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William S. Balch - Lectures on Language

W >> William S. Balch >> Lectures on Language




After suffering under this anathema some time, Gallileo, by the advice
of his friends, consented to make a public abjuration of his former
heresies on the laws of motion. Kneeling before the "Most Eminent and
Most Reverend Lords Cardinals, General Inquisitors of the universal
Christian republic, against _heretical depravity_, having before his
eyes the Holy Gospels," he swears that he always "_believed_, and now
_believes_, and with the help of God, _will in future believe_, every
article which the Holy Catholic Church of Rome holds, teaches, and
preaches"--that he does altogether "abandon the false opinion which
maintains that the 'sun is the center of the world, and that the earth
is _not_ the center and _movable_,' that with a sincere heart and
unfeigned faith, he abjures, curses, and detests the said errors and
heresies, and every other error and sect contrary to the said Holy
Church, and that he will never more in future, say or assert any thing
verbally, or in writing, which may give rise to similar suspicion." As
he arose from his knees, it is said, he whispered to a friend standing
near him, "_E pur si muove_"--=it does move, tho=.

In our times we are not fated to live under the terrors of the
Inquisition; but prejudice, if not as strong in power to execute, has
the ability to blind as truly as in other ages, and keep us from the
knowledge and adoption of practical improvements. And it is the same
philosophy now, which _asks_ if _inanimate matter can act_, which
_demanded_ of Gallileo if this ponderous globe could fly a thousand
miles in a minute, and no body feel the motion; and with Deacon
Homespun, in the dialogue, "why, if this world turned upside down, the
water did not spill from the mill ponds, and all the people fall
headlong to the bottomless pit?"

If there are any such peripatetics in these days of light and science,
who still cling to the false and degrading systems of neutrality,
because they are honorable for age, or sustained by learned and good
men, and who will oppose all improvement, reject without examination,
or, what is still worse, refuse to adopt, after being convinced of the
truth of it, any system, because it is novel, an innovation upon
established forms, I can only say of them, in the language of Micanzio,
the Venetian friend of Gallileo--"The efforts of such enemies to get
these principles prohibited, will occasion no loss either to your
reputation, or to the intelligent part of the world. As to posterity,
this is just one of the surest ways to hand them down to them. But what
a wretched set this must be, to whom every good thing, and _all that is
found in nature_, necessarily appears hostile and odious."




LECTURE X.

ON VERBS.

A philosophical axiom.--Manner of expressing action.--Things taken
for granted.--Simple facts must be known.--Must never deviate from
the truth.--Every _cause_ will have an _effect_.--An example of an
intransitive verb.--Objects expressed or implied.--All language
eliptical.--Intransitive verbs examined.--I run.--I walk.--To
step.--Birds fly.--It rains.--The fire burns.--The sun shines.--To
smile.--Eat and drink.--Miscellaneous examples.--Evils of false
teaching.--A change is demanded.--These principles apply
universally.--Their importance.


We have made some general remarks on the power, cause, and means,
necessary in the production of action. We now approach nearer to the
application of these principles as observed in the immediate _agency_
and _effects_ which precede and follow action, and as connected with the
verb.

It is an axiom in philosophy which cannot be controverted, that every
_effect_ is the product of a prior _cause_, and that every _cause_ will
necessarily produce a corresponding _effect_. This fact has always
existed and will forever remain unchanged. It applies universally in
physical, mental, and moral science; to God or man; to angels or to
atoms; in time or thro eternity. No language can be constructed which
does not accord with it, for no ideas can be gained but by an observance
of its manifestations in the material or spiritual universe. The manner
of _expressing_ this cause and effect may differ in different nations or
by people of the same nation, but the fact remains unaltered, and so
far as understood the idea is the same. In the case of the horse
mentioned in a former lecture,[12] the idea was the same, but the manner
of expressing it different. Let that horse _walk_, _lay_ down, _roll_
over, _rise_ up, _shake_ himself, _rear_, or _stand_ still, all present
will observe the same attitude of the horse, and will form the same
ideas of his positions. Some will doubtless inquire more minutely into
the _cause_ and _means_ by which these various actions are produced,
what muscles are employed, what supports are rendered by the bones; and
the whole regulated by the will of the horse, and their conclusions may
be quite opposite. But this has nothing to do with the obvious fact
expressed by the words above; or, more properly, it is not necessary to
enter into a minute detail of these minor considerations, these secret
springs of motion, in order to relate the actions of the horse. For were
we to do this we should be required to go back, step by step, and find
the causes still more numerous, latent, and perplexing. The pursuit of
causes would lead us beyond the mere organization of the horse, his
muscular energy, and voluntary action; for gravitation has no small
service to perform in the accomplishment of these results; as well as
other principles. Let gravitation be removed, and how could the horse
_lay_ down? He could _roll_ over as well in the air as upon the ground.
But the particular notice of these things is unnecessary in the
construction of language to express the actions of the horse; for he
stands as the obvious _agent_ of the whole, and the _effects_ are seen
to follow--the _horse_ is laid down, _his body_ is rolled over, _the
fore part_ of it is _reared up_, _himself_ is shaken, and the whole
_feat_ is produced by the direction of his master.

