Language: Its Nature, Development and Origin - Otto Jespersen

Of thoughts and forms, which else senseless and shapeless were.

[INDEX]

a Sanskrit, [52];
-a in fem., [392];
in pl., [394]
abbot, [156]
ablaut, see [apophony]
abstract terms, [429]
accent, see [stress] and [tone]
accusative, name, [20]
actors, [276]
adaptation of suffixes, [386] f.
adjective flexion, [129];
concord, [348] f.
African languages, see [Bantu]
agglutination, [54], [58], [76], [376];
agglutination theory, [367] ff., [375] ff.
agreement, see [concord]
ambiguities, [319], [341] ff.
America, race mixtures, [203] ff.
American English, [260]
American Indian languages, [57], [181], [187], [229], [233], [256], [334], [425], [427], [430]
analogy, [70], [93] f., [129] f., [162] f., [289]
analytic languages, [36], [334] ff., [422] ff.
anatomical causes of change, [255]
aphesis, [273]
apophony, [46], [53], [91] ff., [311]
aposiopesis, [273]
appreciation of languages, [29] ff., [57] f., [60], [62], [319] ff.;
formula, [324]
archaic forms, [294]
Armenian, [195] f.
article, [378]
Aryan, name, [63] f.;
languages, passim
as, root, [49]
Ascoli, [192] ff.
assimilation, [109], [168] f., [264] f., [280]
auxiliary words, [358]
babe, [157]
bacco, [171]
back-formations, [173], [178]
Balkan tongues, agreements, [215]
Bantu, [239], [352] ff., [365]
-bar, suffix, [377]
Basque, [210], [427]
Baudouin de Courtenay, [327]
Bavarian wo-st bist, [281]
Beach-la-Mar, [216] ff.
bead, [175]
bhu, root, [49]
bilinguism, [147] ff.
biographical or biological science of language, [8]
blending, [132], [281] f., [311], [312] f., [390]
Bloomfield, [390]
boon, [175]
Bopp, [47] ff., [56] n.
borrowing of words, [208]
bound, [176]
bow-wow theory, [413]
boys, [146]
Bredsdorff, [43] n., [70]
Bridges, [286]
Bröndal, [200]
Brugmann, [92] f.;
on gender, [391]
bube, [157]
buncombe, [409]
cacuminals, [196]
Caribbean, [237] ff.
Carlyle, [145]
case-system, English, [268] ff.;
in old languages, [337] ff.;
importance, [341]
catch, [400]
ch becomes f, [168]
changes, causes of, [255] ff.
child, [103] ff.;
sounds, [105];
understanding, [113];
classification of things, [114] f.;
vocabulary, [124];
grammar, [128] ff.;
sentences, [133];
echoism, [135];
why learns so well, [140];
influence of other children, [147];
word-invention, [151] ff.;
influence of, [161] ff.;
indirect influence, [178];
new languages, [180] ff.
Chinese, [36], [54], [57], [286], [369] ff.
Chinook, [228] ff.
classification of languages, [35] f., [54], [76] ff.
classifying instinct, [388]
clicks, [415], [419]
climate, [256]
clippings, see [stump-words]
coalescence of words, [174], [376] ff.
Cœurdoux, [33]
Collitz, [45] n., [257], [381]
concord, verbal, [335];
nominal, [348];
in Bantu, [352] ff.
concrete words, [429]
Condillac, [27]
confusion of words, [122], [172]
congeneric groups, [389] f.
conjugation, see [verb]
consciousness, [130];
threshold of, [138]
consonant-shift, [43] ff., [195], [197], [204], [256], [258] f.
contamination, see [blending]
convergent changes, [284] f.
copula, [48] f.
correctness, latitude of, [282] ff.
creation of new words, [151] ff.
Creole, [226] ff.
cuckoo, [406]
cultural loan-words, [209]
curry favour, [173]
curtailing of words, [108], [169] f., [328] f.
