Page:Essays on the Chinese Language (1889).djvu/143

Rh The old writers on grammar could not away with these ejaculations and imitations, which had no accidence whatever and could not properly be counted among the "parts of speech." Even their place in a sentence could not be defined. Nay more, they could not properly be called articulate human speech, but were rather of a kind with the calls and cries of the brute creation, — as though that were aught to their shame. Now, on the other hand, they are in danger of being raised to an importance beyond their merits, and of having to bear too heavy a burden. For some will have it that in these rude cries and mimicking sounds all human speech had its root and beginning, maintaining that man passed from a mute condition to this stage of ejaculations and imitations, and thence by a gradual improvement to artistic speech of various degrees. But whether we take this view, or hold rather with those who teach that the origin of language is to be found in a few abstract roots created by reflection, or adopt a theory intermediate between these, we cannot deny that Emotional and Imitative utterances are important elements in the formation and development of language. It must at least be conceded that they are the immediate source from which a large part of the vocabulary of most dialects flows, and that they yield these some of their most noteworthy and forcible expressions.

The Chinese language is very rich in these nature-sounds and "vocal-gestures" which abound not only in the common talk of the people but also in the popular literature and in the writings of poets and philosophers. They are, however, regarded by the native scholar generally as worthy of nothing more than a passing notice or a terse definition. When he meets one in a book on which he is commenting, he is content to give merely a short explanation of what he conceives to be or what he has been taught is its use or meaning in the passage. He has certain loose classifications for these natural vocal expressions, and distinguishes them somewhat fitfully as "empty characters," as aids to expression, as popular terms, or as sounds indicative of, or imitating or otherwise recalling natural phenomena. The