Chapter VI: The Martian Cycle (continued)—the Martian Language (2)

=med ché atèv kiz fouminé zati= _pour ton être quel puissant souvenir._

Mother, how delightful they are, these moments near to thee!—Child, where finds one better moments? later for thy being what (a) powerful remembrance.

Auditive. October 22, 1898 (translated December 18).—“At a quarter-past six in the morning; vision of a pebbly shore; earth of a red tint; immense sheet of water, of a bluish green. Two women are walking side by side. This was all I could gather of their conversation.”

*31. =Râmié bisti ti Espênié ché dimé ûni zi=

_Ramié habitant de Espénié, ton semblable par la_

=trimazi tié vadâzâξ di anizié banâ mirâξ Ramié di=

_force des “vadazas,” te envoie trois adieux. Ramié te_

=trinir tié toumaξ ti bé animinâ ni tiche di uzir nâmi=

_parlera des charmes de sa existence et bientôt te dira beaucoup_

=ti Espênié. évaï divinée=

_de Espénié. Sois heureuse!_

Ramié, dweller in Espénié, thy like, by the force of the “vadazas,” sends thee three adieux. Ramié will speak to thee of the charms of his existence, and presently will tell thee much of Espénié. Be happy!

Graphic. October 27, 1898 (translated December 18).—“Ten minutes to one in the afternoon. No vision, but a severe cramp in the right arm and a strong impulse to take pencil and paper. I write, I know not why.” (It is seen by the translation given two months later that the text refers to the first manifestation of Ramié and is an announcement of the ultra-Martian vision which came a few days later.) See Fig. 28. The term =vadazas=, which has never been explained, has not a Martian appearance, and appears to have been borrowed from the Hindoo cycle. As to _Espénié_, see text No. 6.

32. =anâ évaï maniké é bétiné mis tié attanâ=
_Maintenant sois attentive à regarder un des mondes_

=kâ di médinié bétinié tès tapié ni bée atèv kavivé=
_qui te entourent. Regarde ce “tapié” et ses êtres étranges._

=danda anâ=
_Silence maintenant!_

Now be attentive to behold one of the worlds which surround thee. Look at that “tapié” and its strange beings. Silence now!

Auditive. November 2, 1898 (translated December 18).—Hélène has a morning vision of a Martian (Ramié) who encircles her waist with one arm and with the other shows her, while speaking these words, a strange tableau (=tapié=) containing extraordinary beings speaking the unknown language of the following text. At the moment the vision is effaced Hélène writes, without perceiving that she has done so, text No. 34. (For further details, see the following chapter on the Ultra-Martian.)

33. BAK SANAK TOP ANOK SIK
=sirima nêbé viniâ-ti-mis-métiche ivré toué=
_rameau vert nom de un homme sacré dans_

ÉTIP VANÉ SANIM BATAM ISSEM TANAK
=viniâ-ti-misé-bigâ azâni maprinié imizi kramâ ziné=
_nom de une enfant mal entré sous panier bleu_

VANEM SÉBIM MAZAK TATAK SAKAM
=viniâ-ti-mis-zaki datrinié tuzé vâmé gâmié=
_nom de un animal caché malade triste pleure._

Branch green—name of a man—sacred—in—name of a child—bad—entered—under—basket—blue—name of an animal—hidden—ill—sad—weeps.

Auditive, as to the non-Martian text (see following chapter) which Hélène heard spoken on the 2d of November by the strange beings of the tableau of the preceding vision. Vocal, as to the Martian translation of this text, which was given by Astané (incarnated in Hélène and speaking the unknown language by her mouth, followed by its Martian equivalent for each word), in the seance of the 18th of December, 1898. Immediately after, Astané yielded his place to Esenale, who in turn repeated the Martian phrase, translating it word for word into French by the customary process.

*34. =Ramié di pédrinié anâ né ériné diviné=
_Ramié te quitte maintenant, est satisfait, heureux_

=té mûné ten ti vi. hed dassinié mis abadâ ti ché=
_du moment près de toi. Il garde un peu de ton_

=atèv ni di parêzié banâ mirâξ.—évaï divinée=
_être et te laisse trois adieux. Sois heureuse!_

Ramié leaves thee now, is satisfied, happy for the moment near to thee. He retains a little of thy being and leaves thee three adieux. Be happy.

Graphic. November 2, 1898 (translated December 18).—Hélène only perceived after its accomplishment that her hand, which she felt “firmly held,” had written this text at the close of the preceding vision (see Fig. 29).