Curtius, [83], [94]
-d in loved, [51], [381]
Darwin, [414]
dead languages, [67]
decay, [55], [59], [62], [77], [319] ff.
declension, see [case-system]
Delbrück, [93], [96]
dialect, study of, [68];
spoken by children, [147]
Diez, [85]
differentiations, [176], [272]
diminutives, [180], [402]
ding-dong theory, [415]
divergent changes, [288]
doublets, [272]
Dravidian influence on Indian, [196]
drunken speech, [279]
dump, [313]
e original in Aryan, [52], [91]
ease theory, [261] ff.
echoism, [135];
cf. [echo-words]
echo-words, [313], [398] ff.
economizing of effort, see [ease-theory]
effort in speaking, [261] ff., [324] ff.
eglino, [281]
emotion, influence on sound, [276]
-en in plural, [385]
ending, see [flexion], [suffix]
English, Grimm’s appreciation, [62];
foreign influence, [202], [210], [212] ff.;
rapid change, [261];
case-system, [268] ff.;
future tense, [274];
vowel-shift, [243], [284];
word-order, [344] f.;
genitive, [350]
entangling, [422]
equidistant changes, [284]
-er in plural, [386]
estimation of languages, see [appreciation]
Etruscan, [195]
etymology, sound laws, [295];
principles, [305] ff.;
object of, [316];
etymology of rag, [300];
of sun, say, see, [306];
of krieg, [307];
of grog, ganz, [308];
of hope, [309];
of nut, stumm, [311];
of mais, maar, men, [315];
of moon, daughter, mother, [318]
euphemism, [245] ff.
euphony, [278]
exceptions to sound-laws, [296] ff.
exertion in speaking, [261] ff., [324] ff.
expressive sounds preserved, [288]
extension of sound laws, [290];
of suffixes, [386] ff.
extra-lingual influences, [278]
f for th, [167];
in enough, etc., [168];
in Spanish, [193]
fable in Proto-Aryan, [81]
fain, [176]
fashion in language, [291]
father, [117]
Feist, [194] ff.
feminine, [391] ff.;
in -i, [394], [402];
cf. [woman]
Finnic, [197] f., [207]
flexion, [35], [54] f., [58] f., [76] ff., [79];
origin of, [377] ff.
foreign languages, mistakes in noting down, [116] f.;
influence of, [191] ff.
forgetfulness, [176]
forms, number of, [332], [337];
origin of, [49], [58], [377] ff.
French influence on English, [202], [209], [214];
pronouns and verbs, [422] f.
frequency, influence on phonetic development, [267]
-ful, suffix, [376]
Gabelentz, [98], [369]
ganz, [308]
gape, [288]
gender, [346] f., [391] ff.
general and specific terms, [274], [429] f.
genitive, name, [20];
group, [351];
s in, [382], [383] n.
geographical distribution of languages, [187];
influence on change, [256]
German language, appreciation of, [29], [31], [60];
sound-shift, [43] ff., [195] f., [283];
forms, [341] ff.;
word-order, [344]
Germanic, see [Gothonic]
gibberish, [149] f.
girls, [146]
gleam, gloom, [401]
glottogonic theories abandoned, [96]
Gothonic (Germanic, Teutonic), [42];
sound-shift, see [consonant-shift]
gradation, see [apophony]
grammar, children’s, [128] ff.;
foreign influence, [213];
of primitive languages, [421]
grammatical elements, origin, [48], [58], [61]
Greek linguistic speculation, [19] f.;
vowels, [91];
personal pronouns, [286] n.;
Modern Greek, [301]
Grimm, [37], [40] ff., [60] ff.
Grimm’s Law, [43] f.;
see [consonant-shift]
grog, [308]
group genitive, [129], [351];
groups of words with similar meaning, [389]
h for f in Spanish, [193];
for s, etc., [263]
habaidedeima, [322], [329], [331] f.
Hale, [181] ff.
haplology, [281], [329]
harmony of vowels, [280]
Hebrew, [21]
Hegel, [72] f.
Hempl, [201] ff.
Herder, [27] f.
hereditary aptness for a language, [75], [141]
Hermann, [48]
Hervas, [22]
Herzog, [164] f.
hide, [121]
Hirt, [192], [203] f., [382] f.
historical point of view, [32], [42]
homophones, [285] f.
