THE ACQUISITION OF LANGUAGE.

In accomplishing the great business of education, as in effecting any great work, it is necessary at the outset to inquire, first, what we have to do. Secondly, what are the most efficient and expeditious means of accomplishing our object.

In the work of education, the first great object to be attained is plainly, the proper development and discipline of the mental powers. How this can best be effected, is to the educator of the deaf-mute mind the question of paramount importance. If, however, in view of the peculiar difficulties that have to be encountered in the education of the deaf and dumb, it be inquired what we have chiefly to do, we are ready to say to teach them language: this is to educate the deaf and dumb, and vice versâ—to educate them is to teach them language. What then is language? and what is mind? and what is mental development? (for in discoursing intelligently and intelligibly upon a subject, the first thing to be attained unto is a right understanding of the terms we use.)

Language, then, we define to be any medium of communicating thought from mind to mind. But the language of pantomime and signs is to the deaf and dumb an abundantly intelligible means of communicating thought. This, however, being to them a vernacular language, is not the branch of language which we have to teach them, albeit we may benefit them by restricting and correcting their mode of using it. The particular form of language which we have to teach the deaf and dumb is written or visible alphabetic language,-grammatical discourse, expressing, in the words, sentences and idiomatic phrases of the language of

the country in which they reside, the things and their relations with which they have to do. Mind is the intellect of man.

It is preeminently that which we have to awaken, train and instruct, in the education of the deaf and dumb. And, what is intellectual development? Whatever it be, or whatever it be not in other departments of education, we hasten to say: In the education of the deaf and dumb, it is the acquisition of language. To teach the deaf-mute a perfect knowledge of written language is to develope that mind to its utmost. To educate the deaf and dumb is to teach them language.

We are here met by the question, How does the mind acquire the knowledge of language? In treating of the operations of the mind, we can only trace those operations by observing the use which it makes of the senses.

A learned writer on language has defined it to be "the faculty which God has given to men of communicating their perceptions and ideas to one another, its signification being extended to every mode by which ideas may be made to pass from mind to mind. In further speaking of the manner in which language is appropriated to the use of the mind, under the different forms of spoken and written language, this writer remarks thus: "Philologists call the communication of ideas by writing, written language in contradistinction to language properly so called, which they denominate spoken language. It is certain that ideas may be communicated by signs, representative of sounds, which word representative must not, however, be taken literally, because there is no point of contact between the sense of seeing and that of hearing. All that can be said, is that by tacit convention certain visible signs are made to awaken in the mind the idea of certain audible sounds, which sounds by another tacit agreement awaken the ideas of physical objects, or of moral perceptions. Thus the eye operates on the mind through the medium of the ear; but the process is so rapid that it is not perceived at the time, and writing may be said to be even a quicker mode of communication than speech, for the eye can run over and the mind comprehend the sense of a page of a printed book, in a much shorter space of time than the words which it contains can be articulated. Still the passage of ideas from the eye to the

mind is not immediate; the spoken words are interposed between, but the immortal mind of man that knows neither time nor space, does not perceive them in its rapid flight, and by this we may form some faint idea of what the operations of the soul will be when freed from the shackles of our perishable frames."

All this is very beautiful, philological, metaphysical, learned, true, but it relates to the mature operations of the mind. It tells us glibly how the mind can act after it has fully accomplished the acquisition of language. It affords us, indeed, an admirable and an encouraging view of the degree of expertness and rapidity to which the mind is capable of attaining, in the use of the instruments of communication with which nature has provided us. But it refers to a stage of mental action far in advance of that with which we have now to do. Our present task is to endeavor to show how the mind proceeds in its incipient steps, in its early efforts of action while attempting to operate under "the shackles of our perishable frames."

