tervals, as his chief means of
expression. Upon this foundation mankind has built the superstructure
of language.

Some philosophers hold that the first words used were names applied to
familiar objects. Around these first names clustered ideas, and
gradually new words appeared. With the names and gestures it was easy
to convey thought. Others, refuting this idea, have held that the
first words represented general notions and not names. From these
general notions there were gradually instituted the specific words
representing separate ideas. Others have held that language is a gift,
and springs spontaneously in the nature of man, arising from his own
inherent qualities. Possibly from different standpoints there is a
grain of truth in each one of these theories, although all combined are
insufficient to explain the whole truth.

No theory yet devised answers all the questions concerning the origin
of language. It may be truly asserted that language is an acquisition,
starting with the original capacity for imperfect speech found in the
physiological structure of man. This is accompanied by certain
tendencies of thought and life which furnish the psychical notion of
language-formation. These represent the foundations of language, and
upon this, through action and experience, the superstructure of
language has been built. There has been a continuous evolution from
simple to complex forms.

_Language Is an Important Social Function_.--Whatever conjectures may
be made by philosophers or definite knowledge determined by
philologists, it is certain that language has been {124} built up by
human association. Granted that the physiological function of speech
was a characteristic of the first beings to bear the human form, it is
true that its development has come about by the mental interactions of
individuals. No matter to what extent language was used by a given
generation, it was handed on through social heredity to the next
generation. Thus, language represents a continuous stream of
word-bearing thought, moving from the beginning of human association to
the present time. It is through it that we have a knowledge of the
past and frame the thoughts of the present. While it is easy to
concede that language was built up in the attempt of man to communicate
his feelings, emotions, and thoughts to others, it in turn has been a
powerful coercive influence and a direct social creation. Only those
people who coul