A Comparative Grammar of the Modern Aryan Languages of India v1.c4.68

v1.c4.68

The second reason is a somewhat Darwinian one. There seems to exist among words, even as among living beings, a struggle for existence, terminating in the "survival of the fittest." It is clear from all that has hitherto been discovered in linguistic science that the progress of development of all languages is from the harsh and complicated to the smooth and simple. The words in ancient languages are cumbered with a mass of letters, sounds, and combinations, which in the course of ages wear away by use, leaving short simple words behind. Tenues slide into mediæ, gutturals soften into palatals, compound letters melt into simple ones, single consonants drop out of sight altogether, sometimes carrying with them adjacent vowels.