spoken language itself; the
two have been more independent in their evolution than we may be wont to
believe. Speech came first in historical development, just as a child now
learns to talk before it can understand and use printed or written
letters. Furthermore, many races still exist who have a well-developed
form of language without any concrete way of recording it. It is true, of
course, that back of the conventions of speech and writing are the ideas
themselves that find expression in the one way or the other, or even by
the still more primitive use of signs and gestures. But it is not with
these ultimate elements of thought that we are now concerned; our task is
to learn, first, what evidences are discoverable which show that the
property of human language in general has originated by evolution, and
then, in the second place, to perceive how this development proves an
evolution of one group of ultimate ideas, namely, human concepts of the
modal value of words and symbols as expressions of ideas themselves.

A simple common-sense treatment of obvious facts will greatly facilitate
our progress. We know very well that the English we speak to-day differs
in many ways from the language of Elizabethan times, and that the former
is a direct descendant of the other. The latter, in turn, was a product of
Norman French and Anglo-Saxon,--a combination of certain elements of both,
but identical with neither of its immediate parents. The Saxon tongue
itself has a history that leads back to King Alfred's time and earlier.
Thus we are already aware of the fact that our speech has truly evolved,
like the physical structure of the men who employ it; and we know, too,
how readily new words are adopted into current English, like _tabu_ from
Polynesia, or _garage_ from the French, showing that language is even now
in process of evolution.

The sounds that make up spoken words can be resolved into a single element
with its modifications; this basic element is the brute-like call or shout
made with the mouth and throat opened wide--a sound we may have heard
uttered by men under the stress of pain or terror. All of the various
vowels are simply modifications of this element by altering the shape of
the mouth cavity and orifice, while the consonants are produced by
interrupting the sound-waves with the palate or lips or tongue. Like the
cell as a unit of structure throughout the organic world, this elemental
utterance proves to be the b