Page:Ralcy H. Bell - The Mystery of Words (1924).pdf/166

 Again, in amalgamated groups the parts produce no separate impression on the mind. The blend formed by association of one with another is so old that it is conceived as an amalgam. It is only when these groups are compared with similar groups of another tongue that one realizes their composite nature. Thus the amalgamated group has a solidarity of meaning; but its meaning, like that of a single word, may be modified according to the same principle that permits modification of the other.

Further, word-meanings are influenced by their positional relationships. Disregarding the loss of inflections and other grammatical shrinkages, the order of construction that fixes the positional relations of words in a sentence has, during more recent times of linguistic history, established values that can not be ignored in the study of meanings.

The science of significations enables us to retain the spiritual unity of a tongue despite the confusion wrought by phonetic and mor-