35. [A] =attanâ zabiné pi ten té iche tarvini mabûré=
_Monde arriéré, très près du nôtre, langage grossier,_

=nubé téri zée atèv [B] Astané êzi dabé fouminé ni=
_curieux comme les êtres!—Astané, mon maître puissant et_

=ié ti takâ tubré né bibé ti zé umêzé=
_tout de pouvoir, seul est capable de le faire._

Hidden world, very near to ours, coarse language, curious like the beings.—Astané, my powerful master and all powerful, alone is capable of doing it.

Auditive. December 5, 1898 (translated December 18).—Working by lamp-light at seven o’clock in the morning, Hélène again had a vision of the Martian (Ramié) who had clasped her waist with one arm while showing her something with a gesture of the other (probably the tableau of the preceding vision, though Hélène did not see it) and uttering the first phrase of it (A). The second phrase (B) is the reply of this same Martian to a mental question of Hélène asking him to translate the strange language of the other day. (She must, therefore, have understood the meaning of the first phrase in order to have replied to it by her appropriate mental question.)

Owing to a
defect of the stereotype plate a dot is lacking on the first letter.]

36. [A] =aé aé aé aé lassunié lâmi rêzé aé aé aé=
_Aé, aé, aé, aé!—Approche; voici Rêzé... aé, aé, aé,_

=aé niké bulié va né ozâmié zitêni primêni—[B] ozâmié=
_aé, petit Bulié... où est Ozamié? Zitêni, Primêni... Ozamié,_

=viniâ ti mis bigâ kêmâ zitêni viniâ ti misé bigâ kêmisi=
_nom de un enfant mâle; Zitêni, nom de une enfant femelle;_

=primêni viniâ ti misé bigâ kêmisi=
_Priméni, nom de une enfant femelle._

Aé, aé, aé, aé! Approach, here is Rézá ... aé, aé, aé, aé, little Bulié ... where is Ozamié? Zitêni, Primêni ... Ozamié, name of a male child; Zitêni, name of a female child; Primêni, name of a female child.

]

Auditive. March 8, 1899 (translated June 4).—Hélène heard the phrase (A) during the vision of which the description follows. At the translation, as the sitters did not at once understand that the three first words are proper names, Esenale adds the phrase (B) with its French signification. “I was unable to go to sleep yesterday evening. At half-past eleven everything around me was suddenly lighted up, and the vivid light permitted me to distinguish surrounding objects. I arose this morning with a very clear remembrance of that which I then saw. A tableau was formed in that light, and I had more before me than the interior of a Martian house—an immense square hall, around which shelves were fastened, or rather little tables suspended and fastened to the wall. Each of these tables contained a baby, but not at all bundled up; all the movements of these little infants were free, and a simple linen cloth was thrown round the body. They might be said to be lying on yellow moss. I could not say with what the tables were covered. Some men with strange beasts were circulating round the hall; these beasts had large flat heads, almost without hair, and large, very soft eyes, like those of seals; their bodies, slightly hairy, resembled somewhat those of roes in our country, except for their large and flat tails; they had large udders, to which the men present fitted a square instrument with a tube, which was offered to each infant, who was thus fed with the milk of these beasts. I heard cries, a great hurly-burly, and it was with difficulty that I could note these few words [of this text]. This vision lasted about a quarter of an hour; then everything gradually disappeared, and in a minute after I was in a sound sleep.”

*37. =Astané bounié zé buzi ti di triné nâmi ni=
_Astané cherche le moyen de te parler beaucoup et_

=ti di umêzé séïmiré bi tarvini=
_de te faire comprendre son langage._

Astané searches for the means to speak to thee much and to make thee understand his language.

Graphic. March 24, 1899 (translated June 4).—“Half-past six in the morning. Vision of Astané. I was standing, about to put on my slippers. He spoke to me, but I could not understand him. I took this sheet of paper and a pencil; he spoke to me no more, but seized my hand which held the pencil. I wrote under this pressure; I understood nothing, for this is as Hebrew to me. My hand was released; I raised my head to see Astané, but he had disappeared” (see Fig. 30).

*38. =fédié amès Ramié di uzénir tès luné amès zé=
_Fédié, viens; Ramié te attendra ce jour; viens, le_

=boua trinir=
_frère parlera._

Fédié, come; Ramié will await thee to-day; come, the brother will speak.