It may not be amiss from our purpose here, for the sake of testing the power of language, and showing the use which it serves in developing and bringing into use the mental powers, to inquire, what would be the condition of the mind attempting to perform its operations, without the knowledge and use of conventional language. We reason thus: the mind being wholly spiritual in its nature is dependent entirely upon the senses of the body in communing with the material world. For all knowledge of the appearance, color and shape of objects, it depends upon the experience of the eye; for all perception of sound, upon the ear; for knowledge of weight, size, smoothness, roughness, density, cold, heat, &c., upon the effect of such qualities upon the nerves and muscles when the body has to encounter, take hold of, carry and deal with objects possessing those qualities, i. e., upon the sense of feeling; for all knowledge of those properties of bodies that affect the taste, as sweetness, sourness, bitterness, &c., upon the experience of the tongue, or the organs of taste; for odor upon the olfactory nerves, the organ of smelling. This is, of course, all very true, and very commonly said. We now remark it for the purpose of tracing the connection of sensation and perception with the acquisition and use of language. We

will suppose an intelligent person in the full exercise of all his powers, mental and bodily, to be entirely destitute of all knowledge of language. This we may consider to be an impossibility, for without language it would not be possible for the mind to become at all extensively developed, but for the sake of argument we will suppose the case. What ideas of things, their properties and their relations, could a mind thus situated contain? Certainly they could be nothing more than memories or remembrances of impressions or perceptions. In what way could a person so situated proceed to express to another person one of his ideas? He has no name for it. He has never expressed it by name, even to himself. He has no significant emblem or representative of the idea. How can he express it? To a person thus situated, the only available means of communicating his ideas would be gesture or natural imitative action, which we call pantomime. If he attempt to give an account of actions that he has performed, he must perform a complete repetition of them. If he attempt to describe the effect of actions that were performed by others upon him, he can do it only by replacing himself in the same, or similar circumstances, and receiving, or seeming to receive, the same actions. If he attempt to describe the properties of objects that he has seen, or with which he is familiar, he must show the effect that those properties have produced upon him. In an intelligent, active child, just beginning to express his wants, wishes and ideas, we find a realization of the above supposed case, except the developed mind. We here find pantomime subserving a most important use, viz, that of a sort of stepping-stone from a condition of entire destitution of all knowledge of conventional, oral or written language up towards the complete knowledge of it and all kinds of abstractions. This is a fact of which experienced instructors of the deaf and dumb are well aware, though one which many learned and philosophical men fail to perceive, viz, that the initiatory process of learning language is always in pantomime or indicative action. Without the use of it the infantile mind could never be initiated into a knowledge of the meaning of spoken language. This results necessarily from the purely arbitrary and conventional character of oral or alphabetical language.

But to return to our question. How does the mind acquire a

knowledge of conventional language? By precisely the same process with which it proceeds in obtaining its acquaintance with the whole material world, viz: by a continued course of repeated and reiterated sensations and perceptions. The signs for the ideas, audible and visible, being addressed to the sense of hearing or sight, each individual impression upon the organ of sense addressed, produces a distinct mental perception, which the memory retains; each repeated impression of the sign rendering the remembrance of it more and more perfect until the sound or sight of it instantly recalls to the mind the idea of the thing expressed. To illustrate this we will take any single object and its name, for instance, a tree. We will suppose the learner to be a little child who has not yet learned this name, or a foreigner beginning to learn the English language. The sound of the word tree, when first pronounced in the hearing of such a learner, conveys to his mind no idea. It is simply an audible sound. The object is indicated, and in connection with its indication, the name is pronounced. The learner heard the sound, and with his vocal organs imitates it. Perception of the object in connection with the sound of its name takes place in the mind of the learner. This process is repeated until such a familiarity with this connection is acquired as enables him to associate instantly the name of the object with the sight of it, or vice versâ, the idea of the object with the sound of its name.

In learning the audible names of all objects, and ideas perceived by the several senses, a similar process takes place. The rapidity of the progress, other circumstances being favorable, depends upon the frequency of the repetition of the impressions.

We have thus far explained the process of learning language by the ear. Let us now enquire how the knowledge of written language is acquired by one who has learned vocal language. We will take for example again the word tree. With the sound of this name the learner is perfectly familiar, so that it instantly reminds him of the object. Let the word tree be written and presented to his sight. Will the sight of the word reach his understanding? Surely not. Let him be taught to pronounce the several letters, t-r-e-e. Will he then comprehend its meaning?