Pantographia; containing accurate copies of all the known alphabets in the world; together with an English explanation of the peculiar force or power of each letter: to which are added, specimens of all well-authenticated oral languages. Forming a comprehensive digest of phonology / By Edmund Fry.

  • Fry, Edmund, 1754-1835.
Date:
1799
Catalogue details

Licence: Public Domain Mark

Credit: Pantographia; containing accurate copies of all the known alphabets in the world; together with an English explanation of the peculiar force or power of each letter: to which are added, specimens of all well-authenticated oral languages. Forming a comprehensive digest of phonology / By Edmund Fry. Source: Wellcome Collection.

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    the art somewhat longer ; but in a space of time, not very long, it would in a great measure be lost by them, or their posterity : in this state of banishment, as their time would be almost wholly occupied by hunting, fishing, and other means within their reach, to support a miserable existence, they would have little leisure, and perhaps less desire, to preserve by conversation the remembrance of that ease, and those comforts, of which they would now find themselves for ever deprived; and, of course, they would soon forget all the words which, in their native language, had been used to denote the accommodations and elegancies of polished life. This, at least, seems to be certain, that they would not attempt to teach their children a part of language, which in their circumstances Could be of no use to them, and of which it would be impossible to make them comprehend the meaning; for where there are no ideas, the signs of them can- not be made intelligible. From such colonies as these dispersed over the earth, it is probable that all the nations of savages have sprung ; which has induced many philosophers to imagine, that the state of the savage was originally that of man: if so, we see, that from the language of inspiration a number of different dialedts must un- avoidably have arisen, all very rude and narrow, retaining nothing of the parent tongue, except, perhaps, the names of the most conspicuous objedts in nature, and of those wants and en- joyments inseparable from humanity. Habits of solitude dispose a savage to speak rarely; and when he does, he uses the same terms to denote different ideas: Speech, therefore, in this rude condition of men, must be extremely narrow, and very imperfedt. Every region or climate suggests a different train of ideas, and creates various wants, which must be expressed either by terms entirely new, or by old ones used in a new signification. Hence must originate great diversity, even in the first elements of speech, among all savage nations ; the words retained of the original language being used in various senses, and pronounced, as we may believe, with various accents. When any of those savage tribes emerged from their barbarism, whether by their own efforts, or by the aid of people more enlightened than them- selves.