Waterbury evening Democrat., 1890-01-04
PROF MORAN's LECTURE.
An Interesting Address Before the
 Y. M. c. l.. A.

Y. M. c. l.. A.
 The lecture of Prof J. A. Moran on Language, Its origin. Developement, and General Divisions" before the Young Mems Catholic Literary association last night was an hours summing up of an extensive course of reading and study on the professors special field of investi gation. and should be developed into a course of lectures" said the Rev Fr Duggan. of Torrington in his after ad- dress, which sentiment was echoed by others with request that he treat cer- tain parts at length on a subsequent oc- casion. The ability and research manifested indicate that Professor Moran has a gift of which the people of Waterbury ought to avail themselves on a broader platform, than this associa tion at present offers.
 In the discussions which followed the lecture the Rev Frs Mulcahy, Duggan, and John O'Neil expressed the opinions that such lectures inspired the listeners with desire to study the subjects pre- sented and afforded an opportunity for a general discussion, and it is probable that an after meeting will be held, in which each lecture subject shall be open for treatment by the members at large. c. Collard Adams suggested that the meeting be held in St Patrick's hall where hundreds could be accommo- dated and the influence of the associa- tion widened, with the result of largely increasing the membership. This ini- | tial course of lectures undertaken as an experiment has already passed beyond that stage, and the subsequent ones by the clergy and laymen of Waterbury and vicinity are awaited with increased anxiety.
 Prof Moran said in substance Lan- guage owes its origin to mans necessity of communicating his thoughts and feel | ings to his neighbor. Preponderance Of opinion favors the theory that man de- | veloped system of sounds for convey ing his thoughts and wishes and wants by the aid of those powers of the mind which God has given him and which in accordance with Gods infinite justice and wisdom must have been adequate tc all his future wants. The origin or Ian guage is divine in the same sense ir which mans nature with all its powers is divine. The first theory of utterances is that an imitation of natural sounds and the characteristic utterances of ami mals was employed. Another theory i that the first cries were those of passion This theory is rational, for nothing i more natural than to initiate by sound O. the voice, the quality of the sound ol noise which any external object would make. Man first proceeded to give names to material things. Qualifying words followed as in the prog ress of a child learning to talk. Tht further the study of phiiology is p4rsu e the stronger grows the belief in the cor rectness of the theory of the origina unity of speech The study of Sanskrit reveals striking coincidence between it and the languages of western Europs and the Greek and Latin. Prof Moran then discussed at length the different migrations and the formation of dialects of India, Hindostan, Siam etc., followed dy the lranic. the Celtic, the Italic, the Hellenic, the Teutonic and the Slavouic These seven groups form one of the sev eral great families of language knowr as the lndo-European, the Jophetic anc the Aryan. There are two or three other families connected with ours remotely The speaker strongly and logically up held as plausible the Biblical story of the dispursions of the sons of man at the tower of Babel. The speaker closed witt remarks on the formation of our ow1 tongue which still retained Saxon as : basis but contained also a large foreign ingredient which now amounts bo near | 1y one-third of the whole.