Allow me to recal an idea we considered in a former lecture. I said no
action as such could be known distinct from the thing which acts; that
action as such is not perceptible, and that all things act, according to
the ability they possess. To illustrate this idea: Take a magnet and
lower it down over a piece of iron, till it attracts it to itself and
holds it suspended there. If you are not in possession of a magnet you
can make one at your pleasure, by the following process. Lay your knife
blade on a flat iron, or any hard, smooth surface; let another take the
old tongs or other iron which have stood erect for a considerable length
of time, and draw it upon the blade for a minute or more. A magnetic
power will be conveyed from the tongs to the blade sufficient to take up
a common needle. The tongs themselves may be manufactured into a most
perfect magnet. Now as the knife _holds_ the needle suspended beneath it
you perceive there must be an action, a power, and cause exerted beyond
our comprehension. Let the magnetic power be extracted from the blade,
and the needle will drop to the floor. A common unmagnetized blade will
not _raise_ and _hold_ a needle as this does. How those tongs come in
possession of such astonishing power; by what process it is there
retained; the power and means of transmission of a part of it to the
knife blade, and the reason of the phenomena you now behold--an
inanimate blade drawing to itself and there holding this needle
suspended--will probably long remain unknown to mortals. But that such
are the facts, incontestibly true, none will deny, for the evidence is
before us. Now fix your attention on that needle. There is an active and
_acting_ principle in that as well as in the magnetized blade; for the
blade will not attract a splinter of wood, of whalebone, or piece of
glass, tho equal in size and weight. It will have no operation on them.
Then it is by a sort of mutual affinity, a reciprocity of attachment,
between the blade and needle, that this phenomena is produced.

To apply this illustration you have only to reverse the case--turn the
knife and needle over--and see all things attracted to the earth by the
law of gravitation, a principle abiding in all matter. All that renders
the exhibition of the magnet curious or wonderful is that it is an
uncommon condition of things, an apparent counteraction of the regular
laws of nature. But we should know that the same sublime principle is
constantly operating thro out universal nature. Let that be suspended,
cease its active operations for a moment, and our own earth will be
decomposed into particles; the sun, moon and stars will dissolve and
mingle with the common dust; all creation will crumble into atoms, and
one vast ocean of darkness and chaos will fill the immensity of space.

Are you then prepared to deny the principles for which we are
contending? I think you will not; but accede the ground, that such being
the fact, true in nature, language, correctly explained, is only the
medium by which the ideas of these great truths, may be conveyed from
one mind to another, and must correspond therewith. If language is the
sign of ideas, and ideas are the impressions of things, it follows of
necessity, that no language can be employed unless it corresponds with
these natural laws, or first principles. The untutored child cannot talk
of these things, nor comprehend our meaning till clearly explained to
it. But some people act as tho they thought children must first acquire
a knowledge of words, and then begin to learn what such words mean.
This is putting the "cart before the horse."

