Chapter 1 of 6
Opening material
The Philosophic Grammar of American Languages, as Set Forth by Wilhelm von Humboldt: With the Translation of an Unpublished Memoir by Him on the American Verb · Daniel G. Brinton
Transcriber's Note
A number of typographical errors have been maintained in this version of this book. They have been marked with a [TN-#], which refers to a description in the complete list found at the end of the text.
Text surrounded with ~ was originally printed in Greek.
The following codes for less common characters were used:
[=a] a with macron [=u] u with macron + dagger ++ double dagger || double vertical line
THE
PHILOSOPHIC GRAMMAR
--OF--
AMERICAN LANGUAGES,
As Set Forth by Wilhelm von Humboldt;
WITH THE TRANSLATION OF AN UNPUBLISHED MEMOIR BY HIM ON THE AMERICAN VERB.
--BY--
DANIEL G. BRINTON, A. M., M. D.,
PROFESSOR OF ETHNOLOGY AND ARCHÆOLOGY AT THE ACADEMY OF NATURAL SCIENCES, PHILADELPHIA.
President of the Numismatic and Antiquarian Society of Philadelphia; Member of the American Philosophical Society, the American Antiquarian Society, the Pennsylvania Historical Society, etc.; Membre de la Société Royale des Antiquaires du Nord; de la Société Américaine de France; Délégué Général de l'Institution Ethnographique; Vice-Président du Congrès International des Américanistes; Corresponding Member of the Anthropological Society of Washington, etc.
(_Read before the American Philosophical Society, March 20, 1885._)
CONTENTS.
_The Philosophic Grammar of American Languages._
§1. Introduction, p. 3. §2. Humboldt's Studies in American Languages, p. 4. §3. The Final Purpose of the Philosophy of Language, p. 7. §4. Historical, Comparative and Philosophic Grammar, p. 9. §5. Definition and Psychological Origin of Language, p. 10. §6. Primitive Roots and Grammatical Categories, p. 11. §7. Formal and Material Elements of Language, p. 13. §8. The Development of Languages, p. 14. §9. Internal Form of Languages, p. 16. §10. Criteria of Rank in Languages, p. 17. §11. Classification of Languages, p. 21. §12. Nature of Incorporation, p. 22. §13. Psychological Origin of Incorporation, p. 24. §14. Effect of Incorporation on Compound Sentences, p. 25. §15. The Dual in American Languages, p. 27. §16. Humboldt's Essay on the American Verb, p. 28.
_On the Verb in American Languages. By Wilhelm von Humboldt, p. 29._
Verbal forms classified as they indicate the notion of Being: