CHAP. V.

Concerning Interjections-Recapitulation
Conclusion.

BESIDES the Parts of Speech before Ch. V. mentioned, there remains THE INTERJECTION. Of this Kind among the Greeks are *, Þε, A., &c. among the Þɛũ, Latins, Ah! Heu! Hei! &c. among the English, Ah! Alas! Fie! &c. These the Greeks have ranged among their Adverbs; improperly, if we consider the Adverbial Nature, which always co-. incides with some Verb, as its Principal, and to which it always serves in the character of an Attributive. Now INTERJECTIONS Co-incide with no Part of Speech, but are either uttered alone, or else thrown into a Sentence, without altering its Form, either in Syntax or Signification. The Latins seem therefore to have done better in separating them by themselves,

+ Vid. Servium in Æneid XII. v. 486.

U

Ch. V. themselves, and giving them a name by way of distinction from the rest.

SHOULD it be ask'd, if not Adverbs, what then are they? It may be answered, not so properly Parts of Speech, as adventitious Sounds; certain VOICES OF NATURE, rather than Voices of Art, expressing those Passions and natural Emotions, which spontaneously arise in the human Soul, upon the View or Narrative of interesting Events(").

" AND

(a) INTERJECTIONES a Græcis ad Adverbia referuntur, atque cos sequitur etiam Boethius. Et recte quidem de iis, quando casum regunt. Sed quando orationi solum inseruntur, ut nota affectûs, velut suspirii aut metûs, vix videntur ad classem aliquam pertinere, ut quæ NATURALES sint NOTÆ;›non, aliarum vocum instar, ex instituto significant. Voss. de Anal. L. I. c. 1. INTERJECTIO est Vox affectum mentis significans, ac citra verbi opem sententiam complens. Ibid. c. 3. Restat classium extrema, INTERJECTIO. Hujus appellatio non-similiter se habet ac Con

junctionis.

"AND thus we have found that ALL "WORDS ARE EITHER SIGNIFICANT

46

BY THEMSELVES, OR ONLY SIGNI-
U 2
"FICANT,

Ch. V.

junctionis. Nam cum hæc dicatur Conjunctio, quia conjungat; Interjectio tamen, non quia interjacet, sed quia interjicitur, nomen accepit. Nec tamen de eoia ejus est, ut interjiciatur; cum per se compleat sententiam, nec raro ab ea incipiat oratio. Ibid. L. IV. c. 28. INTERJECTIO

NEM non esse partem Orationis sic ostendo: Quod naturale est, idem est apud omnes: Sed gemitus & signu lætitiæ idem sunt apud omnes: Sunt igitur naturales. Si vero naturales, non sunt partes Orationis. Nam eæ partes, secundum Aristotelem, ex instituto, non naturâ, debent constare. Interjectionem Græci Adverbiis adnumerant; sed falso. Nam neque, &c. Sanct. Miner. L. I. c. 2. INTERJECTIONEM Græci inter Adverbia ponunt, quoniam hæc quoque vel adjungitur verbis, vel verba ei subaudiunUt si dicam-Papa! quid video?-vel per se-Papæ!-etiamsi non addatur, Miror; habet in se ipsius verbi significationem. Quæ res maxime fccit Romanarum artium Scriptores separatim hanc partem ab Adverbiis accipere; quia videtur affectum habere in sese Verbi, et plenam motûs animi significationem, etiamsi non addatur Verbum, demonstrare. Interjectio tamen non solum illa, quæ dicunt Græci Thaσpòs, significat; sed etiam voces, quæ cujuscunque passionis animi pulsu per exclamationem interjiciuntur. Prisc. L. XV.

Ch. V. "FICANT, WHEN ASSOCIATED-that "those significant by themselves, denote "either SUBSTANCES or ATTRIBUTES, "and are called for that reason SUB"STANTIVES and ATTRIBUTIVES "that the Substantives are either NOUNS 66 or PRONOUNS-that the ATTRIBU

66

66

CONDARY-that the Primary Attri"butives are either VERBS, PARTICI"PLES, or ADJECTIVES; the Secon

66

dary, ADVERBS-Again, that the "Parts of Speech, only significant when ❝ associated, are either DEFINITIVES "or CONNECTIVES that the Definitives are either ARTICULAR or PRONOMINAL and that the Connectives 66 are either PREPOSITIONS or CON"JUNCTIONS."

AND thus have we resolved LANGUAGE, AS A WHOLE INTO ITS CONSTITUENT PARTS, which was the first thing

thing, that we proposed, in the course Ch. V. of this Inquiry. (6)

BUT now as we conclude, methinks I hear some Objector, demanding with an air of pleasantry, and ridicule-" Is "there no speaking then without all this "trouble? Do we not talk every one of

us, as well unlearned, as learned; as "well poor Peasants, as profound Philo"sophers?" We may answer by interrogating on our part-Do not those same poor Peasants use the Lever and the Wedge, and many other Instruments, with much habitual readiness? And yet have they any conception of those Geometrical Principles, from which those Machines derive their Efficacy and Force? And is the Ignorance of these Peasants, a reason for others to remain ignorant; or to render the Subject a less becoming Inquiry? Think of Animals, and Vegetables, that