Purchase of this book includes free trial access to www.million-books.com where you can read more than a million books for free. This is an OCR edition with typos. Excerpt from book: the sound and the ida, so that (6) the sound became the word for the idea or feeling. This theory assumes that language is founded on ejaculations, but they do not form a hundredth part of it; and have always remained much as they are, comparatively infertile. Again, as Prof. Whitney observes, with his rough common sense: ?
Involuntary utterances did not need to be repeated by imitation before they could be associated with an idea of the feeling that led to them. Would not the most, rudimentary man in posse, if he heard his fellow laugh or cry, understand what it meant, without having first himself to haiv-haw or boo-hoo ? Do not even the animals thus ? When a gun goes off, all the shy birds near take to flight without waiting to say ‘bang’ to themselves. The imitative factor is an intrusion and may be left out of the account altogether.
But, alas, if you take away this, what remains ? Again, this quasi-human being had some.power unknown to parrot and monkey, or otherwise either he would have remained at their level, or they would have ascended. This occult x was a power of judgment and comparison, a power of reflection and introspection; but such a power is not excited by the mere act of imitation, otherwise parrots would acquire it.
Observe, says M. Taine,
the profound difference separating this acquisition [i.e., of speech by a child], and the parallel acquisition which a parrot might make. The infant invents and discovers incessantly. The names suggested to him are but starting- points for his innumerable efforts. A parrot does not apply the name which is taught him; in a bird’s brain it remains isolated. f Dr. Tylor gives the following illustrative instance from the Brazilian traveller, Eschwege: ?
I was occupied …. in making philosophical observatio…
