Page:The New International Encyclopædia 1st ed. v. 06.djvu/235

* DIAL. 197 DIALECT. the opposite meridian, and would thus show the time at London and at all other places on the same meridians as London. If the sphere were •cut through the middle by a plane in the horizon of London, and if .straight lines were drawn from the centre of the plane to the points where its circumference is cut by the hour-circles of the sphere, those lines would be the liour-lines of a horizontal dial for London: for the shadow of the axis would fall upon each particular hour- line of the dial when it foil ujion the like hour circle of the sphere. Similarly, if we sup- pose the sphere cut by tiny other plane facing the meridian, the hour-circles of the sphere wfli cut the edge of the plane in those points to which the hour-lines must be drawn straight from the centre, and the axis of the sphere will pass a shadow on these lines at the respective hours. The like will hold in general of any plane, wheth- er it face the meridian or not. The positions on the dial plane of the several hour-lines can bo calculated if ^^'e know the latitude of the place where the dial is to be used and the position of its plane relatively to the horizon and meridian. The unirersal dialinp ci/lindcr, an invention of Ferguson's, is a glass cylindrical tube closed at, both ends with brass plates, on the centres of which a wire axis is fixed. The tube is either fixed to a horizontal board at an angle equal to the latitude of the place, or moves on a joint, so that it may be elevated till its axis is parallel to the earth's at any latitude. The twenty-four hour-lines are drawn on the outside of the glass, equidistant from one another and parallel to the axis. The XII on the upper side of the cyl- inder stands for midnight ; the XII next the board for noon. When the axis is adjusted for the latitude and the board leveled, with both XII noon and midnight in the plane of the meridian, and the end toward the north, the axis, when the sun shines, will serve as stile, and cast a shadow on the hour of the day among the parallel hour-lines. As the plate at the upper extremity of the cylinder is perpendicular to its axis and parallel to the equator, right lines drawn from the centre to the extremities of the parallels will be the hour-lines of an equinoctial dial, and the axis will be the stile. A horizontal plate, if put into the tube, with lines drawn from the centre to the several parallels cutting its edge, will be a horizontal dial for the given latitude; and similarly, a vertical plate front- ing the meridian and touching the tube with its edge, with lines drawn from its centre to the parallels, will be a vertical south dial, the axis of the instrument in both cases serving for the stile, and similarly for any other plate placed in the cylinder. If. instead of being of glass, the cylinder were of wood, any of these dials might be obtained from it by simply cutting it in the planes of the plates and drawing the lines on the surface of the section. DIALECT (Lat. dialect us, from Gk. iidy.enroc, diali'l:tos. dialect, discourse, from Sia/.h/eadm, dialegesthai, to converse, from Sii, dia, through ■i ^(yeiv,Irriein, to say). The name dialect is given to those varieties or peculiar forms which a language assumes among the various tribes or other local divisions of a people. It is clear that the wider the separation comes to be between the several tribes, and the more they dilTer in mode of life and other circumstances, the more marked will become the dilTerenccs of dialect. -Vlso, when a particular tribe of this people in- crea.ses in numbers and extends its territory, the same process is repeate<l, and its dialect is l)rok- cn into a nunil)cr of sub-dialects. The principal dicck upon this tendency to seemingly endless subdivision of language is furnished by an in- creasing degree of common culture and civiliza- tion. Where this is wanting, as in Africa and among the native populations of America, the sulxlivision is practically endless. - (j(lier clement is introduced into the problem by the fact that the civilization of some tribes develo])s more richly and ripens earlier than that of others, while some even undergo decline; this must occasion corresponding differences of dja- lect. Further, one dialect may become dominant over one or more of the others, through various influences, the chief of these being the power of poetry, especially if favored by external rela- tions. Finally, if to superior manifestations of oratory and poetry in any dialect, the conserva- tive aid of writing be added, there is created a written language: and this passes current among other tribes to the same extent that the litera- ture of which it is the vehicle finds favor. It is not always the dialect most perfect in itself, nor yet that of the most powerful tribe or division of a people, that comes to be the written langiuige. Accidental circumstances have in many cases decided the rivalry. The Bible happened to be translated by a High German, Luther, into his native dialect ; other works on the all-engross- ing subject of religion followed in the same dia- lect ; happily, too, the art of printing had just attained the perfection necessary to give these productions general circulation. It was this con- currence of circumstances that decided that High German should in future be the spiritual bond between the widespread German people. For there were other dialects whose claims to the distinction were at that time equal, if not higher. See also Exglisii Laxgu.^ce. When a dialect has thus become the vehicle of written communication, and of the higlier kinds of oral address, its character and position become changed, and it stands henceforth in a sort of antagonism to the other dialects, and even to that out of which it sprang. As written lan- guage is chiefly employed in the higher depart- ments of human thought and activity, the intel- lectual and moral elements predominate in it over the sensible; and what it gains in dignity, precision, and pliancy, it loses in richness of in- flection, in friendly familiarity, and naturalness. In conflict with this standard speech, the dialects must go to the wall. They live for a considerable time, it is true, even in the mouth of the ed>i- catcd classes, but they are gradually more and more confined to the most necessary and familiar forms of intercourse, and lose their characteris- tics in the stream of the written hmguage. They thus become, after a time, the ex<'lu-ivc posses- sion of the illiterate, in which position they pre- serve many relics of old grammatical forms long after these have disappeared from the language of literature. But so long as a language lives, the literary standard and the dialects never ceaso to act and react on one another. The chief points of difference between dialects and the standard tongue fall under four heads. The first consists of differences in the elementary sounds, each dialect having a. tendency to substi- tute some one or more vowels or consonants