Ch. II. pound Quantity of Sound significant, of

which certain Parts are themselves also significant.

THUS when I say [the Sun shineth] not only the whole quantity of sound has a meaning, but certain parts also, such as [Sun] and [shineth.]

BUT what shall we say? Have these Parts again other Parts, which are in like manner significant, and so may the progress be pursued to infinite? Can we suppose all Meaning, like Body, to be divisible, and to include within itself other meanings without end? If this be absurd, then must we necessarily admit, that there is such a thing as a Sound significant, of which no Part is of itself significant. And this is what we call the proper character of a (d) WORD. For

(α) Φωνὴ σημαντική,ἧς μέρΘ ἐδέν ἐςι καθ ̓ αυτὸ σημαντικόν. De Poetic. c. 20. De Interpret. c. 2 & 3. Priscian's Definition of a Word (Lib. 2.) is as follows- Dictie est

pars

For thus, though the Words [Sun] and Ch. II. [shineth] have each a Meaning, yet is there certainly no Meaning in any of their Parts, neither in the Syllables of the one, nor in the Letters of the other.

IF therefore ALL SPEECH, whether in prose or verse, every Whole, every Section, every Paragraph, every Sentence, imply a certain Meaning, divisible into other Meanings, but WORDS imply a Meaning, which is not so divisible: it follows that WORDS will be the smallest parts of Speech, in as much as nothing less has any Meaning at all.

Το

pars minima orationis constructa, id est, in ordine composite. Pars autem, quantum ad totum intelligendum, id est, ad totius sensus intellectum. Hoc autem ideo dictum est, ne quis conetur vires in duas partes dividere, hoc est, in vi & res; non enim ad totum intelligendum hæc fit divisio. To Priscian we may add Theodore Gaza.—Miĝis dè, μέρα ἐλάχισον κατὰ σύνταξιν λόγε. Introd. Gram. l. 4. Plato shewed them this characteristic of a Word-Sce Cratylus, p. 385. Edit. Serr.

Ch. II.

To know therefore the species of Words, must needs contribute to the knowledge of Speech, as it implies a knowledge of its minutest Parts.

THIS therefore must become our next Inquiry.

CHAP.

CHAP III.

Concerning the species of Words, the smallest Parts of Speech.

LET us first search for the Species of Ch. III. Words among those Parts of Speech, commonly received by Grammarians. For Example, in one of the passages above cited.

The Man that hath no music in himself, And is not mov'd with concord of sweet sounds,

Is fit for treasons—

Here the Word [The] is an ARTICLE;—
[Man] [No] [Music] [Concord] [Sweet]
[Sounds] [Fit] [Treasons] are all NoUNS,
some Substantive, and some Adjective-
[That] and [Himself] are PRONOUNS―
[Hath] and [is] are VERBS-[mov'd] a
PARTICIPLE [Not] an ADVERB
[And] a CONJUNCTION — [In] [With]
C 4

and

Ch. III. and [For] are PREPOSITIONS. In one sentence we have all those Parts of Speech, which the Greek Grammarians are found to acknowledge, The Latins only differ in having no Article, and in separating the INTERJECTION, as a Part of itself, which the Greeks include among the Species of Adverbs.

WHAT then shall we determine? why are there not more Species of Words? why so many? or if neither more nor fewer, why these and not others?

To resolve, if possible, these several Queries, let us examine any Sentence that comes in our way, and see what differences we can discover it its Parts. For example, the same Sentence above, The Man that hath no Music, &c.

ONE Difference soon occurs, that some Words are variable, and others invariable. Thus the Word Man

may be

varied into Man's and Men; Hath, into

Have,