Dear Comrade:
You remember our definition of a word; a word is the sign of an idea. In
our lessons we have been studying the different kinds of words which we
use in the expression of our complete thoughts. Probably the first step
in the development of language was to name the objects about us. Then
the next logical step would be to invent words which would tell what
these objects did. So we have our nouns, which are the names of things;
our verbs, which tell what these things do; and in these we have the
foundation for spoken and written speech. We soon found, however, that
the constant repetition of a name was tiresome and annoying, so we
invented words which we could use in place of these nouns; and we have
pronouns.
All of the things about us possess certain qualities and our next great
need was for words to describe these qualities; so we have adjectives.
Each adjective is a sign of an idea. It adds its part to the expression
of our complete thought. So we find that each part of speech comes
logically in its place to fill a certain need. Without any one of them,
we would be crippled in our power of expression. Each different word is
the sign of an idea and the combination of these ideas as represented by
the various signs gives us the complete expression of our thought.
So primitive man in the development of written speech had signs to
express the various things about him. Naturally his first sign was a
picture, as nearly as he could draw it, of the object itself. If he
wanted to tell you about a tree he drew a picture of the tree; the
picture of a man represented a man, and so on. You will notice among
children that this is the first development in their endeavor to express
their thoughts in writing. They draw pictures. The average small child
cannot understand why you read those strange marks on the page. They
want you to read the pictures. To their mind that is the only way to
communicate ideas.
These early forefathers of ours grew to be very adept at this picture
writing. We have examples of this among the Indians of our own country.
There is a picture on the face of a big rock on the shores of Lake
Superior which records an expedition across the lake led by a noted
Indian chief. Canoes are shown in the picture with the crew denoted by a
series of upright strokes and there is a picture of the chief on
horseback. You or I would have great difficulty in reading this picture
writing, but an Indian could read it right off just as we would read a
written page. Aids to memory such as knotted strings and tally sticks
were the first step toward written speech. This picture writing was the
second step toward the development of written speech.
We owe a great deal to the work which these primitive ancestors of ours
accomplished. It took them years and years to develop through these
different stages and our rapid development of the last few centuries has
only been made possible because of this slow and patient building of the
foundation. An understanding of this helps us to appreciate the place we
occupy in this great struggle of the ages. The power of written speech
opens up to us such tremendous possibilities. Let us make the most of
them, that we too may hand on worth while things to those who follow us.
Yours for Education,