Synopsis
The Philosophy Of Language: Comprehending Universal Grammar, Or The Pure Science Of Language; And Glossology, Or The Historical Relations Of Languages by John Stoddart. This nineteenth-century scholarly treatise argues for a science of language grounded in universal mental faculties rather than mere usage, presenting a program of universal grammar and a parallel glossology. It develops a systematic classification of parts of speech—participles, pronouns, verbs, articles, prepositions, adverbs, interjections, and particles—and uses cross-linguistic evidence from Latin, Greek, Gothic, Persian, and Germanic languages to illustrate diachronic change and functional shift. Through inductive analysis, it treats language as a sign of the mind with three faculties: conception, assertion, and inference; outlines moods, tenses, and the role of form and function in nouns, verbs, and modifiers. It also surveys phonetics and the physiology of speech, arguing for a mind-centered, historical science of language that informs grammar as a universal of human thought.
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