Visual. March 30, 1899 (translated June 4).—Seated at her toilet-table, at half-past nine o’clock in the evening, Hélène found herself suddenly enveloped in a rose-colored fog, which hid one part of the furniture from her, then was dissipated, allowing her to see, at the farther end of her room, “a strange hall, lighted with rose-colored globes fastened to the wall.” Nearer to her appeared a table suspended in the air, and a man in Martian costume, who wrote with a kind of nail fastened to his right index-finger. “I lean towards this man; I wish to place my left hand on this imaginary table, but my hand falls into empty space, and I have great difficulty in restoring it to its normal position. It was stiff, and for some moments felt very weak.” Happily the idea occurred to her to take pencil and paper and copy “the characters which the Martian, whom I had seen several times before [Ramié], traced; and with extreme difficulty—since they were much smaller than mine—I succeeded in reproducing them” (the Martian text of Fig. 31). All this lasted about a quarter of an hour. I went immediately to bed, and saw nothing more that evening, nor on the following day.

Natural size.]

*39. =Ramié pondé acâmi andélir téri antéch=
_Ramié, savant astronome, apparaîtra comme hier_

=iri é vi anâ. riz vi banâ mirâξ ti Ramié ni=
_souvent à toi maintenant. Sur toi trois adieux de Ramié et_

=Astané. évaï divinée=
_Astané. Sois heureuse!_

Ramié, learned astronomer, will appear as yesterday often to thee now. Upon thee three adieux from Ramié and Astané. Be happy!

Graphic. April 1, 1899 (translated June 4).—“Again, on going to bed at five minutes past ten, a new vision of the personage seen day before yesterday [Ramié]. I thought he was about to speak, but no sound issued from his lips. I quickly take pencil and paper, and feel my right arm seized by him, and I begin to trace the strange handwriting attached hereto (see Fig. 32). He is very affectionate; his bearing, his look, everything breathes both goodness and strangeness. He leaves me really charmed.”

40. =ramié ébanâ dizênâ zivênié ni bi vraïni=
_Ramié, lentement, profondément, étudie, et son désir_

=assilé né ten ti rès kalâmé astané êzi dabé né zi=
_immense est près de se accomplir. Astané mon maître est là_

=med lé godané ni ankôné évaï bané zizazi divinée=
_pour me aider et réjouir. Sois trois fois heureuse!_

Ramié, slowly, deeply studies, and his great desire is near to being accomplished. Astané, my master, is there to aid me and to rejoice. Mayst thou be thrice happy!

Auditive. June 4, 1899 (translated same seance).—Hemisomnambulism, in which Hélène, without having a vision, hears a voice addressing words to her, from which, with some difficulty, she collected the preceding sentences.

41. To these texts, forming sentences, in order to complete the whole, some isolated words must be added, gathered on various occasions, the meaning of which is obtained with sufficient certainty, either from the French context in which they were framed, or from Hélène’s description of the objects which they designated. These words are =chèke=, _papier_ (“paper”); =chinit=, _bague_ (“ring”); =asnète=, _espèce de paravent_ (“kind of screen”). =Anini Nikaîné=, proper name of a little girl (see p. 176), probably the Martian sister of Esenale, who floats beside her, invisible to her, and watches over her during an illness, after the fashion of spirit protectors. =Béniel=, proper name of our earth, as seen from Mars (which is called =Durée= in texts 7 and 9).

III. REMARKS ON THE MARTIAN LANGUAGE

Provided the reader has given some attention to the foregoing texts, if only to the two first, he undoubtedly will have been easily satisfied as to the pretended language of the planet Mars, and perhaps will be astonished that I have spent so much time upon it. But, as many of the _habitués_ of the seances of Mlle. Smith—and, naturally, Mlle. Smith herself—hold seriously to its authenticity, I cannot absolve myself from stating why the “Martian” is, in my opinion, only an infantile travesty of French. Even in default of the astronomical importance which is claimed for it on the authority of Leopold, this idiom preserves all the psychological interest which attaches to automatic products of subconscious activities of the mind, and it well deserves some minutes of examination.

