Newport enterprise. [volume] (Newport [Del.]) 1889-1???, 1889-03-02
EDUCATIONAL.
UNCLE JOHNS TALKS
With the Boys and Girls.
None too old to join this class.
LANGUAGE.

This word is derived from HNgaa, the
Latin for tongue; but just how the got
changed to a, is not so easy to
explain; probably, somewhat as long
since came to be slang syne" in Scotch.
Literally, the word language means
language, which is a pretty good name
for speech, because the tongue is the
principal organ employed in it. Hence,
ones native language is sometimes called
his mother tongue and when one gets
too talkatlve, he is occasionally advised
to hold his tongue. But the lips, teeth,
palate, nose, trachea, and lungs, are just
as guilty as the tongue in excessive
speech; and there is quite as much
propriety as elegance in the expression
'he has too much H1." There is hardly
as much philosophy in hold your iazO,"
as in "stop your 6lO7Ofne;" and none of
these can be considered classical.
The lungs and trachea produce voice !;
and the other vocal organs make the
distractions to breath and voice, which
constitute articulation. In speech the
open, unobstructed vocal sounds are
known as vowel sounds, while those
which result from articulation are called
consonant sounds, which, according to
the articulating organ employed, are
classed as labials, linguals, palatals,
dentalS. nasal or aspirate.
Every boy and girl can analyze spoken
words for him or herself by uttering them
slowly, and noticing carefully what organs
are used. For example, in speaking the
word O6ifgattOn, we hear nine sounds,
the Ist, 4th, 9th and 9Th being vowel,
the I'd, labial, the sd, lingual, the 5th,
palatal, the 9TH, imperfect lingual aspir-
ate, and the 9th, linguo nasal. 1t is
interesting to notice that vowel sounds
give audibility to words at distance.
Hence, there is no word without one or
more of them; i, and o, are the three
English words, each consisting of a
single sound. This affords great economy
in view of the frequent repetition of the
first and second, while the last is so
efficient an element of elocution, that
one eminent divine was led to exclaim,
"Thank God for o." That part of the
Science of Language which treats of the
nature and classification of the elements
of speech, is called Orthoepy, which
literally means correct speaking; while
that which treats of the written repre-
sentatives of those elements, is called
Orthograpy, which means correct writing,
as what we call spelling is involved only
in writing.
But, by definition, language is the
expression of HoHghf; and its original
and constant relations to thought, give it
all its importance. Thoughts are COM
posed of ideas; hence, because sentences
express thoughts, and words express
ideas, sentences are composed of words.
Speech, in its highest development, is
rich endowment, and wonderful facility
for social intercourse. When listening
to fluent speaker, the imagery in his
mind is so perfectly reproduced in ours,
that we lose sight OF him while we see the
same things, think the same thoughts,
and experience the same emotions that
he does.
So in solitary, silent reading, we
become oblivious of the printed page, as
the ear is of the air through which music
comes, and the eye of the light which
paints the landscape on its retina.
Speech and thought seem mutually
dependent, the development and inn
provement of each keeping even pace
with the other.
The analysis of language and the
classification of its elements have led to
systematic arrangement of all that has
been learned about it, and this is called
Grammar.
The names of some of the quantities
of language are: word, phrase, clause,
proposition, sentence. These may be