THE LANGJAGE OF THE FUTURE. (New York Times.)

Waikato Times, Volume V, Issue 283, 5 March 1874, Page 2

THE LANG J AGE OF THE FUTURE. (New York Times.)

Tnr. distinguished Swbs savant, M. Alphonse de Candollo, in hia recent * Histoiredcs Scienues,' hrfa- ventured some predictions in regard to tie English language which may interest our readers. A Sivist scholar oiisjht at least to bo an impartial judge. M. le Cundolle believes that the English language is to be the anguage of the future. He grounds his expectations, first o' all, on tho structure of the English tongue. ' Tts forms,' ac says, • are adapted to modern tendencies. ll' you have to lm.l a vessel, cry atop lo a train, demonstrate a u.&chim, make a physical experiment, speak in a few words to pen pis busy and practical ,' you must use the English lanawnge. This is the tongue mat we employ whpn in a hurry, o>' when we wish to say anything clearly and bneily. 'In the conflict ot two language,' he adds, ' all things being equal, it is the briefest and mo^t sinr le which carries the dnv ' He Btate* that be, hns repeatedly seen in Switzerland families whore the French and German were equally understood, but that the French always diires out the Gorman through itfsuperior flexibility and- eonTcnience. In liki manner, where the English and French are employed in a Swiss family, and are equally known, the English drives out the French. It even passes from one generation to another in a foreign country on nccount of it* superior practical convenience. In this wuy he accounts for the fact that French and German families in Eaglird or America so quickly lose their native ton cues, while Eneliih-spcaiunc familios in France or Germany transmit theirs from generation <o geueration. Tho English tongue, he says, dispenses with long phrsses and many words ; it uses readily foreign words, but shortens them • it ho« only mdisnensabto and natural mood* ; it has no arbitrary distinction of genders ; the main idea it so much the ob|ect of oiou sentence that in conversation one is not. obliged to finish the phrase. He admits its capital defect, ' nn r.rthnnriphy so irregular, that it need* n year for most children lo learn to read,' It* pronoiuiciation, too, he considers wanting in distinctness. Besides its structure, M\ do Candolle huld» tliut lU great udwiuiaßO in the future is the adaptation of its literature for families and domestic life. It is a literature which above all suits the women. They find in it a vast number of woiks wr.tten witli pcifect purity and propriety, upon subjects which most interest the femnle sex ; ouch n> religion, poetry, uluoution, and the like. The future victory, ho\u i ver, of the E'iglith langna»c the Swiss savant rcst^ on more scientific grounds. At the present moment theEngli'h \» spoken, he eitimates, bv a- nvpntvicvon i ii'Hons of people in England, Au*tnitin, au' A eric > The G-erinan includes sntr two millions ; the French, in Fr>"ce, Rc'-v.um, nri'l the colonies forty and onc-hnlf millions. In England the population doubles once in 50 years, so that in a century, or 1970, it will reiieh the «urn ot one hundied and twenty-lour Diillions. In llio United Si. iiom, Canada, and Australia) [KjpuluUun doubles onco in t«entyfivi»ye>irs, w> that their numberi in 1970 will be se^eii liundn*(l Kiid tliit-ty-dix million*. The toiul numbei, then, of tho h./jgl)»n wpc-uking p<'uplo in 1970 Mill ba tight bundled and biatr millions. In Germany, on the other land, the popuInlion in me norih aoubiei in from liiiy-»»i to sixty years j th«r of the aoulh m one hundred and siity-seven year*. I'anuig O»io LiuutirtJil venr* in im nvc.rrtf;e. the number of the v"J<>nnan -speaking pto^iex in 19.0 t\tlt \,o u»e LuiiUred and r.weiiti foOr milliiiiin

Ii iMauce the popul.it mi di.ifha nab u 140 years, bo Unit in a <vntury the French apeak'ng i eoples would amount lo 69V million* ' Aocrlm^ to t 1 . d-iuatp, the Germanopf.ikin^ indnnluili w uM -nl > livri me seventh part, and the Frerc'i v I'dni' " ih f '■' twelfth or thirteenth p'rt, of t oie HpeaLiuj: Eng isu m 1970. and both together would onh 'lmonnt to a q'inrter of the English-speaking r«ces. The future victory of Uie English Uugukge uoanm to this j Swi-tt Bi-iiolmr asuurpd Hm wise f>onclu«ion from this prediclum is that a heavy responsibility rests on the Englishsperttmg races to preserve tho purity and unity of their tongue. The danger w!n ;h .jc fears is that English may brcuk into three lnn<jaagw related to one another, the Italian, Spanish, and Portugje;.? It j'nulii be our noble ambition tvj pieserve one great and pure tongue — the tongue of Milton »ikl Ml nl.i <«evp— us thn future nniTPnißl languaqr for tlje t lountitmnd businrM of tho vfortd. Americans, bethinks, will lihtc thp mo^t irfnpncc in thi* work, for their country will 'cad those of the English-speaking races Thus far, we beLere the language has suffered no perceptible strain or corruption upon tins continent.