It is necessary at the start to render this justice to the Martian (I continue to designate it by that name, for the sake of convenience)—namely, that it is, indeed, a language and not a simple jargon or gibberish of vocal noises produced at the hazard of the moment without any stability. It cannot be denied the following characteristics—First: It is a harmony of clearly articulated sounds, grouped so as to form words. Secondly: These words when pronounced express definite ideas. Thirdly, and finally: Connection of the words with the ideas is continuous; or, to put it differently, the signification of the Martian terms is permanent and is maintained (apart from slight inconsistencies, to which I will return later on) from one end to the other of the texts which have been collected in the course of these three years.[21] I will add that in speaking fluently and somewhat quickly, as Hélène sometimes does in somnambulism (texts 4, 11, 15, etc.), it has an acoustic quality altogether its own, due to the predominance of certain sounds, and has a peculiar intonation difficult to describe. Just as one distinguishes by ear foreign languages which one does not understand, the whole dialect possessing a peculiar accent which causes it to be recognized, so in this case one perceives, from the first syllables uttered, whether Hélène is speaking Hindoo or Martian, according to the musical connection, the rhythm, the choice of consonants and vowels belonging to each of the two idioms. In this the Martian, indeed, bears the stamp of a natural language. It is not the result of a purely intellectual calculation, but influences of an æsthetic order, emotional factors, have combined in its creation and instinctively directed the choice of its assonances and favorite terminations. The Martian language has certainly not been fabricated in cold blood during the normal, habitual, French (so to speak) state of Mlle. Smith, but it bears in its characteristic tonalities the imprint of a peculiar emotional disposition, of a fixed humor or psychical Orientation, of a special condition of mind, which may be called, in one word, the _Martian_ state of Hélène. The secondary personality, which takes pleasure in linguistic games, seems, indeed, to be the same, at its source, as that which delights in the exotic and highly colored visual images of the planet of red rocks, and which animates the personages of the Martian romance.

A glance at the _ensemble_ of the foregoing texts shows that Martian, as compared with French, is characterized by a superabundance of _é_, _ê_, and _i’s_, and a scarcity of diphthongs and the nasal sounds. A more accurate statistical table of sounded vowels which strike the ear in reading aloud the Martian texts on the one hand, and their translation into French on the other, gives me the percentages of Table I., which follows. But it is well known that the vowels are distinguished, from the acoustic point of view, by certain fixed characteristic sounds, and that they are distributed at different heights in the musical scale.

TABLE I.—STATISTICS OF VOWEL SOUNDS

Martian French
_a_ % 16.3 13.7
_e_ mute (like those of _casemate_) “ 3.6 20.8
_e_ closed or half-closed (like those
of _hébété_, _rêvé_) “ 36.9 14.3
_e_ open (like that of _aloès_) “ 2.1 4.6
_i_ “ 34.3 13.4
_o_ “ 2.3 5.7
_u_ “ 2.3 3.1
Diphthongs and nasals (_ou_, _oi_,
_eu_, _an_, _in_, _on_, _un_) “ 2.1 24.5

TABLE II.—GROUPING FROM POINT OF VIEW OF HEIGHT

Martian French
Vowels, high (_i_ and _e_ sounded) % 73.3 32.3
Vowels, middle (_a_ and _o_) “ 18.6 19.4
Vowels, low or hollow (_u_; diphthongs
and nasals; _e_ mute) “ 8.0 48.4

_i_ and _é_ are the highest, _a_ and _o_ occupy the middle place, _u_ and _ou_ are found in the lower part of the scale. In adding to the latter, therefore, the nasals, which are always hollow, and also _e_ mute, Table I. divides itself into the three groups of Table II. from the point of view of height and sonorousness. It is, therefore, clear that the Martian is of a general tonality much higher than the French; since, while the two languages have almost the same proportion of middle vowels, the low, hollow, or mute sounds, which constitute almost one-half of the French vowels, amount to scarcely one-twelfth in Martian, in which the high sounds, on the contrary, represent in bulk three-quarters of the vowels, against one-third only in the French. On the other hand, researches in the field of colored audition have demonstrated that a close psychological connection exists, based on certain emotional analogies and an equivalence of organic reactions, between the high sounds and the bright or vivid colors, and the low or hollow sounds and the sombre colors. But this same correlation is found in the somnambulistic life of Mlle. Smith, between the brilliant, luminous, highly colored visions which characterize her Martian cycle and the language of the high and sonorous vowels which gushes forth in the same cycle. It is allowable to conclude from this that it is really the same emotional atmosphere which bathes and envelops these varied psychological products, the same personality which gives birth to these visual and phonetic automatisms. The imagination cannot, however, as is easily understood, create its fiction out of nothing; it is obliged to borrow its materials from individual experience. The Martian tableaux are, therefore, only a reflection of the terrestrial world, but of that part of it which possesses the most warmth and brilliancy—the Orient; in the same way, the Martian language is only French metamorphosed and carried to a higher diapason.