Much, in this world, is to be taken for granted. We can not enter into
the minutiae of all we would express, or have understood. We go upon the
ground that other people know something as well as we, and that they
will exercise that knowledge while listening to our relation of some new
and important facts. Hence it is said that "brevity is the soul of wit."
But suppose you should talk of surds, simple and quadratic equations,
diophantine problems, and logarithms, to a person who knows nothing of
proportion or relation, addition or subtraction. What would they know
about your words? You might as well give them a description in Arabic or
Esquimaux. They must first learn the simple rules on which the whole
science of mathematics depends, before they can comprehend a
dissertation on the more abstruse principles or distant results. So
children must learn to observe things as they are, in their simplest
manifestations, in order to understand the more secret and sublime
operations of nature. And our language should always be adapted to their
capacities; that is, it should agree with their advancement. You may
talk to a zealot in politics of religion, the qualities of forbearance,
candor, and veracity; to the enthusiast of science and philosophy; to
the bigot of liberality and improvement; to the miser of benevolence and
suffering; to the profligate of industry and frugality; to the
misanthrope of philanthropy and patriotism; to the degraded sinner of
virtue, truth, and heaven; but what do they know of your meaning? How
are they the wiser for your instruction? You have touched a cord which
does not vibrate thro their hearts, or, phrenologically, addressed an
organ they do not possess, except in a very moderate degree, at least.
Food must be seasoned to the palates of those who use it. Milk is for
babes and strong meat for men. Our instruction must be suited to the
capacities of those we would benefit, always elevated just far enough
above them to attract them along the upward course of improvement.

But it should be remembered that evils will only result from a deviation
from truth, and that we can never be justified in doing wrong because
others have, or for the sake of meeting them half way. And yet this very
course is adopted in teaching, and children are learned to adopt certain
technical rules in grammar, not because they are _true_, but because
they are _convenient_! In fact, it is said by some, that language is an
arbitrary affair altogether, and is only to be taught and learned
mechanically! But who would teach children that _seven times seven_ are
_fifty_, and _nine times nine_ a _hundred_, and assign as a reason for
so doing, that _fifty_ and a _hundred_ are more easily remembered than
_forty-nine_ and _eighty-one_? Yet there would be as much propriety in
adopting such a principle in mathematics, as in teaching for a rule of
grammar that when an objective case comes after a verb, it is active;
but when there is none expressed, it is intransitive or neuter.

The great fault is, grammarians do not allow themselves to _think_ on
the subject of language, or if they do, they only think intransitively,
that is, produce no _thoughts_ by their cogitations.

This brings us to a more direct consideration of the subject before us.
All admit the correctness of the axiom that every effect must have a
cause, and that every cause will have an effect. It is equally true that
"_like causes will produce like effects_," a rule from which nature
itself, and thought, and language, can never deviate. It is as plain as
that two things mutually equal to each other, are equal to a third. On
this immutable principle we base our theory of the activity of all
verbs, and contend that they must have an object after them, either
expressed or _necessarily understood_. We can not yield this position
till it is proved that _causes_ can operate without producing effects,
which can never be till the order of creation is reversed! There never
was, to our knowledge, such a thing as an intransitive action, with the
solitary exception of the burning bush.[13] In that case the laws of
nature were suspended, and no effects were produced; for the _bush
burned_, but there was nothing burnt; no consequences followed to the
bush; it was not consumed. The records of the past present no instance
of like character, where effects have failed to follow, direct or more
distantly, every cause which has been set in operation.

It makes no difference whether the object of the action is expressed or
not. It is the same in either case. But where it is not necessarily
implied from the nature and fitness of things, it must be expressed, and
but for such object or effect the action could not be understood. For
example, _I run_; but if there is no effect produced, _nothing_ run, how
can it be known whether I run or not. If I write, it is necessarily
understood that I write _something_--a _letter_, a _book_, a _piece_ of
poetry, a _communication_, or some other _writing_. When such object is
not liable to be mistaken, it would be superfluous to express it--it
would be a redundancy which should be avoided by all good writers and
speakers. All languages are, in this respect, more or less eliptical,
which constitutes no small share of their beauty, power, and elegance.

This elipsis may be observed not only in regard to the objects of
verbs, but in the omission of many nouns after adjectives, which thus
assume the character of nouns; as, the Almighty, the Eternal, the
Allwise, applied to God, understood. So we say the wise, the learned,
the good, the faithful, the wicked, the vile, the base, to which, if
nouns, it would sound rather harsh to apply plurals. So we say, take
your hat off ( ); put your gloves on ( ); lay your coat off ( ); and
pull your boots on ( ); presuming the person so addressed knows enough
to fill the elipsis, and not take his hat off his back, pull his gloves
on his feet, or his boots on his head.