-hood, suffix, [376]
hope, [309]
humanization of language, [327] f.
Humboldt, [55] ff.
hypercorrect forms, [294]
I, the pronoun, [123] f.
i denoting small, feminine, near, [402]
idioms, [139]
imitation, [291] ff.;
of sounds, [398], [413] f.
imperative, [403]
incorporation, [58], [79], [425]
Indian grammarians, [20];
cacuminals, [196];
cf. [American Indian], [Sanskrit]
indirect ways of obtaining expressions, [438]
indissoluble expressions of several ideas, [334], [422] ff., [428] ff.
Indo-European (Indo-Germanic), see [Aryan]
indolence, see [ease-theory]
inflexion, see [flexion]
interjections, [414]
interrogative sentences, [137];
particles, [358]
invention of words, [151] ff.
irregularities in old languages, [338] f., [379], [425]
isolating languages, [36], [76], [366] ff.
Japanese, [243]
jaw-breakers, [280]
jaw-measurements, [104]
Jenisch, [29] ff.
Johannson, [341] ff.
Jones, William, [33]
[ju·], [290] f.
Karlgren, [372] f.
Keltic languages, [38], [39], [53];
substratum, [192] ff.
Kuhn, [371]
kw becomes p, [168]
languages, rise of new, [180] ff.
language-teaching, [145]
lapses, [279]
Latin, study of, [22] f.;
influence, [209], [215];
forms, [334], [338] f., [343];
word-order, [350]
latitude of correctness, [282]
law as applied to sound-changes, [297]
leaps in phonetic development, [167];
in meanings, [175]
Leibniz, [22]
lengthening, emotional, [277], [403];
of words, [330]
Lenz, [204]
Lepsius, [370]
Leskien, [93]
life as applied to language, [7]
lingua geral, [234]
linguistics, position of, [64] f., [73], [86], [97]
little, [407]
little language, [103], [106], [144], [147]
living languages, study of, [97]
loan-words, sound-substitution, [207];
general theory, [208];
culture, [209];
classes, [211];
with symbolic sounds, [409]
loss of sounds, [108], [168], [328] f.
love-songs, [433] f.
Luxemburg, bilinguism in, [148]
-ly, suffix, [377]
m in adversative conjunctions, [314] ff.;
case-ending, [382]
ma, maar, [314] f.
Madvig, [84], [433]
magis, mais, [314] f.
makeshift languages, [232] ff.
mamma, [154] ff.
man and woman, [142], [237] ff.
Mauritius Creole, [226] ff.
meaning, delimitation of, [118] f.;
words of opposite meaning, [120];
words with several meanings, [121];
shifting of meaning, [174];
cf. [semantic changes]
meaningless gibberish, [149] f.;
singing, [436]
Meillet, [55], [198] f.
memory, children’s, [143]
men, [315]
mental states, words for, [401]
Meringer, [162] f., [280], [291]
metanalysis, [173]
metaphors, [431]
metathesis, [108], [281]
Meyer-Benfey, [256]
milk, [158]
Misteli, [79]
misunderstandings, [282], [286] f., [319]
mixed languages, [191] ff.
modern languages, study of, [68];
compared with ancient, [322] ff.
Möller, H., [139], [308], [382]
mon, [358]
monosyllabic languages, [36], [367] ff.
month, [318]
moods, [380]
moon, [318]
mother, [155], [318]
mother-tongue, [146]
movement, words denoting, [399]
mountains, linguistic changes in, [256] f.
mouth-filling words, [403]
Müller, Friedrich, [79], [338]
Müller, Max, [88] ff., [414]
Murray, [269]
mutation, [37], [46]
mutilation of lips, [256];
of words, [266]
my, [384] f.
-n in mine, [384] f.
names of relations, [118];
proper, [439]
nasalis sonans, [92], [317] f.
national psychology, [258]
negation, [136];
redundant, [352]
neo-grammarians, see [young-grammarians]
new languages, [180] ff.