I admit, then, that Martian is a language, and a natural language, in the sense that it is automatically brought forth in the emotional state, or by the secondary personality, which is the source of all the remainder of the cycle without the conscious participation of Mlle. Smith. It remains for me now to mention some of the characteristics which seem to indicate that the inventor of this subliminal linguistic work had never known any idiom other than French, that it is much more sensible to verbal expression than to logical connection of ideas, and that it possesses in an eminent degree that infantile and puerile character which I have already pointed out in the author of the Martian romance. It now becomes necessary to examine rapidly this unknown language, from the point of view of its phonetics and its writing, its grammatical form, its syntax, and its vocabulary.

1. _Martian Phonetics and Handwriting._—Martian is composed of articulate sounds, all of which, consonants as well as vowels, exist in French. While on this globe languages geographically our neighbors (not to mention those farther away) differ each from the other by certain special sounds—_ch_, German, _th_, English, etc.—the language of the planet Mars does not permit of similar phonetic originalities. It seems, on the contrary, poorer in this respect than the French. As yet I have not found in it the hissing _j_ or _ge_ (as in _juger_), nor the double sound _x_. Martian phonetics, in a word, are only an incomplete reproduction of French phonetics.

The Martian alphabet, compared with ours, suggests a remarkable analogy. The graphic form of the characters is certainly novel, and no one would divine our letters in these designs of exotic aspect. Nevertheless, each Martian sign (with the single exception of that of the plural) corresponds to a French sign, although the inverse is not the case, which indicates that here again we are in the presence of a feeble imitation of our system of handwriting.

The twelve written texts upon which I base my comparison comprise about 300 words (of which 160 are different) and 1200 signs. There are altogether twenty-one different letters, all of which have their exact equivalents in the French alphabet, which also has five others which Martian lacks; _j_ and _x_, of which the sounds themselves have not been observed, and _q_, _w_, and _y_, of which there is a double use, with _k_, _v_, and _i_. This reduction of graphic material manifests itself in two other details. First, there are neither accents nor punctuation marks, with the exception of a certain sign, resembling the French circumflex, used sometimes in the shape of a point at the end of phrases. In the second place, each letter has only one form, the diversity of capitals and small letters not seeming to exist in Martian. Of ciphers we know nothing.

There are still three small peculiarities to notice:

1. In default of capitals, the initials of proper names are often distinguished by a point placed above the ordinary character.

2. In the case of double letters the second is replaced by a point situated at the right of the first.

3. Finally, there exists, in order to designate the plural of substantives and of some adjectives, a special graphic sign, answering to nothing in the pronunciation and having the form of a small vertical undulation, which reminds one a little of an amplification of the French _s_, the usual mark of the plural in French. These peculiarities, outside the ordinary form of the letters, constitute the sum total of ingenuity displayed in Martian handwriting.

It must be added that this handwriting, which is not ordinarily inclined, goes from left to right, like the French. All the letters are of nearly the same height, except that the _i_ is much smaller, and that they remain isolated from each other; their assembly into words and phrases offers to the eye a certain aspect of Oriental hieroglyphic inscriptions.

The Martian alphabet never having been revealed as such, we are ignorant of the order in which the letters follow each other. It would seem as though the letters had been invented by following the French alphabet, at least in great part, if one may judge according to the analogies of form of the Martian characters corresponding to certain series of French letters: compare _a_ and _b_; _g_ and _h_; _s_ and _t_; and also the succession _k_, _l_, _m_, _n_.

It is in the phonetic value of the letters—that is to say, in the correspondence of the articulated sounds with the graphic signs—that the essentially French nature of the Martian may be seen. The only notable difference to be pointed out here between the two languages is the much greater simplicity of the Martian orthography, resulting in the employment of no useless letters. All are pronounced, even the final consonants, such as _s_, _n_, _z_, etc., which are generally silent in French. This gives the impression that the Martian handwriting is moulded on the spoken language, and is only the notation of the articulated sounds of the latter by the most economical means. In so far it realizes the type of a handwriting truly phonetic—that is to say, where each sign corresponds to a certain elementary articulation, constant and invariable, and vice versa. It is full, on the other hand, of equivocations, of exceptions, of irregularities, which make one and the same letter to have very different pronunciations, according to circumstances, and, reciprocally, which causes the same sound to be written in different ways without our being able to perceive any rational explanation for all these ambiguities—were it not for the fact that the very same thing is to be found in French!

Martian is only disguised French. I will mention only the most curious and striking coincidences, all the more striking from the fact that the field from which I have collected them is very limited, being confined to the dozen texts written and pronounced, which contain only 160 different words.

The simple vowels of the Martian alphabet correspond exactly to the five French vowels, _a_, _e_, _i_, _o_, _u_, and have the same shades of pronunciation.

