Clarksville weekly chronicle. (Clarksville, Tenn.) 1873-1890, 1877-09-15


le cherish its idioms, we guard the elt
N ments of its wealth and of its pOwe
t, as a language; as we neglect c
n surrender them, we rob Ourselve
lr and wrong our own race. w
Of should study it then reUereRtly, a
)t being the most complete and vera
,, cious of all records, and seek to dis
Is cover it, in its true and uncorrupteC
lr forms, as the sacred patent and it'll
il of our own nobility !; and these ono
It aScertained, we should cherish anC
s. defend them, false teachers in gram
n mar or dictionary, in school or il
r society, to the contrary notwith
: stand, as we would guard the honol
: of our own mother.
: But it is not only true that the
l language, or its 6diODl, is to be as
J. certained by usage alone, but usage
!, itself is not stationary. 1t is con
t stantly changing and tending tC
. change. Herein living languages
f are most essentially distinguished
: from dead languages: not merely
i in the fact of their present use-fOr
2 the Latin would be none the less a
| dead language, if it should be en-
plOyed again as the formal language
of all scholars, as was once the case
: but in the more important fact
! that living languages are indeed,
, GtiCej changing, developing accu-
mulating new materials and new
powers, as well as modifying those
. that already belong to them. As
|, nations have their history, their
progress, their revolutions, their
cOnqueStS and assimilations, so with
languages and when in any langu-
age, these processes cease, or these
progressive powers decay, then that
language is already dead or dying.
And these changes are due not only
to external and historical agencies,
such as obviously influence the life
of nation, but in a still more inn
pOrtant sense to internal causes, that
are of an inherent and organic ma
ture, in the language itself. Each
language unconsciously works out
its own genius, as each people un-
consciously develops its own charac-
ter, and works out its own destiny.
With the progress of time, that
genius, whatever it may be, that
constitutes the distinguishing char
acteristic of any language, will man
ifest itself more and more strongly,
subiecting all the materials and pro-
ceSSeS of the language more and
more to the law of its own organic
/ life, so that the language will be-
! come more and more distinctive and
peculiar, Just as the history and lit
erature of the people that speaks it
become more and more distinctly
marked.
Now, in English, this principle is
of peculiar importance. The ma
terials of the English language, as
we have seen already; are drawn
from a number of widely diverse
source. Yet, in a remarkable de-
gree, the language has preserved its
essential structure and genius un-
changed and has succeeded in stamp
its own characteristics upon all its
Accommodations. Thus, in addition |
to all the external causes that have |
influenced our vocabulary or our ety. |
mOlogy, our orthOgraphy or our |
pronunciation, there has been silent |
ly at work for centuries, through all |
the structure of the language, this |
unconscious instinct Of speech, con-
forming all its materials, both leXi
Geographical and grammatical, more
and more to the form of its own dis !
tinctive character !; until indeed the |
English language, from mere |
patchwork of incOngruous ele-
ments, has become, in all its essen
tial characteristics, one of the most
strongly marked and homege- /
Gus languages in the world. The |
influence of a common literature, of |
general education, of travel, of crit
icism, of authority, will indeed
modify and limit this tendency to
change, but they cannot wholly ar
rest it. New idoms or modes of
speech, new words, new spellings
and prOnunciations, will arise, and
old ones will pass away or change
their significatiOn, in spite of all au
thOrity or rule to the contrary; and
the language, ever the same in its
essential spirit, will be ever mOdi-
fying its outward forms. 1t is inn
possible to prevent this; it is idle
to protest against it. Deep down in
the unconscious depths of the langu-
age, deep as the very sources of ma
tiOnal character, this principle of
linguistic life is silently and uncOn-
sciOusly at work, and the gramma-
rian or photographer can no more
arrest or control it, than the Observ-
er, who marks the ebb and flow of
the tide on the sea-shOre, can arrest
or control the mighty tidal wave of
the ocean; nor can he any more fix
the future limits of its operation,
than the pride of man can say to the
sea, thus far shalt thou come, and
no farther"
From this it follows, that the au-
thOrity of the grammar or dictionary
is not only secondary, that is to say,
limited by the idiom or usage of the
language itself, but is also, in a living
language, Of necessity temporary.
The English of hundred years ago
is not the English of to-day; and
Just as certainly, the English of to-
day is not to be the English of a
hundred years hence and the gram
mar or dictionary which interpreted
the usageS of the first, can no longer
interpret the usages of the second or
the third. The standard form of
yesterday is antiquated to-day and
obsolete tomorrow the innovation
of Yesterday is the slang of to-day
and tomorrow the standard, with
its very origin perhaps forgotten,
and its original meaning lost. This [
is true of words and phrases, Of
forms and of meanings, of orthOgra-
ply and of pronunciation 1t is true, (
because language has II life of its
own, and it will continue to be true, 1
to the contrary notwith- ,
because the instincts which 1
are the bearers Of that life work not 1
only in spite Ofrules, but unconscious I
of them. The development of Ian 1
guage, if not merely spontaneous /
and organic, is surely not conscious
and voluntary. Whatever its origin
and history, unknown as they may I
yet remain to us, men surely did not (
say, 600 to, let us make unto our
selves a language" and then make
it, after the fashion of modern Con- {
Convention, any more [
than they will now listen to those ]
grammarians who say, "Go to, let
us make unto ourselves laws for Ian
guage." They may make them in
deed; but language will not obey
them, except so far as they truly eX- /
press its own genius. 1t is rather, 1
on the contrary, by this very 1DlcOH- {
sciOlGSJleSs Of deUetOpnleHt that are to [
be explained many of the most in [
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