The History of Language

Abstract

THERE are few living scholars who are so well qualified as Dr. Sweet to write a thoroughly comprehensive introduction to the science of language. He is, as is well known, one of the foremost European authorities on phonetics; but at the same time he is a profound and original thinker on those psychological aspects of linguistic science in which few phoneticians take any interest. And while possessing a competent knowledge of Indogermanic comparative philology in its latest developments, he is preserved from the narrowness of view of the mere Indogermanist by having made a practical study of Arabic, Finnish and Chinese. Notwithstanding its small size, this “primer” is a very remarkable book. In completeness of outline, it is superior to any elementary manual of the subject known to us; and it is no mere arid skeleton, but contains a good deal of novel and interesting illustration of the principles expounded. Perhaps it is not quite so easy to master as a “primer” is usually expected to be. Although strictly elementary, in the sense that it assumes no previous philological knowledge on the reader's part, it does undoubtedly demand considerable power of close attention and some training in habits of scientific thought. It will therefore probably be less acceptable to absolute beginners than to those who have already some general knowledge of the subject and desire to render their conceptions of it more systematic and precise. Even by advanced philological scholars it may be studied with interest and profit.