The Martian _c_ plays the triple part which it also fulfils in French. The _s_ has the same capricious character as in our language. It is generally hard, but between two vowels it becomes soft, like _z_.

2. _Grammatical Forms._—The _ensemble_ of the texts which we possess does not as yet permit us to make a Martian grammar. Certain indications, however, warrant the prediction that the rules of that grammar, if it ever sees the light of day, will be only the counterpart of, or a parody upon, those of French.

Here, for example, is a list of personal pronouns, articles, possessive adjectives, etc., which have appeared hitherto:

_je_ =cé= _me_ =lé=, _ton_ =ché= _ce_ =tès=, _de_ =ti=
_moi_ =si= _ces_ =têsé=

_tu_ =dé= _te_ =di=, _ta_ =chée= _cette_ =tês=, _des_ =tié=
_toi_ =vi= =têsée=

_il_ =hed= _se_ =rès=, _tes_ =chi= _le_ (pron.) _du_ =té=
_lui_ =pi= =zé=

_nous_ =nini= _mon_ =êzi= _son_ =bi= _qui_ =kâ=, _au_ =ine=
_que_ =ké=

_vous_ =sini= _ma_ =êzé= _sa_ =bé= _quel_ =kiz=,
_quelle_ =kizé=

_ils_ =hed= _mes_ =éziné= _ses_ =bée= _un_ =mis=, _une_ =misé=

_on_ =idé= _notre_ =iche= _le_, _la_ _les_ (art.)
=zé=, =zi=, =zée=.

There are some texts where the feminine is derived from the masculine by the addition of an _e_ mute, and the plural by the small, unpronounced sign, which has all the appearance of being a reminiscence of French _s_.

Between these two languages there is another order of points of contact, of a more special interest, because it shows the preponderating rôle which verbal images have often played in the making of Martian to the prejudice of the intrinsic, logical nature of the ideas. I should say that at all times the Martian translates the French word, allowing itself to be guided by auditive analogies without regard to the real meaning, in such a way that we are surprised to discover in the idiom of the planet Mars the same peculiarities of homonyms as in French. It is also the case that two vocables identical as to pronunciation, but of entirely heterogeneous signification, as the preposition _à_ and the _a_ of the verb _avoir_, are rendered in Martian by the same word, _é_.

Other curious coincidences are to be noted. In French the conjunction _et_ only slightly differs, from the point of view of phonic images, from the verb _est_; in Martian also there is a great analogy, between =ni= and =né=, which translate these two words. Between the past participle =nié= of the verb _to be_ and the conjunction =ni= there is only the difference of an =_é_=, just as between their French equivalents =_été_= and =_et_=.

It must be admitted that all these coincidences would be very extraordinary if they were purely fortuitous.

3. _Construction and Syntax._—The order of the words is absolutely the same in Martian as in French. This identity of construction of phrases is pursued sometimes into the minutest details, such as the division or amputation of the negation _ne_ ... _pas_ (texts 15 and 17), and also the introduction of a useless letter in Martian to correspond to a French euphemistic _t_ (see text 15), =Kèvi bérimir m hed=, _quand reviendra-t-il?_ (“when will he return?”)

If it is admitted hypothetically that the succession of words, such as is given us in these texts, is not the natural ordering of the Martian language, but an artificial arrangement, like that of juxtalinear translations for the use of pupils, the very possibility of that correspondence absolutely word for word would remain an extraordinary fact without a parallel, since there is not a single language that I know of in which each term of the French phrase is always rendered by _one_ term, neither more nor less, of the foreign phrase. The hypothesis referred to is, moreover, inadmissible, since the Martian texts, of which Esenale gives the literal translation, were not previously arranged by him with that end in view; they are the identical words which Mlle. Smith heard and noted in her visions, often weeks and months before Esenale repeats them for the purpose of translating them, and which constitute the conversation, as such, taken from life, of the Martian personages. We must conclude from this that these in their elocution follow step by step and word by word the order of the French language, which amounts almost to saying that they speak a French the sounds of which have simply been changed.

4. _Vocabulary._—From an etymological point of view, I have not been able to distinguish any rule of derivation, even partial, that would permit the suspicion that the Martian words had come from French words, according to some law. Apart from the entire first text, where it is difficult to deny that the people of Mars have stolen French terms of politeness, at the same time distorting them, no clear resemblance is to be seen between Martian words and the French equivalents; at most, there are traces of borrowing, like =merve=, _superbe_, which might have been abridged from _merveille_ (text 25), and =vechi=, an imitation of _voir_.

