Page:Language and the Study of Language.djvu/368

346 broad band across the continent at its widest part, from Cape Verde on the north nearly to the equator on the south, and eastward to the upper waters of the Nile, is filled with dialects not reckoned as South-African, although possessing a structure in many respects accordant with that which we have just described. Conspicuous among them are the Fulah or Fellatah, the Mandingo, and the tongues of Bornu and Darfur. How far they admit of being grouped together as a single family, and what may be the value of their general structural correspondence with the other great African family, must be left for future researches to determine. One of them, the Vei, has an alphabet of its own, of native invention.

Throughout nearly the whole of northern and central Africa, Arabic influence has for some time past been rapidly spreading, carrying with it a certain degree of civilization, the Mohammedan religion, the Koran, and some knowledge and use of the Arabic language. It is only in this quarter of the world that Semitic faith and speech still continue aggressive.

There remains for consideration, of the recognized great families of human language, only that one which occupies the continent of North and South America. Of this, also, we must renounce all attempt at detailed treatment; it is a theme too vast and complicated to be dealt with otherwise than very summarily within our necessary limits. The conditions of the linguistic problem presented by the American languages are exceedingly perplexing, for the same reason as those presented by the Polynesian and African dialects, and in a yet higher degree. The number, variety, and changeableness of the different tongues is wonderful. Dialectic division is carried to its extreme among them; the isolating and diversifying tendencies have had full course, with little counteraction from the conserving and assimilating forces. The continent seems ever to have been peopled by a congeries of petty tribes, incessantly at warfare, or standing off from one another in jealous and suspicious seclusion. Certain striking exceptions, it is true, are present to the mind of every one. Mexico, Central America, and Peru, at the time