ABSTRACT
The problem of logic in language has links both with the origin and nature of language and with the question of linguistics and semantics. The Greeks were preoccupied with making their language fit into a logical mold, and their observation of form and function, as against meaning and function, came late. The old grammatical concepts, categories and terminology, though originally derived from the Classical languages and based squarely on Indo-European, are nevertheless applicable, in slightly modified form, to the languages spoken by the majority of the world’s inhabitants. The concept of universality which had been created in the days of the glory of Rome had developed into the concept of a universal Church and a universal Empire, and it was not too difficult to transfer the concept of universality from the realm of religion and politics to that of linguistics.
