Chapter V: Part IV: Linguistic

INTRODUCTORY 305–307

AMERICAN LANGUAGES, AND WHY WE SHOULD STUDY THEM. 308–327

Indian geographic names; language a guide to ethnology;
reveals the growth of arts and the psychologic processes of
a people; illustration from the Lenâpé tongue; structure of
language best studied in savage tongues; rank of American
tongues; characteristic traits; pronominal forms; idea of
personality; polysynthesis; incorporation; holophrasis;
origin of these; lucidity of American tongues; their
vocabularies; power of expressing abstract ideas;
conclusion.

WILHELM VON HUMBOLDT’S RESEARCHES IN AMERICAN LANGUAGES 328–348

What led Humboldt toward the American tongues; progress of
his studies; fundamental doctrine of his philosophy of
language; his theory of the evolution of languages; opinion
on American languages; his criterion of the relative
perfection of languages; not abundance of forms, nor verbal
richness; American tongues not degenerations; Humboldt’s
classification of languages; psychological origin of
Incorporation in language; its shortcomings; in simple
sentences; in compound sentences; absence of true formal
elements; the nature of the American verb.

SOME CHARACTERISTICS OF AMERICAN LANGUAGES 349–389

Study of the human species on the geographic system; have
American languages any common trait? Duponceau’s theory of
polysynthesis; Humboldt on Polysynthesis and Incorporation;
Francis Lieber on Holophrasis; Prof. Steinthal on the
incorporative plan; Lucien Adam’s criticism of it; Prof.
Müller’s inadequate statement; Major Powell’s omission to
consider it; definitions of polysynthesis, incorporation
and holophrasis; illustrations; critical application of the
theory to the Othomi language; to the Bri-bri language; to
the Tupi-Guarani dialects; to the Mutsun; conclusions;
addendum; critique by M. Adam on this essay.

THE EARLIEST FORM OF HUMAN SPEECH AS REVEALED BY AMERICAN
TONGUES 390–409

The _Homo alalus_ or speechless man, a romance; linguistic
stocks; the phonetic elements significant; examples; but
not of same significance in different stocks; notion of
_self_ and _other_; pronouns a late development;
alternating consonants and permutable vowels; examples;
phoneticism inadequate; difficulties thus created;
counter-sense in language; notion of Being and Not-Being;
incorporation; sentence-words; no dependent clauses; no
tenses; no adjectives; no numerals; notion of Animate and
Inanimate; classificatory particles; primitive man a
_visuaire_.

THE CONCEPTION OF LOVE IN SOME AMERICAN LANGUAGES 410–432

Significance of love-words; various origins. I. Algonkin
love-words; various senses; highest forms. II. Nahuatl
love-words; poverty of the tongue; made up by terminations;
words for friendship. III. Maya love-words; singular
derivations; the Huasteca dialect; the Cakchiquel dialect;
comparisons. IV. Qquichua love-words; abundant; various
meanings. V. Tupi-Guarani love-words; meaning of.
Conclusions.

THE LINEAL MEASURES OF THE SEMI-CIVILIZED NATIONS OF MEXICO AND
CENTRAL AMERICA 433–451

Metrical standards a criterion of progress; those of the
Mayas; of the Cakchiquels; of the Mexicans or Aztecs; of
the Mound-Builders of Ohio. Conclusions.

THE CURIOUS HOAX OF THE TAENSA LANGUAGE 452–467

How it began; the deception exposed; absurdities of the
invention; a wonderful calendar; a yet more wonderful
marriage-song; a second Psalmanazar; rejoinder of the
editor; reply to that; final verdict.

INDEX OF AUTHORS AND AUTHORITIES 469–474

INDEX OF SUBJECTS 475–489