XXVII.—On Bistratification in the Growth of Languages, with Special Reference to Greek

Extract

In all languages where there exists a certain amount of intellectual culture, manifesting itself in the oral or written form of what is called Literature, there must always coexist with it an inferior stratum or platform of speech; the platform of common colloquial intercourse of the mass of the people, and specially of the peasantry and lower classes. The necessity of this bistratification arises from the diverse class of ideas, and the diverse style of intercourse, pervading the two platforms. Language is a growth that flows from the intercommunion of associated persons working out, within a certain bounded circle, the vocal expression which their ideas, their energies, and their circumstances demand for the purpose of common action.