10. Certain abridged expressions; as, stage for stage-coach; turnpike for turnpike-road; spry for sprightly; to conduct for to conduct one's self. There is a tendency in most languages to such contrac tions. 11. Quaint or burlesque terms, whether verbs; as, to tote, to yank; or nouns; as, humbug, loafer, muss; plunder for baggage; rock for a stone. 12. Certain very low expressions, mostly political; as, slang wanger, loco foco, hunker; to get the hang of a thing for to learn how to do it. 13. Ungrammatical expressions, disapproved by all; as, do don't; used to could for could formerly; can't come it for can't do it; Universal preacher for Universalist preacher; there's no two ways about it for it is just so. LOCAL PECULIARITIES. § 58. To the question whether there is an American-English dialect, an answer must be given in the affirmative or the negative, according as you extend or contract the meaning of the term dialect. When reading the pages of Judge HALIBURTON'S Sam Slick, or one of Major JACK DOWNING's Letters, we are ready to admit, if they furnish a fair exhibition of language in actual use, that the difference between it and the best English is so great as to constitute it a dialect. But they are caricatures. Still, are there not actual differences, extending generally through the country, as great, or nearly as great, as obtained between the Ionic and the Attic dialects in Greece? It should, however, be remembered, that the dialectical differences which obtained in Greece are exhibited by the best authors, whereas there are no dialectical differences between our best writers and those of England. EVERETT, and PRESCOTT, and IRVING, write in a style as purely English as the best English writers. The number of good writers in the United States, as measured by English standards, is probably greater than in England, though it must be conceded that the number of first-rate writers is fewer. The people of the United States, descended from English ancestors, have, in consequence of common school education and the use of the same standards, fewer dialectical peculiarities than the people of England. Whatever may be the correct answer to the question at the head of the last paragraph, it must be granted that there are certain local peculiarities which distinguish, 1. The people of New England. 2. The people of the Southern States. 3. Some of the Western States. The people of New England, especially those who live in the interior, have inherited marked peculiarities of pronunciation and phraseology, which distinguish them from the people of other parts of the country, though these peculiarities, constantly diminishing, are not as great as similar ones existing in some counties of the mother country. A distinguished English scholar informed the writer that the peculiarities attributed to the people of New England were constantly met with in Suffolk, where he was bred and born. The drawling pronunciation of the Yankees has an equivalent in the "Suffolk whine." Is there an American-English dialect? What are some of the peculiarities of language in the Eastern States? The people of the Southern States have a more full, and open, and mellifluous pronunciation than the people of New England, though they do not articulate the consonantal sounds so distinctly. The people of the West have great variety in their peculiar style of expression and in their pronunciation, which is extensively similar to the districts from which they or their ancestors emigrated. For specimens, see English Grammar, § 96. CHAPTER VI. CHARACTER OF THE ENGLISH LANGUAGE. THE ENGLISH LANGUAGE COMPOSITE. § 59. In the history of the English language, we have seen that the principal elements which enter into its composition are, 1. Celtic words, found either in the older branch of the Gaelic or in the younger branch of the Cambrian. 2. Latin words, introduced at different periods. 3. Saxon words, of the Low-Germanic division of the Teutonic branch of the Gothic stock. These constitute the great body of the language. 4. Danish words, of the Scandinavian branch of the Gothic. 5. Norman words, a mixture of French and Scandinavian. It is also enriched by contributions from the Greek and Hebrew, the French, the Italian, the Spanish, the German, and other languages. CAMDEN observes: "Whereas our tongue is mixed, it is no disgrace. This theft of words is no less warranted by the privilege of a prescription, ancient and universal, than was that of goods among the Lacedæmonians by an enacted law; for so the Greeks robbed the Hebrews, the Latines the Greeks (which filching CICERO, with a large discourse, in his book De Oratore defendeth), and, in a manner, all Christian nations the Latine. The Italian is pleasant, but without sinewes, as still, fleeting water. The French delicate, but even nice as a woman, scarce daring to open her lippes for fear of marring her countenance. The Spanish majestical, but fulsome, running too much on the o, terrible like the Divell in the play. The Dutch manlike, but withal very harsh, as one What are some of the peculiarities of language in the Southern States? in the Western States? What are the principal elements which enter into the composition of the English language? Give CAMDEN's statement. ready at every word to picke a quarrell. Now we, in borrowing from them, give the strength of the consonants to the Italian; the full sound of words to the French; the variety of terminations to the Spanish; and the mollifying of more vowels to the Dutch; and so, like bees, we gather the honey of their good properties, and leave the dregs to themselves. And thus, when substantialnesse combineth with delightfulnesse, fullnesse with finenesse, seemlinesse with portlinesse, and currentnesse with staydnesse, how can the language which consisteth in all these sound other than full of all sweetnesse ?"-CAMDEN's Remains, p. 38. COPIOUSNESS. § 60. From its composite character, we are prepared to expect that it would be copious in its vocabulary and phrases. What CAMDEN says of the Anglo-Saxon is more strikingly true of the English, enriched as it has been by contributions from the Norman, the Latin and Greek, and other languages. Indeed, there are large classes of words derived from the Norman or other languages, or from the classical languages, which are, in common parlance, synonymous with words derived from the Anglo-Saxon, so that a writer may have his choice whether to use the Romanic or the Gothic elements. Thus it has happened that, from the composite character of the language as well as from its natural growth with the growth of knowledge, there are abundant materials for every species of writing. THE NUMBER OF ANGLO-SAXON WORDS. § 61. Whether we take into view the number or the sorts of words, the Anglo-Saxon is less an element than the mother tongue of the English. In the English language there are as many as twenty-three thousand words of Anglo-Saxon origin. From an examination of passages from the Bible, Shakspeare, Milton, Cowley, Thomson, Addison, Spenser, Locke, Pope, Young, Gibbon, Johnson, it appears that in one thousand four hundred and ninety-two words in sentences taken from these authors, there are only two hundred not Saxon. Upon this basis of calculation, it appears that four fifths of the words in actual use are of Anglo-Saxon origin. See § 67. THE KIND OF ANGLO-SAXON WORDS. 