Lectures on the Science of Language. F. Max Müller

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      Published by Good Press, 2020

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      EAN 4064066102074

Table of Contents

       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.

       Index.

      "

      [pg v]

      Dedication

       Table of Contents

      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.

       Table of Contents

      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.

       Table of Contents

      When I was asked some time ago to deliver a course of lectures on Comparative Philology in this Institution, I at once expressed my readiness to do so. I had lived long enough in England to know that the peculiar difficulties arising from my imperfect knowledge of the language would be more than balanced by the forbearance of an English audience, and I had such perfect faith in my subject that I thought it might be trusted even in the hands of a less skilful expositor. I felt convinced that the researches into the history of languages and into the nature of human speech which have been carried on for the last fifty years in England, France, and Germany, deserved a larger share of public sympathy than they had hitherto received; and it seemed to me, as far as I could judge, that the discoveries in this newly-opened mine of scientific inquiry were not inferior, whether in novelty or importance, to the most brilliant discoveries of our age.

      [pg 012]

      It was not till I began to write my lectures that I became aware of the difficulties of the task I had undertaken. The dimensions of the science of language are so vast that it is impossible in a course of nine lectures to give more than a very general survey of it; and as one of the greatest charms of this science consists in the minuteness of the analysis by which each language, each dialect, each word, each grammatical form is tested, I felt that it was almost impossible to do full justice to my subject, or to place the achievements of those who founded and fostered the science of language in their true light. Another difficulty arises from the dryness of many of the problems which I shall have to discuss. Declensions and conjugations cannot be made amusing, nor can I avail myself of the advantages possessed by most lecturers, who enliven their discussions by experiments and diagrams. If, with all these difficulties and drawbacks, I do not shrink from opening to-day this course of lectures on mere words, on nouns and verbs and particles—if I venture to address an audience accustomed to listen, in this place, to the wonderful tales of the natural historian, the chemist, and geologist, and wont to see the novel results of inductive reasoning invested by native eloquence, with all the charms of poetry and romance—it is because, though mistrusting myself, I cannot mistrust my subject. The study of words may be tedious to the school-boy, as breaking of stones is to the wayside laborer; but to the thoughtful eye СКАЧАТЬ