive and important material in the prosecution prosecution prosecution pro pro- of studies upon problems connected connected connected con con- with mankind as a whole People too often forget that the study of the Aryan languages is but a part though an important one of philology and that any inductions based upon them alone are manifestly as narrow and untrustworthy as would be biological generalizations based alone upon a knowledge of the Philology is the study of language not of any anyone one language or group of languages And so long as there exists a tongue that has not been studied by the scientist so long will this science be incomplete In more than one case a single speech by its special characteristics has changed our wh whole le of language and of particular phases of history And there is reason to believe that tha many more alterations must be made in accord with new before our knowledge will be upon a secure basis This was vas forcibly brought to the mind of the late Hale during his long study of the Polynesian tongues he declared that the proper comp of these tongues ton ton- tongues gues and their variations was wa something for which his study of Aryan philology had not prepared him in the least and f that the latter must surely be greatly modified in the future to accord with the facts It was stated above that their languages languages languages lan lan- show the Indians to be a more favorable type of man than most people believe Language undoubtedly is Js a reflex of mental workings and depends in its nature upon the character and quality of these mental workings in the words of Bancroft language is thought incarnate Moreover the medium of discourse exerts a powerful influence upon the minds of the people using it in a measure at least controlling and directing their mental activities The reader may be assured that investigation in line with these statements results results' in inno inno inno no disadvantage to the Indian but on the other hand results greatly to his favor Those who are inclined to view the Indian tongues as incomprehensible jargons with nothing to recommend them will do well to read th the wor words s quoted below While of course these words cannot be applied to all American tongues many of which are subject to most rapid most rapid changes and are of a very low grade indeed we should judge the race only by a representative type such as those discussed below may be consid consid- ered The writer of the following extract extract extract ex ex- tract is no less less-an authority than Muller II To To my mind the structure of such a language as the Mohawk is quite sufficient sufficient sufficient evidence that those who worked Vide Vide his is Native Races of f Western America out such a work of art were powerful and accurate classifiers Horatio Hale speaks as follows A complete grammar of this speech as full fulland fulland fulland and minute as the best or Greek grammars would probably equal an and perhaps surpass those grammars in extent The unconscious forces of memory and of discrimination required to maintain the complicated intellectual machine and to preserve it constantly exact and in good working order must be Yet a comparison of work Dictionary Dictionary Dictionary Dic Dic- with the language of the present day shows that this purpose has been accomplished and what is still more remarkable a comparison of the Tro Tro- with the Huron grammar sh shows ws that after a separation of at the very least years the two languages differ less from one another than the French of the twelfth century differed from the Italian The forms of the Huron Huron- Huron languages numerous and complicated as they are appear to be certainly not less Jess persistent and probably probably probably ably better maintained than those of the written tongues Ch Chee ee Vinie- Vinie Vide Horatio Hale The Book of Rites for specific illustrations of the sta statements made above J |