It is only within the last century or so that language has been studied in a scientific way,by careful and comprehensive observation;the few exceptions will occupy us in a moment,Linguistics,the study of language,is only in its beginnings.The knowledge it has gained has not yet become part of our traditional education;the "grammar"and other linguistic instruction in our schools confines itself to handing on the traditional notions.Many people have difficulty at the beginning of language study,not in grasping the methods or results(which are simple enough),but in stripping off the preconceptions which are forced on us by our popular scholastic doctrine. |