Still less does the Martian lexicon betray the influence of other known languages (at least to my knowledge). A term which suggests such similarity is hardly ever met with—_e.g._, =modé=, _mère_ (“mother”), and =gudé= _bon_ (“good”), cause us to think of German or English words; =animina= (“existence”) is like _anima_; various forms of the verbs _être_ and _vivre_ (“to be” and “to live”), =êvé=, =évaï=, =essat=, recall the Latin _esse_ or the Hebrew _évé_, and that passage of the Biblical story of the Creation where Eve is called the mother of all living beings. A linguist who happened to be at the same time a savant and a humorist would doubtless succeed in lengthening this list of etymologies, after the mode of the eighteenth century. But, _cui bono_? In that rarity of points of contact between the idioms of our terrestrial sphere and the Martian glossary, an argument might be found in favor of the extra-terrestrial origin of the latter, if, on the other hand, it did not seem to betray the influence of the French language from the fact that a notable proportion of its words reproduce in a suspicious manner the same number of syllables or letters as their French equivalents; note, for example, besides the terms of politeness already mentioned, the words =tarvine=, _langage_; =haudan=, _maison_; =dodé=, _ceci_; =valini=, _visage_, etc., and the great majority of the little words, such as =cé=, _je_; =ké=, _que_; =ti=, _de_; =dé=, _tu_; etc.

With the exception of such examples as these, it must be acknowledged that there is no trace of parentage, filiation, of any resemblance whatever between the Martian and French vocabularies, which forms a singular contrast to the close identity which we have established between the two languages in the preceding paragraphs.

This apparent contradiction carries its explanation in itself, and gives us the key to Martian. This fantastic idiom is evidently the naïve and somewhat puerile work of an infantile imagination, to which occurred the idea of creating a new language, and which, while giving to its lucubrations certain strange and unknown appearances, without doubt caused them to run in the accustomed moulds of the only real language of which it had cognizance. The Martian of Mlle. Smith, in other words, is the product of a brain or a personality which certainly has taste and aptitude for linguistic exercises, but which never knew that French takes little heed of the logical connection of ideas, and did not take the trouble to make innovations in the matter of phonetics, of grammar, or of syntax.

The process of creation of Martian seems to have consisted in simply taking certain French phrases as such and replacing each word by some other chosen at random. That is why, especially in the texts at the beginning, the structure of French words is recognized under the Martian. The author herself was undoubtedly struck by it, and from that time exerted herself to complicate her lexicon, to render her words more and more unrecognizable.

This research of originality—which, however, she has never extended beyond the purely material part of the language, never having an idea that there might be other differences in languages—represents an effort of imagination with which she must be credited. Homage must also be rendered to the labor of memorizing, which the making of a dictionary has necessitated. She has sometimes, indeed, fallen into errors; the stability of her vocabulary has not always been perfect. But, finally, after the first hesitation and independently of some later confusions, it gives evidence of a praiseworthy terminological consistency, and which no doubt in time, and with some suggestive encouragement, would result in the elaboration of a very complete language—perhaps even of several languages, as we may augur from text 33, to which we shall return in the following chapter.

5. _Style._—It remains to investigate the style. If it is true that “manners make the man”—that is to say, not the impersonal and abstract understanding, but the concrete character, the individual temperament, the humor and emotional vibration—we ought to expect to find in the style of the Martian texts the same special stamp which distinguishes the visions, the sound of the language, the handwriting, the personages—in short, the entire romance, that is to say, the curious mixture of Oriental exoticism and of childish puerility of which the secondary personality of Mlle. Smith, at work in this cycle, seems to be composed. It is difficult to pronounce upon these matters of vague æsthetic impression rather than of precise observation; but, as well as I can judge, there seems to me to be in the phraseology of the texts collected an indefinable something which corresponds well with the general character of the entire dream. As these words are evidently first thought in French—then travesties in Martian by a substitution of sounds, the choice of which, as has been seen, apropos of the high tonality of this language, reflects the general emotional disposition—it is, naturally, under their French aspect that we ought to consider them in judging of their actual style. Unfortunately, we do not know how far the translation given by Esenale is identical with the primitive original; certain details seem to hint that there are divergences sometimes. However that may be, it is clearly to be perceived that the literary form of the majority of the texts (taken in French) is more akin to poetry than to prose. While no one of them is in verse, properly speaking, the large number of hemistiches which are met with, the frequency of inversion, the choice of terms, the abundance of exclamations and of broken phrases, betray a great intensity of sentimental and poetic emotion. The same character is found, with a strong shade of exotic and archaic originality, in the formulas of salutation and farewell (“be happy to-day,” “three adieux to thee,“ etc.), as well as in many expressions and terms of phrases which rather recall the obscure and metaphorical parlance of the Orient than the dry precision of our language of to-day (”_il garde un peu de ton être; cet élément mystérieux, immense_,” etc.)

