Page:Essays on the Chinese Language (1889).djvu/29

Rh however, treats them as roots, for his first stage of language is that in which "Roots may be used as words, each root preserving its full independence" and this stage is "best represented by ancient Chinese." The difference in opinion here seems to be partly due to the fact that the writers attach to the word Root meanings which are to a great extent unlike and incompatible.

The thoroughly monosyllabic character of the Chinese language has also been called in question by some. Remusat was apparently the first to do this, but his arguments have been long ago refuted, aadand [sic] he has been followed by only a few. A living sinologist, Dr. W. Grube, is disposed to take the living language of China out of the category of Isolating and Monosyllabic. He thinks that it, like Tibetan and the Burmese and other Indo-Chinese languages, has a middle place between isolating and agglutinating. The classical and anti-classicalante-classical [sic] language of China, Grube regards as composed of monosyllables, but these, he thinks, are not of a primitive nature.

It is generally admitted, however, that the morphological basis is not a good or sufficient one for a system of classification which will apply to all languages. More particularly the threefold distribution of languages, as Isolating, Agglutinating, and Inflecting, and the theory of progression founded on it, have led to serious errors concerning the history and character of languages.

There remain now to be considered some of the opinions which have been formed by Western critics on the Chinese language written and spoken, when judged by its contents and general character. The questions to be answered here are of a rather vague and general character, and they do not admit of precise treatment and uniform interpretation. We are to enquire whether Chinese has been found and declared to be rich or poor in its store of words and phrases to express the spiritual and material wants of the people. Compared as an instrument of thought with other languages, does it seem to do its work in a rude or inartistic manner, or does it seem to perform its functions