Page:The study of living languages (IA studyoflivinglan00cott).pdf/16

{|style="width:100%" Now, if we consider these things we shall perceive that the study of the dead languages and that of the living language of semi-civilized and barbarous nations are almost diametrically opposed in respect of the objects to be attained. The points that are essential in the one are either non-essential, or of no importance whatever, in the order and vice versa. A man may talk a language most fluently, correctly, and usefully, for all the ordinary business of life, without knowing the character, without being able to quote a single line of grammar, without the knowledge of half or three-fourths of the vocabulary of a language, and without any facility in comprehending the involved sentences of formal writings of learned men; while, without an accurate pronunciation, an ample acquaintance with the common colloquial expressions of uneducated people, and a most free and ready use of them, so that strangers can readily catch his words and comprehend his meaning, and without an ear thoroughly exercised in the sounds of the language, so as at once to recognise what is spoken by a native, he has been entirely missed his object, though he may know every word in the language and every rule of grammar, and be able to write an elegant essay without a mistake. Books of history &c. do not furnish us with the expressions of ordinary conversation. Every country has its own peculiar forms and they must be learnt immediately; no rules can be given by which a student, who knows the words and grammar, can invent them himself. In semi-civilized countries, where not one in a hundred has read books, there is a large proportion of the words, which are never used in conversation on ordinary matters, and which therefore are so far from being of any use to the great mass of those who have to acquire the language that they are always in his way, if he has learnt them, leading him to express himself in words not in common use, and consequently unknown to most of those with whom he has to communicate. So far therefore from it being sufficient to follow the ideas which
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