Theprincipleofequalitynecessarilyintroducesseveralotherchangesintolanguage。Inaristocraticages，wheneachnationtendstostandalooffromallothersandlikestohavedistinctcharacteristicsofitsown，itoftenhappensthatseveralpeopleswhichhaveacommonoriginbecomeneverthelessestrangedfromeachother，sothat，withoutceasingtounderstandthesamelanguage，theynolongerallspeakitinthesamemanner。Intheseageseachnationisdividedintoacertainnumberofclasses，whichseebutlittleofeachother，anddonotintermingle。Eachoftheseclassescontracts，andinvariablyretains，habitsofmindpeculiartoitself，andadoptsbychoicecertainwordsandcertainterms，whichafterwardspassfromgenerationtogeneration，liketheirestates。Thesameidiomthencomprisesalanguageofthepoorandalanguageoftherich—alanguageofthecitizenandalanguageofthenobility—alearnedlanguageandavulgarone。Thedeeperthedivisions，andthemoreimpassablethebarriersofsocietybecome，themoremustthisbethecase。Iwouldlayawager，thatamongstthecastesofIndiathereareamazingvariationsoflanguage，andthatthereisalmostasmuchdifferencebetweenthelanguageofthepariahandthatoftheBrahminasthereisintheirdress。When，onthecontrary，men，beingnolongerrestrainedbyranks，meetontermsofconstantintercourse—whencastesaredestroyed，andtheclassesofsocietyarerecruitedandintermixedwitheachother，allthewordsofalanguagearemingled。Thosewhichareunsuitabletothegreaternumberperish;theremainderformacommonstore，whenceeveryonechoosesprettynearlyatrandom。
AlmostallthedifferentdialectswhichdividedtheidiomsofEuropeannationsaremanifestlydeclining;thereisnopatoisintheNewWorld，anditisdisappearingeverydayfromtheoldcountries。
Theinfluenceofthisrevolutioninsocialconditionsisasmuchfeltinstyleasitisinphraseology。Notonlydoeseveryoneusethesamewords，butahabitspringsupofusingthemwithoutdiscrimination。Theruleswhichstylehadsetuparealmostabolished:thelineceasestobedrawnbetweenexpressionswhichseembytheirverynaturevulgar，andotherwhichappeartoberefined。Personsspringingfromdifferentranksofsocietycarrythetermsandexpressionstheyareaccustomedtousewiththem，intowhatevercircumstancestheymaypass;thustheoriginofwordsislostliketheoriginofindividuals，andthereisasmuchconfusioninlanguageasthereisinsociety。
Iamawarethatintheclassificationofwordsthereareruleswhichdonotbelongtooneformofsocietyanymorethantoanother，butwhicharederivedfromthenatureofthings。Someexpressionsandphrasesarevulgar，becausetheideastheyaremeanttoexpressarelowinthemselves;othersareofahighercharacter，becausetheobjectstheyareintendedtodesignatearenaturallyelevated。Nointermixtureofrankswillevereffacethesedifferences。Buttheprincipleofequalitycannotfailtorootoutwhateverismerelyconventionalandarbitraryintheformsofthought。PerhapsthenecessaryclassificationwhichI
pointedoutinthelastsentencewillalwaysbelessrespectedbyademocraticpeoplethanbyanyother，becauseamongstsuchapeopletherearenomenwhoarepermanentlydisposedbyeducation，culture，andleisuretostudythenaturallawsoflanguage，andwhocausethoselawstoberespectedbytheirownobservanceofthem。