Publisher Summary This chapter discusses the drift and dissolution of language. Edward Sapir proclaimed that linguistics should concern itself with language in all its aspects: (1) language in operation, (2) language in drift, (3) language in the nascent state, and (4) language in dissolution. The chapter describes two of these aspects, namely, the drift and the dissolution of language. The chapter discusses minimal dysphasia, where the linguistic imperfections are often so slight and so fine as to elude routine testing. The shortcomings likewise in ordinary conversation pass unnoticed by both speaker and listener. These features may herald the slow encroachment of a space-occupying lesion upon the zone of language. The chapter presents a pioneer description of what might be called pre-aphasia, or, to avoid an etymological hybrid, proto-aphasia.