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JULY, 1907.)
RECORD OF THE LANGUAGES OF SAVAGES.
NGUAGES OF SAVAGES.
197
being indicated by position in the sentence with or without variation in form or tone. The class of a word thus indicates its function; and its position, alone or combined with its form or tone, indicates its class.
So when a word is transferred from its original class, it necessarily fulfils a new function and becomes a new word, connected with the original word in the relation of parent and offshoot, each equally of necossity assuming the form or tone of its own class.
The functions of words in a sentence, and consequently their classes, are therefore in all speech expressed by two methods : position or position combined with variation or tone. Every language adopts one or other or both.
When in any language connected words differ in form, they are made to consist of a principal part or stem and an additional part or functional affix. The stem is used for indicating the meaning of the word, and the functional affix for modifying that meaning according to function, by indicating the class to which the word belongs, or its relation or correlation to the other words in the sentence.
A simple stem necessarily indicates an original meaning, but a stem can be, and habitually is, used for indicating a modification of an original meaning. It then naturally becomes a compound stem, i.o., made up, by the same method as that above noted, of a principal part or root and of additional parts or radical affixes, each with its own function, the root to indicate the original meaning, and the affix its modification into meaning of the stem.
As all words differing in form or tone of necessity fulfil functions and belong to classes, they must possess a nature, i. e., qualities inherent in themselves, and these, in all languages using such words, are indicated by the addition of qualitative affixes or by the tones in which they are spoken.
Every affix is of necessity fixed in the midst of, or prefixed or suffixed to, a root, stem, or word, the affixing being naturally effected in full or in a varied form. Whenever there is variation of form amounting to material change, there is necessarily inflexion, or inseparability of the affixes, Inflexion can therefore be made to fulfil all the functions of affixes, and inflected words to conform to particular kinds of inflexion, in order to indicate function and class : and as tone can be equally made to indicate the functions and classes of words, it takes the place of inflexion.
Words are therefore made to fulfil their functions merely by the tone in which they are spoken or by an external development effected by affixes, and to express modifications of their original meaning by a similar use of tones or of internal development. In the case of both internal and external development the affixes are prefixes, in fixes, or suffixes affixed in full or varied form or by inflexion. All languages, using variation of form for causing the components of sentences, i. e., words, to falfil their functions, adopt one or other, or all the above methods of effecting the variation.
Therefore in all speech, communication expressed in a sentence is rendered complete by the combination of the meaning of its components with their position, tones or forms, or with position combined with form or tone.
The methods adopted in developing the sentence, i. e., the unit of speech itself, are found to entirely govern those adopted in its forther development into a language or variety of speech.
Languages differ naturally in the position of their words in the sentence, or in their forms or tones, or in the combination of position with form or tone. Thus are set up naturally two primary classes of languages :- Syntactical Languages, which express complete communication by the position, and Formative Languages, which express it by the forms of their words.
As position alone or combined with tone can fall all the functions of speech, the Syntactical Languages employ one or both of those methods, and thus are created respectively Analytical Languages and Tonic Languages.
Again, in all speech, variety of form is secured by affixes attached to words in an analtered or an altered form. Formative Languages necessarily therefore divide themselves