62. The names of the greater part of the objects of nature; as, sun, moon, stars, day, light, heat; all those words which express vividly bodily action; as, to sit, to stand, to stagger; all those words which are expressive of the earliest and dearest connections; as, father, mother, brother, sister, are Anglo-Saxon. Moreover, all those words which have been earliest used, and which are invested with the strongest associations; most of those objects about which the practical reason is employed in common life; nearly all our national proverbs; a large proportion of What is said of its copiousness? What is said of the number of Anglo-Saxon words in the language, and also of the comparative number in actual use? of the kind of Anglo-Saxon words in use? What is said the language of invective, humor, satire, and colloquial pleasantry, are Anglo-Saxon. While our most abstract and general terms are derived from the Latin, those which denote the special varieties of objects, qualities, and modes of action are derived from the Anglo-Saxon. Thus, color is Latin; but white, black, green, are Anglo-Saxon. Crime is Latin; but murder, theft, robbery, to lie, are Anglo-Saxon. THE EXPRESSIVENESS. 66 § 63. From the last statement we can understand why the Saxon element is so much more expressive than the Latin part of the language. "Well-being arises from well-doing," is Saxon. Felicity attends virtue," is Latin. How inferior in force is the latter! In the Saxon phrase, the parts or roots, being significant to our eyes and ears, throw the whole meaning into the compounds and derivatives, while the Latin words of the same import, having their roots and elements in a foreign language, carry only a cold and conventional signification to an English ear. The word Gospel, in the Anglo-Saxon, was Godspel, that is, God's speech. The Saviour they called All-heal, that is, all health; the Scribes, boc-men, that is, book men; the Judgment, dome-settle, the settling of doom. By dropping words like these for the Latin equivalents, the language has evidently lost in expressiveness, whatever gain there may have been in other respects. Some of them might be advantageously restored. ENGLISH GRAMMAR AND THE ANGLO-SAXON. § 64. English Grammar is almost exclusively occupied with what is of Anglo-Saxon origin. The few inflections that we have are all AngloSaxon. The English genitive, the general mode of forming the plural of nouns, and the terminations by which we express the comparative and superlative of adjectives, er and est, the inflections of the pronouns and of the verbs, and the most frequent terminations of our adverbs, ly, are all Anglo-Saxon; so are the auxiliary verbs. THE ENGLISH THE UNIVERSAL LANGUAGE. § 65. The time was when the Latin was the universal language of the civilized world, so far as any language can be said to have been universal. From Rome, as a common centre, went forth the Christian religion in the Latin language, which was read and written by all learned scholars. More recently, the French has had a stronger claim than any other to be considered the universal language. It was more generally spoken than any other in Europe. The English is a medium language, and is thus adapted to diffusion. In the Gothic family, it stands midway between the Teutonic and the Scandinavian branches, touching both, and, to some extent, reaching What is said of English grammar in its relation to the Anglo-Saxon part of our language? What is said of the Latin-the French-the English, in respect to a universal language? into both. A German or a Dane finds much in the English which exists in his own language. It unites by certain bonds of consanguinity, as no other language does, the Romanic with the Gothic languages. An Italian or a Frenchman finds a large class of words in the English which exists in his own language, though the basis of the English is Gothic. Thus it is adapted to spread among the races that speak those languages, both in Europe and America. What it has in common with those border languages, gives it power to replace what is peculiar to them, and thus to identify them with itself. Even now, the British empire, extending over a population of one hundred and fifty-six millions in different parts of the globe, listens to that language as to a voice of power. The population of our own country, doubling every twentyfive years, amounts to more than twenty-five millions. The Celtic language in the British Isles, namely, the Gaelic in the Highlands of Scotland, the Erse in Ireland, the Cambrian in Wales, is passing away, just as in Cornwall it has passed away. We may believe, too, that somewhere in the future, the French population of Canada, the Celts, the Spanish population of Mexico and Cuba, the Celts, will give place to the Anglo-Saxon race, or, rather, as in past times, be absorbed in it, and become one with us in blood and language. We may believe that a like assimilation will take place between it and the other races which find a home in our country, are educated in our schools, and placed under the influence of our institutions. We may believe that, fixed in the standards of the national literature, the language of the Constitution will be familiar to the hundreds of millions in North America as their vernacular tongue; and that Shakspeare and Milton will be read ages hence on the banks of the Connecticut and the Potomac, on the banks of the Columbia and the Sacramento. EXERCISES UNDER PART I. HISTORICAL ANALYSIS. § 66. By HISTORICAL ANALYSIS is meant that process by which each word in a sentence is referred to the particular language from which it was historically derived. In order to do this, the fourth part of this work can be consulted, and also an etymological dictionary. EXAMPLES. 1. Happiness is like the statue of Isis, whose veil no mortal ever raised.-LANDON. Statue and mortal are from the Latin; Isis from the Greek; all the other words are from the Anglo-Saxon. 2. High on a throne of royal state, which far What reasons have you for the opinion that the English will be the universal language? |