Noiré, [415]
nominal forms, [337] ff.;
concord, [348] ff.
number in verbs, [335];
in pronouns, [347];
in nouns, [129], [349], [355], [385], [394] f.
numerals, [119];
borrowed, [211];
in succession, [281];
distinct for various classes, [430]
nursery language, [179]
nut, [311]
o original in Aryan, [52], [91]
old languages compared with modern, [322] ff.
on, [287]
oncle, [271] n.
onomatopœia, [150], [313], [398] ff.
opposite meaning, [120]
order of words, see [word-order]
organism, language as an, [7], [65]
organs of speech, used for other purposes, [278];
development, [416], [436]
orient, [175]
origin of language, [26] ff., [61], [412] ff.;
of grammatical elements, [367] ff.
Osthoff, [93]
ox, oxen, [385]
palatal law, [90] f.
Panini, [20]
pap, [158]
papa, [154] ff.
parenthesizing, [350] f.
passive, Scandinavian, [50], [377];
Latin, [50], [381]
patter, [407]
Paul, [94] f., [162]
periods of rapid change, [259]
personal forms in verbs, [53], [335], [383]
pet-names, [108], [169]
philology, [64] f., [97]
phonetic laws, see [sound changes], [sound laws]
Pidgin-English, [221] ff.
pittance, [408]
Plato, [19], [396]
playfulness, [148], [298] f., [432] ff.
plumbum, plummet, plunge, [313] f.
plural, see [number]
poetry, [300], [431] f.
polysynthetic, [423], [425]
pooh-pooh theory, [414]
pope, [156]
popular etymology, [122]
portmanteau words, [313]
possessive pronouns, [384] f.
prepositions, [137] f.;
borrowed, [211]
prescriptive grammar, [24]
preterit, weak, [51], [381]
primitive languages, [417] ff.
progressive tendency, [319] ff.
pronouns, [123];
borrowed, [212];
possessive, [384];
French, [422]
proper names, [436]
prosiopesis, [273]
Proto-Aryan, [80] f., [90] f.
punning phrases, [300]
pupil, [157]
puppet, [157]
Pușcariu, [205]
question, [137];
word-order and auxiliaries, [357] ff.
quick, [407]
r in Latin passive, [381];
sound of r weakened, [244];
r- and n- stems, [339], [390]
race and language, [75];
race-mixture, [201] ff.
rapidity of change, [259]
Rapp, [68] ff.
Rask, [36] ff., [43], [46]
rational, everything originally r., [316]
reaction against change, [293]
reconstruction, [80] ff., [317]
reduplication, [109], [169]
relationship between languages, [38], [53];
terms of, [117], [154] ff.
right, [180]
roll, [374], [408]
Romanic languages, [202], [205] f., [234] ff., [260];
future, [378]
root-determinatives, [311]
roots, [52], [367] ff., [373] ff.
Rousseau, [26]
s in passive, [50], [377], [381];
case-ending, [213], [381] ff.;
in English plural, [214];
in Russian and Spanish, [266];
Latin disappears, [362]
Sandfeld, [215]
Sanskrit, [33], [67];
vowels, [52], [90] f.;
consonants, [90] f., [196];
drama, [241] f.
savages, languages of, [417], [426] ff.
saving of effort, of space, of time, [264]
Scandinavian influence on English, [212], [214];
passive, [50], [377];
article, [378]
Scherer, [96]
Schlegel, A. W., [36]
Schlegel, F., [34] f.
Schleicher, [71] ff.
Schuchardt, [191], [213], [219], [267]
scorn, words expressive of, [401]
Scotch, [193] n.
screaming, [103]
secondary echoism, [406]
secret languages, [149] f.
secretion, [384] ff.
semantic changes, [174] f., [274] ff.
