Lectures on the Science of Language

Fellow of All Souls College, Oxford; Correspondence Member of the Imperial Institute of France. From the Second London Edition, Revised. New York: Charles Scribner, 124 Grand Street. 1862 Contents Dedication Preface. Lecture I. The Science Of Language One Of The Physical Sciences. Lecture II. The Growth Of Language In Contradistinction To The History Of Language. Lecture III. The Empirical Stage. Lecture IV. The Classificatory Stage. Lecture V. Genealogical Classification Of Languages. Lecture VI. Comparative Grammar. Lecture VII. The Constituent Elements Of Language. Lecture VIII. Morphological Classification. Lecture IX. The Theoretical Stage, And The Origin Of Language. Appendix. Index. Footnotes [pg v] Dedication Dedicated To The Members Of The University Of Oxford, Both Resident And Non-Resident, To Whom I Am Indebted For Numerous Proofs Of Sympathy And Kindness During The Last Twelve Years, In Grateful Acknowledgment Of Their Generous Support On The 7th Of December, 1860. [pg vii] Preface. My Lectures on the Science of Language are here printed as I had prepared them in manuscript for the Royal Institution. When I came to deliver them, a considerable portion of what I had written had to be omitted; and, in now placing them before the public in a more complete form, I have gladly complied with a wish expressed by many of my hearers. As they are, they only form a short abstract of several Courses delivered from time to time in Oxford, and they do not pretend to be more than an introduction to a science far too comprehensive to be treated successfully in so small a compass. My object, however, will have been attained, if I should succeed in attracting the attention, not only of the scholar, but of the philosopher, the historian, and the theologian, to a science which concerns them all, and which, though it professes to treat of words only, teaches us that there is more in words than is dreamt of in our philosophy. I quote from Bacon: “Men believe that their reason is lord over their [pg viii] words, but it happens, too, that words exercise a reciprocal and reactionary power over our intellect. Words, as a Tartar's bow, shoot back upon the understanding of the wisest, and mightily entangle and pervert the judgment.” MAX MÜLLER. Oxford , June 11, 1861. [pg 011] Lecture I. The Science Of Language One Of The Physical Sciences. When I was asked some time ago to deliver a…