ABSTRACT
The conjectural technique is useful in some stages of the enquiry into the origin and development of language. Adam Smith provided direct evidence of the technique, opening his treatment of the development of language by supposing two savages, who had never been taught to speak, but had been bred up remote from the societies of men. He concentrates chiefly on the classical languages, together with French, Italian and English, and his argument rests upon the view that linguistic structure can be discussed basically in terms of parts of speech. On Smiths argument, the purpose of historical discourse is to narrate transactions as they happened, without being inclined to any part. No doubt Smiths listeners would look on the lectures and the published work with a keener eye for his changing purposes as a result of familiarity with the rhetoric, and so too may the modern reader.