In pursuing this subject farther, let us examine the sample words which
are called _intransitive_ verbs, because frequently used without the
object expressed after them; such as run, walk, step, fly, rain, snow,
burn, roll, shine, smiles, &c.

"_I run._"

That here is an action of the first kind, none will deny. But it is
contended by the old systems that there is no object on which the action
terminates. If that be true then there is _nothing_ run, no effect
produced, and the first law of nature is outraged, in the very onset;
for there is a _cause_, but no _effect_; an _action_, but no _object_.
How is the fact? Have you run nothing? conveyed nothing, moved nothing
from one place to another? no change, no effect, nothing moved? Look at
it and decide. It is said that a neuter or intransitive verb may be
known from the fact that it takes after it a preposition. Try it by this
rule. "A man run _against_ a post in a dark night, and broke his neck;"
that is, he run nothing against a post--no object to run--and yet he
broke his neck. Unfortunate man!

The fact in relation to this verb is briefly this: It is used to
express the action which more usually terminates on the actor, than on
any other object. This circumstance being generally known, it would be
superfluous to mention the object, except in cases where such is not the
fact. But whenever we desire to be definite, or when there is the least
liability to mistake the object, it is invariably expressed. Instances
of this kind are numerous. "They _ran_ the _boat_ ashore." "The captain
_ran_ his _men_ to rescue them from the enemy." "They _ran_ the
_gauntlet_." "They _run_ a _stage_ to Boston." "He _ran himself_ into
discredit." "One bank _runs_ another." "The man had a hard _run_ of it."
"_Run_ the _account_ over, and see if it is right." "They _run forty
looms_ and two thousand spindles." "He _runs_ his _mill_ evenings." Such
expressions are common and correct, because they convey ideas, and are
understood.

Two men were engaged in argument. The believer in intransitive verbs set
out to _run his opponent_ into an evident absurdity, and, contrary to
his expectation, he _ran himself_ into one. Leave out the objects of
this verb, run, and the sense is totally changed. He set out to _run_
into an _evident absurdity_, and he ran into one; that is, he did the
very absurd thing which he intended to do.[14]

"_I walk._"

The action expressed by this verb is very similar in character to the
former, but rather _slower_ in performance. Writers on health tell us
that _to walk_ is a very healthy exercise, and that it would be well for
men of sedentary habits _to walk_ several miles every day. But if there
is no action in walk, or if it has no _object_ necessarily _walked_, it
would be difficult to understand what good could result from it.

"Did you have a pleasant _walk_ this morning?" says a teacher to his
grammar class.

"We did have a very pleasant one. The flowers were _blooming_ on each
side of the _walk_, and _sent_ forth their sweetest aroma, _perfuming_
the soft breezes of the morning. Birds were _flitting from_ spray to
spray, _carolling_ their hymns of praise to Deity. The tranquil waters
of the lake lay _slumbering_ in silence, and _reflected_ the bright
_rays_ of the sun, _giving_ a sweet but solemn _aspect_ to the whole
scene. _To go_ thro the grove, down by the lake, and up thro the meadow,
is the most delightful _walk_ a person can take."

"How did you get your _walk_?"

"We walked it, to be sure; how did you think we got it?"

"Oh, I did not know. _Walk_, your books tell you, is an intransitive
verb, terminating on no object; so I supposed, if you followed them, you
obtained it some other way; by _riding_, _running_, _sailing_, or, may
be, _bought_ it, as you could not have _walked it_! Were you tired on
your return?"

"We were exceedingly fatigued, for you know it is a very long _walk_,
and we _walked it_ in an hour."

"But _what_ tired you? If there are no effects produced by walking, I
can not conceive why _you_ should be fatigued by such exercise."

Who does not perceive what flagrant violations of grammar rules are
committed every day, and every hour, and in almost every sentence that
is framed to express our knowledge of facts.