Semitic, [36], [52]
sentences, [133];
the earliest, [439] ff.;
sentence stress, [272]
separative linguistics, [67]
seqw-, [306] f.
sex, [146], [237] ff.;
cf. gender
shifters, [123]
shortening, [328] f.;
cf. [stump-words]
signification, how apprehended, [113] ff.;
cf. [semantic changes]
significative sounds preserved, [267] f., [271], [287]
similarities cause confusion, [120] f.
simplification, [332] ff.
singing, [420], [432] ff.
slang, [247], [299] f.
small, words for, [402]
smile, [278]
so, [250]
Société de Linguistique, [96], [412]
son, E., [120], [286]
songs, primitive, [420], [432] ff.
sound changes, passim;
see especially [161] ff., [191] ff., [242] ff., [255] ff.
sound laws, [93];
in children, [106] f.;
extension and metamorphosis, [290];
destructive, [289];
spreading, [291];
in the science of etymology, [295] ff.
sound-shift, Gothonic, see [consonant-shift]
special terms in primitive speech, [429] ff.
speed of utterance, [258]
spelling pronunciations, [294]
splitting, see [differentiation]
Spoonerism, [280]
stable and unstable sounds, [199] f.
Steinthal, [79], [87]
strengthening of sounds, [404] f.
stress, Aryan, [93];
Gothonic, [195];
nature and influence of, [271] ff.
stumm, [311]
stump-words, [108], [169] f.
substantive, see [nominal] and [flexion]
substratum theory, [191] ff.
subtraction, [173]
suffixes, origin, [376] f.;
extension, [386] f.;
tainting, [388]
suggestiveness, [408];
cf. [symbolism]
suppletivwesen, [426]
Sweet, [97], [161], [264]
syllables, number of, [330]
symbolism, [396] ff.
syntax, [66], [95];
foreign influence, [214];
blends, [282];
simplification, [340]
synthetic languages, [36], [334] ff., [421] f.
ta, [159]
tabu, [239] ff., [431]
tainting of suffixes, [388]
tata, [158]
-teer, suffix, [388]
Telugu, [301]
tempo, [258]
Teutonic, see [Gothonic]
th becomes f, v, [167]
they for he or she, [347]
this and that, [403]
Thomson, [90] n., [267], [427]
threshold, under the, [138]
ti, [358] f.
time, a child’s conception of, [120]
tone, [111];
in Chinese, [369], [370];
in Danish dialect, [371];
in primitive languages, [419]
Tooke, Horne, [49]
translation-loans, [215]
translators introduce foreign words, [210]
tripos, [115]
twins having separate language, [185] f.
u, French, [192] ff.;
English, [290] f.
umlaut, [37]
understanding, a baby’s, [113] f.
units of language, [422]
value, influence on phonetic development, [266] ff.
verb, substantive, [48];
flexional forms, [130];
simplification, [332] ff.;
concord, [335]
verbal character of roots, [374] f.
Verner, [93];
Verner’s Law, [195], [197] f.
vocabulary, extent of, [124] ff.;
in primitive speech, [429]
voicing of consonants, in Gothonic and English, [198];
symbolic, [405]
vowel-harmony, [280]
vowels, number of Aryan, [44], [52], [91]
vulgar speech, [261], [299]
wars, influence on language, [260]
weak preterit, [51], [381]
weakening of words, [266]
Wessely, [197]
Wheeler, [293]
Whitney, [88], [323], [367]
Windisch, [208]
women as language teachers, [142];
women’s language, [237] ff.
word, what constitutes one, [125], [422] f.
word-division, [132], [173] f.
word-formation, [131];
cf. [invention], [suffixes]
word-order, [344] ff., [355] ff.;
in Chinese, [369] ff.
worthless words or sounds, [266] ff.
Wundt, [98], [258]
yesterday, [120]
yo-he-ho theory, [415]
you for I, [124]
young-grammarians, [93]
Zulu, see [Bantu]

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[FOOTNOTES]

[1] See his essay on Herder’s “Ursprung der sprache” in Modern Philology, 5. 117 (1907).

[2] It dates back to Vulcanius, 1597; see Streitberg, IF 35. 182.

[3] I have given a life of Rask and an appraisement of his work in the small volume Rasmus Rask (Copenhagen, Gyldendal, 1918). See also Vilh. Thomsen, Samlede afhandlinger, 1. 47 ff. and 125 ff. A good and full account of Rask’s work is found in Raumer, Gesch.; cf. also Paul, Gr. Recent short appreciations of his genius may be read in Trombetti, Come si fa la critica, 1907, p. 41, Meillet, LI, p. 415, Hirt, Idg, pp. 74 and 578.