we know of) has any expression which he
learns, which is not the direct gift of nature to him." Any child of
parents living in a foreign country grows up to speak the foreign
speech, unless carefully guarded from doing so; or it speaks both this
and the tongue of its parent with equal readiness. A child must learn to
observe and distinguish before speech is possible, and every child
begins to know things by their name before he begins to call them. "If
it were not for the added push," says Prof. Whitney, "given by the
desire of communication, the great and wonderful power of the human
soul would never move in this particular direction; but when this leads
the way, all the rest follows." No philologist now supposes that any
language has been deliberately invented; it has been slowly and
unconsciously developed by many steps.

There can be no question that language owes its origin to the imitation
and modification of various natural sounds, the voices of other animals,
and man's own instinctive cries, aided by signs and gestures; and this
is the opinion of Max Mueller. And Prof. Whitney remarks that "spoken
language began, we may say, when a cry of pain, formally wrung out by
real suffering, and seen to be understood and sympathized with, was
repeated in imitation, no longer as a mere instinctive utterance, but
for the purpose of intimating to another." Darwin says that "the early
progenitor of man probably first used his voice in producing true
musical cadences, that is, in singing, as do some gibbon-apes at the
present day. It is therefore probable that the imitation of musical
cries by articulate sounds may have given rise to words expressive of
very complex emotions."

The nearest approach to language are the sounds uttered by birds. All
that sing exert their power instinctively, but the actual song, and even
the call notes, are learned from their parents or foster-parents. These
sounds are no more innate than language is in man, as has been proved by
Davies Barrington.[58] The first attempt to sing "may be compared to the
imperfect endeavor in a child to babble." Prof. Whitney says, if the
last transition forms of man "could be restored, we should find the
transition forms toward our speech to be, not at all a minor provision
of natural articulate signs, but an inferior system of conventional
signs, in tone, gesture, and grimace. As between these three natural
means of expression, it is simply by a kind of process