1
Augustinus, in
den Confessiones || the
Confessions
I/8
:
cum || Cum
(majores homines) appellabant rem aliquam, et cum secundum eam
vocem corpus ad aliquid movebant, videbam, et tenebam hoc ab eis
vocari rem illam, quod sonabant, cum eam vellent ostendere.
Hoc autem eos velle ex motu corporis aperiebatur:
tamquam verbis naturalibus omnium gentium, quae fiunt vultu et nutu
oculorum, ceterorumque membrorum actu, et sonitu vocis indicante
affectionem animi in petendis, habendis, rejiciendis,
faciendisve
rebus. Ita verba in variis sententiis locis suis posita,
et crebro audita, quarum rerum signa essent, paulatim colligebam,
measque jam voluntates, edomito in eis signis ore, per haec
enuntiabam.
1
In these words we
have || get – it seems to
me – || In these words we are given, it seems to
me, a definite picture of the nature of human
language. Namely this: the words of
the
language
designate || name objects – sentences are combinations of
such
designations || names.
In this picture
of
human language we find the root of the
idea: every word has a meaning. This meaning is
correlated to the word. It is the
object which the word stands for.
Augustine
however does not speak of a distinction between parts
of speech.
Whoever || Anyone
who describes the learning of language in this way || If
one describes the learning of language in this way, one
thinks – I should imagine – primar
ily of
substantives
, like “table”,
“chair”, “bread” and the names of
persons; and of the other parts of speech as something that will
work || come out all
right
. || eventually.