_To step._

This verb is the same in character with the two just noticed. It
expresses the act of _raising_ each foot alternately, and usually
implies that the body is, by that means, conveyed from one place to
another. But as people _step_ their _feet_ and not their hands, or any
thing else, it is entirely useless to mention the object; for generally,
that can not be mistaken any more than in the case of the gloves, boots,
and hat. But it would be bad philosophy to teach children that there is
no objective word after it, because it is not written out and placed
before their eyes. They will find such teaching contradicted at every
_step_ they take. Let a believer in intransitive verbs _step_ on a red
hot iron; he will soon find to his sorrow, that he was mistaken when he
thought that he could _step_ without stepping any thing. It would be
well for grammar, as well as many other things, to have more practice
and less theory. The thief was detected by his steps. Step softly; put
your feet down carefully.

_Birds fly._

We learned from our primers, that

"The eagle's _flight_
Is out of sight,"

How did the eagle succeed in producing a _flight_? I suppose he _flew_
it. And if birds ever fly, they must produce a flight. Such being the
fact, it is needless to supply the object. But the action does not
terminate solely on the flight produced, for that is only the name given
to the action itself. The expression conveys to the mind the obvious
fact, that, by strong muscular energy, by the aid of feathers, and the
atmosphere, the bird carries itself thro the air, and changes its being
from one place to another. As birds rarely fly a race, or any thing but
_themselves_ and a _flight_, it is not necessary to suffix the object.

_It rains._

This verb is insisted on as the strongest proof of intransitive action;
with what propriety, we will now inquire. It will serve as a clear
elucidation of the whole theory of intransitive verbs.

What does the expression signify? It simply declares the fact, that
_water is shed_ down from the clouds. But is there no object after
_rains_? There is none expressed. Is there nothing rained? no effect
produced? If not, there can be no water fallen, and our cisterns would
be as empty, our streams as low, and fields as parched, after a rain as
before it! But who that has common sense, and has never been blinded by
the false rules of grammar, does not know that when _it rains_, it never
fails to _rain rain_, _water_, or _rain-water_, unless you have one of
the paddy's dry rains? When it hails, it hails _hail_, _hail-stones_, or
frozen _rain_. When it snows, it _snows snow_, sometimes two feet of it,
sometimes less. I should think teachers in our northern countries would
find it exceeding difficult to convince their readers that snow is an
intransitive verb--that it snows _nothing_. And yet so it is; people
will remain wedded to their old systems, and refuse to open their eyes
and behold the evidences every where around them. Teachers themselves,
the guides of the young--and I blush to say it, for I was long among the
number--have, with their scholars, labored all the morning, breaking
roads, _shovelling snow_, and clearing paths, to get to the
school-house, and then set down and taught them that _to snow_ is an
_in_transitive verb. What nonsense; nay, worse, what falsehoods have
been instilled into the youthful mind in the name of grammar! Can we be
surprised that people have not understood grammar? that it is a dry,
cold, and lifeless business?

I once lectured in Poughkeepsie, N. Y. In a conversation with Miss B., a
distinguished scholar, who had taught a popular female school for twenty
years; was remarking upon the subject of intransitive verbs, and the
apparent inconsistency of the new system, that all verbs must have an
object after them, expressed or understood; she said, "there was the
verb _rain_, (it happened to be a rainy day,) the whole action is
confined to the agent; it does not pass on to another object; it is
purely intransitive." Her aged mother, who had never looked into a
grammar book, heard the conversation, and very bluntly remarked, "Why,
you fool you, I want to know if you have studied grammar these thirty
years, and taught it more than twenty, and have never _larned_ that when
it rains it _always_ rains _rain_? If it didn't, do you s'pose you'd
need an umbrella to go out now into the storm? I should think you'd know
better. I always told you these plaguy grammars were good for nothing, I
didn't b'lieve." "Amen," said I, to the good sense of the old lady, "you
are right, and have reason to be thankful that you have never been
initiated into the intricate windings, nor been perplexed with the false
and contradictory rules, which have blasted many bright geniuses in
their earliest attempts to gain a true knowledge of the sublime
principles of language, on which depends so much of the happiness of
human life." The good matron's remark was a poser to the daughter, but
it served as a means of her entire deliverance from the thraldom of
neuter verbs, and the adoption of the new principles of the exposition
of language.

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