SUBJECTS FOR FURTHER STUDY

1. Study your community to determine that society is formed by the
interactions of individuals.

2. Discuss the earliest forms of mutual aid.

3. Why is the family called the unit of social organization?

4. Why did religion occupy such an important place in primitive
society?

5. To what extent and in what manner did the patriarchal family take
the place of the state?

6. What is the relation of morals to religion?

7. What are the primary social groups? What the secondary?

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CHAPTER VII

LANGUAGE AND ART AS A MEANS OF CULTURE AND SOCIAL DEVELOPMENT

_The Origin of Language Has Been a Subject of Controversy_.--Since man
began to philosophize on the causes of things, tribes and races and,
indeed, philosophers of all times have attempted to determine the
origin of language and to define its nature. In early times language
was a mystery, and for lack of better explanation it was frequently
attributed to the direct gift of the Deity. The ancient Aryans deified
language, and represented it by a goddess "which rushes onward like the
wind, which bursts through heaven and earth, and, awe-inspiring to each
one that it loves, makes him a Brahmin, a poet, and a sage." Men used
language many centuries before they seriously began to inquire into its
origin and structure. The ancient Hindu philosophers, the Greeks, and
all early nations that had begun a speculative philosophy, wonderingly
tried to ascertain whence language came. Modern philologists have
carried their researches so far as to ascertain with tolerable accuracy
the history and life of language and to determine with the help of
other scientists the facts and phenomena of its origin.

Language, in its broadest sense, includes any form of expression by
which thoughts and feelings are communicated from one individual to
another. Words may be spoken, gestures made, cries uttered, pictures
or characters drawn, or letters made as means of expression. The
deaf-mute converses with his fingers and his lips; the savage
communicates by means of gesticulation. It is easy to conceive of a
community in which all communication is carried on in sign language.
It is said that the Grebos of Africa carry this mode of expression
{122} to such an extent that the persons and tenses of the mood are
indicated with the hands alone.

It has been advocated by some that man first learned to talk by
imitating the sounds of