If, now, it is recollected that everywhere in literary history poetry precedes prose, imagination comes before reason, and the lyric style before the didactic, a conclusion according with that of the preceding paragraphs is reached. Which is, that, by its figures and its style, the Martian language (or the French phrases which serve it for a skeleton) seems to bring to us the echo of a past age, the reflex of a primitive state of mind, from which Mlle. Smith to-day finds herself very far removed in her ordinary and normal states of mind.

IV. MLLE. SMITH AND THE INVENTOR OF MARTIAN

The preceding analysis of the Martian language furnishes its support to the considerations which the content of the romance has already suggested to us in regard to its author (p. 194). To imagine that by twisting the sounds of French words a new language capable of standing examination could actually be created, and to wish to make it pass for that of the planet Mars, would be the climax of silly fatuity or of imbecility were it not simply a trait of naïve candor well worthy of the happy age of childhood.

The whole Martian cycle brings us into the presence of an infantine personality exuberant of imagination, sharing, as to their light, color, Oriental exoticism, the æsthetic tendencies of the actual normal personality of Mlle. Smith, but contrasting with it outside its puerile character in two points to be noted.

First: It takes a special pleasure in linguistic discussions and the fabrication of unknown idioms, while Hélène has neither taste nor facility for the study of languages, which she cordially detests and in which she has never met with success.

Secondly: Notwithstanding this aversion, Hélène possesses a certain knowledge, either actual or potential, of German—in which her parents caused her to take lessons for three years—whereas the author of Martian evidently knows only French. It is, in fact, difficult to believe that, if that author had only a very slight knowledge of the German language (so different from the French by the construction of its sentences, pronunciation, its three genders, etc.), that some reminiscences of it, at least, would not have slipped into its lucubrations. I infer from this that the Martian secondary personality which gives evidence of a linguistic activity so fecund, but so completely subject to the structural forms of the mother-tongue, represents a former stage, ulterior to the epoch at which Hélène commenced the study of German.

If one reflects, on the other hand, on the great facility which Mlle. Smith’s father seems to have possessed for languages (see p. 17), the question naturally arises whether in the Martian we are not in the presence of an awakening and momentary display of an hereditary faculty, dormant under the normal personality of Hélène, but which she has not profited from in an effective manner. It is a fact of common observation that talents and aptitudes often skip a generation and seem to pass directly from the grandparents to the grandchildren, forgetting the intermediate link. Who knows whether Mlle. Smith, some day, having obtained Leopold’s consent to her marriage, may not cause the polyglot aptitudes of her father to bloom again with greater brilliancy, for the glory of science, in a brilliant line of philologists and linguists of genius?

Meanwhile, and without even invoking a special latent talent in Hélène’s case, the Martian may be attributed to a survival or a reawakening under the lash of mediumistic hypnoses of that general function, common to all human beings, which is at the root of language and manifests itself with the more spontaneity and vigor as we mount higher towards the birth of peoples and individuals.

Ontogenesis, say the biologists, reproduces in abridged form and _grosso-modo_ phylogenesis; each being passes through stages analogous to those through which the race itself passes; and it is known that the first ages of ontogenic evolution—the embryonic period, infancy, early youth—are more favorable than later periods and adult age to the ephemeral reappearances of ancestral tendencies, which would hardly leave any trace upon a being who had already acquired his organic development. The “poet who died young” in each one of us is only the most common example of those atavic returns of tendencies and of emotions which accompanied the beginnings of humanity, and remain the appanage of infant peoples, and which cause a fount of variable energy in each individual in the spring-time of his life, to congeal or disappear sooner or later with the majority; all children are poets, and that in the original, the most extended, acceptation of the term. They create, they imagine, they construct—and language is not the least of their creations.

I conclude from the foregoing that the very fact of the reappearance of that activity in the Martian states of Hélène is a new indication of the infantile, primitive nature left behind in some way and long since passed by her ordinary personality, of the subliminal strata which mediumistic autohypnotization with her puts in ebullition and causes to mount to the surface. There is also a perfect accord between the puerile character of the Martian romance, the poetic and archaic charms of its style, and the audacious and naïve fabrication of its unknown language.