Iowa County democrat. [volume] (Mineral Point, Wis.) 1877-1938, 1891-06-26
FAILURE OF SPEECH.
Julian Hawthorne Says the Time is
Coming When Language will be
by Facial Play.
Audible Speech Considered a Some
what Clumsy Device for the Com
munieation of Thought.
We Judge Men Not by What They
Say, But by What They
Don't Say.

Whether 1t be our approaching quadri-
centennial of Columbus or some causs
even broader and more profound that is
prompting US to speculate as to the possi-
bic developments and changes of the i'm.
mediate future-certain IL Is that the air
Is tull of rumors and the heavens of nor
tents. The feeling seems TO be that dis
pensatlcn has closed, and that new dis
penSatlon Is about to open. Politics.
science, religion, society. have all. as it
were, paused an instant and drawn
breath previous to taking a leap into the
unknown.
Is 1t the millennium that is knocking at
our door? | have lately read couple of
vivid and impressive little volumes bv
Prof. Totten, of Yale, which makes out a
StartIlng!y clear case IN favor of the the
ory that the end of the present century
Will see the end of a number of things
which we have been wont to consider ever
lasting. And the bookStands are full of
new romanceS the scenes of which are
placed hundred or more years ahead of
the present era, portrayinc social and
economical conditions of more or less
extraordinary character.
But after all, the interesting thing in
the world Is man. What changes are CO.
ing to take place in him? We will CON
clude that his circumstances are bound to
improve; but will he himself expand and
improve celreSpondingly? Our own pres
ent circumstances for example are certain
ly superior to those of the Elizabetban
era; and yet mons of our authors Csave.
perhaps, In the secret conviction of his or
her own heart) is equal or superior to
Shakespear. Of course, we NAV become
more moral, with the lapse of temptation
to Immortality: but that is negative yir.ue
Are we to become in any respect. different?
Are qualities or power to be added to us
whereof we now know nothing?
This aspect of the matter has been but
little attended to. 1t is snot so easy TO i'm
aglne variations IN humanity as in things;
and yet the latter, alone, would be of com
paratlvely 81 all account. But the author
of story now publishing has entered this
neglected field, and the idea he is develop
ing promises well The Master of 81
lence Is the title of his tale, and it seems
to be engaged with the question of the
manner IN which the men of the future
are to communicate with one another. 1t
Is not possible, of course, to fortell at this
stage what solution the author has in his
mind. But the casual critic may for that
very reason and more freely indulge his
own conjectures
And certainly, when one comes to think
of 1t, audible speech seems a somewhat
clumsy device for making known ones
thoughts. 1t is laborous, redundant ana
ARTIFICIAL. There is no vital correspon-
dence between the conditions of speech and
the thoughts of the mind. Vowel sounds
may, indeed, be regarded in a measure as
as spontaneous and natural; animals use
them and they express emotion. Properly
graduated, they are the substance of vocal
music, and they are doubtless capable of
indefinitely finer gradations than we have
as yet found it worth while to give them.
But the introduction of consonants
renders speech, as such, incorrigible super
hclal and mechanical. 1t is a violent and
arbitrary expedient, and opens the way
to hypocrisy and falsehood For, words
being definite and lnvariable signs, which
are retained by the memory and are
available at will, any man can say any,
thing he chooses without the least rela-
ton to what may be actually in his mind.
His nearer, on the other hand, being by
tradition and habit accustomed to associ-
ate these word sounds with certain IDEAS
and figures, receives impress ions which are
not only as likely as not to be lien to what
Is In the speaker mind but are even GER
tain to be an incomplete and inaccurate
version thereof; since it is actually i'm
possible for anybody with the best will in
the world to convey by word or utterance
an exact picture of his mental conception.
Words, to whatever extent multiplied and
refined, inevitably lead around the point
than to 1t; when all has been said that can
be said the vital essence has to be sur
mlsed-lt has not been expressed.
And, as matter of fact, if we examine
closely what happens in conversation. we
shall find that We for in our impressions of
what people are, not from what they say.
but rather from their manner of SAYING 1T
from their expression their information,
their rate and rythm of utterance, their
gestures, the aspect of their countenance.
and most ofall perhaps, from what they
do not say.
The conventional forms and compliments
OF greeting and talk which two people 90 |
through with when on first meeting in |
order to avoid the awkwardness of silence |
are for the most part uttered unconscious |
ly and are not listened to; nevertheless |
something is going on between the inter |
locuters; they are forming opinions about |
one another, and those opinions are based |
upon indications or hetrayals which are |
tempermental and involuntary. Each
party to the dialogue imagine that it is
his words and not himself that is being
attended to, he says what he wishes To
nave believed, and all the while the other
Is precelVlng and believing quite another
matter, and although his judgment may be
astray, 1t Is nevertheless different from
what the first I,1topJg
be. Hence arise absurd misunderstood
irg and cross purposes, and the proverb
becomes literally true that speech is given
US to conceal our motions and sentiments
aside. 1t was a poor makeshift AT hest
and has been growing more and more in
adequate as the requirements and COM
plexItles OF life increased. 1t is indeed.
a complete anchorlsm already, less than
any other thing has it partaken of the
general advance of intelligence. We feel
this at eveay turn, but we persistentlv fail
to devise any suitable remedy. The eff
forts to invent universal language are
ludiclously beside the mark A spoken
language that everybody understands
Is Just as far from what is wanted as a |
language only understood by two persons.
The point is that nobody does or ever can
understand" any spoken language what
ever. No, the reform must be instituted |
on another plan altogether; the whole
point of view must be changed. We must
In short, speech is a failure. 1t cannot
convey what it means to convey. even
when 1t means to convey the truth: if il
means to convey what is not the truth. il
succeeds only in SO far as it NAV bewiIder
the nearer s true intuition-that is the
nearer will not believe the particular lie
which the speaker is trying to put forward
but Is by that lie prevented from diyining
the actual truth.
Now the survival among intelligent be-
Ings Of an anomaly of this kind is a cur
lous fact, and with the elevation of ia.
race we may fairly expect that it will not
survive forever. The time will come when
human beings will desire a real inter.
change Of thoughts and communication
Of feeling and when that time comes.
speech, as we now know it will be laid
from our new language out OF these ele-
ments and On those principles which have
hitherto been kept studiously in the back
ground.
In the first place we want language
that shall be almost infinitely more
rapid in its operation than the present one.
Everybody has noticed how much swifter
thought is than speech. Yet there is no
reason why speech-or at least