THE GROWTH OF COMMUNICATION PRE-VERBAL COMMUNICATION -- THE RISE OF SPEECH -- ITS MENTALAND SOCIAL FUNCTION -- THE FUNCTION OF WRITING -- PRINTING AND THE MODERNWORLD -- THE NON-VERBAL ARTS
THE chief means of what we may call pre-verbal communication are the expression of the face梕specially of the mobile portions about the eyes and mouth梩he pitch， inflection， and emotional tone of the voice； and the gestures of the head and limbs.All of these begin in involuntary movements but are capable of becoming voluntary， and all are eagerly practiced and interpreted by children long before they learn to speak.They are immediately joined to action and emotion： the inflections of the voice， for instance， play upon the child's feelings as directly as music， and are interpreted partly by an instinctive sensibility.I have heard a child seventeen months old using her voice so expressively， though inarticulately， that it sounded， a little way off， as if she were carrying on an animated conversation.
And gesture， such as reaching out the hand， bending forward， turning away the head， and； the like， springs directly from the ideas and feelings it represents.
The human face， " the shape and color of a mind and life，" is a kind of epitome of society， and if one could only read all that is written in the countenances of men as they pass he might find a great deal of sociology in them.He--reditary bias， family nurture， the print of the school， current opinion， contemporary institutions， all are there， drawn with a very fine pencil.If one wishes to get a real human insight into the times of Henry the Eighth， for example， he call hardly do better than to study the portrait drawings of Holbein； and so of other periods， including our own， whose traits would appear conspicuously in a collection of portraits.Many people can discriminate particular classes， as， for instance， clergymen， by their expression， and not a few will tell with much accuracy what church the latter belong to and whether they are of the lower rank or in authority.
Again there is a difference， indescribable， perhaps， yet apparent， between the look of American and of English youths梥till more of girls梬hich reflects the differing social systems.
This sort of communication is， of course， involuntary.An artificial mechanism of communication originates when man begins purposely to reproduce his own instinctive motions and cries， or the sounds， forms， and movements of the world about him， in order to recall the ideas associated with them.
All kinds of conventional communication are believed to be rooted in these primitive imitations， which， by a process not hard to imagine， extend and differentiate into gesture， speech， writing， and the special symbols of the arts and sciences； so that the whole exterior organization of thought refers back to these beginnings.
We can only conjecture the life of man， or of his humanizing progenitor， before speech was achieved； but we may suppose that facial expression， inarticulate cries and songs，
and a variety of imitative sounds and actions aroused sympathy， permitted the simpler kinds of general ideas to be formed， and were the medium through which tradition and convention had their earliest development It is probable that artificial gesture language was well organized before speech had made much headway.Even without words life may have been an active and continuous mental whole， not dependent for its unity upon mere heredity， but bound together by some conscious community in the simpler sorts of thought and feeling， and by the transmission and accumulation of these through tradition.There was presumably cooperation and instruction of a crude sort in which was the germ of future institutions.
No one who has observed children will have any difficulty in conjecturing the beginnings of speech， since nearly every child starts in to invent a language for himself， and only desists when he finds that there is one all ready-made for him.There are as many natural words (if we may call them so) as there are familiar sounds with definite associations， whether coming from human beings， from animals， or from inanimate nature.These the child instinctively loves to reproduce and communicate， at first in mere sport and sociability， then， as occasion arises， with more definite meaning.This meaning is easily extended by various sorts of association of ideas； the sounds themselves are altered and combined in usage； and thus speech is well begun.
Many humble inventors contribute to its growth， every man， possibly， altering the heritage in proportion as he puts his individuality into his speech.Variations of idea are preserved in words or other symbols， and so stored up in a continuing whole， constantly growing in bulk and diversity， which is， as we have seen， nothing less than the outside or sensible embodiment of human thought， in which every particular mind lives and grows， drawing from it the material of its own life， and contributing to it whatever higher product it may make out of that material.
A word is a vehicle， a boat floating down from the past， laden with the thought of men we never saw； and in coming to understand it we enter not only into the minds of our contemporaries， but into the general mind of humanity continuous through time.The popular notion of learning to speak is that the child first has the idea and then gets from others a sound to use in communicating it； but a closer study shows that this is hardly true even of the simplest ideas， and is nearly the reverse of truth as regards developed thought.In that the word usually goes before， Ieading and kindling the idea梬e should not have the latter if u-e did not have the word first."This way，" says the word， "is an interesting thought：
come and find it." And so we are led on to rediscover old knowledge.Such words， for instance， as good， right， truth， love， home， justice， beauty， freedom； are powerful makers of what they stand for.