with its velum pendulum,(40) and the uvula, (41) a pendulous, conical, muscular body, which performs the office of a valve between the throat and nostrils, as well as perhaps the cavity of the nostrils themselves, are all concerned in modifying the impulse given to the breath as it issues from the larynx, and producing the various consonants and vowels, according to the different capacities and shapes of their internal cavity.

"In speaking or singing, the glottis, it has been generally supposed, performs the part of a reed. The membranes of which it is composed being kept at a greater or less state of tension by the muscles with which it is provided, and its opening expanded or contracted according to the degree of gravity or accuteness of the sound to be uttered. But the tone thus originally produced by the glottis is sustained and reinforced by the column of air in the larynx, throat, and mouth, whose dimensions and figure are susceptible of great variation by the action of the innumerable muscles which give motion to this complicated and intricate part of our frame. Thus in a general way we may conceive how the voice is produced and modified; but when we would penetrate further into particulars, the difficulties presented by the organs of voice are even greater than those which beset the investigation of those of hearing."(42)

It is not our purpose to enter into the various theories which have been proposed for the solution of the difficulties presented by this interesting question; they would be out of place in a popular work like the present, and the reader who requires a more complete account of the nature of sound is referred to Sir John Herschell's own treatise, from which we have already made such lengthy extracts. Some general account of the nature of sound, and of the action of the human organs of speech, was necessary for the appreciation of the experiments made by Professors Willis and Wheatstone, (which we shall shortly have occasion to specify,) and to such we have confined ourselves.

The general science of sound is called Acoustics,(43) and that portion of the science of Acoustics which relates to the voice only, is termed Pho

(40.) "Vīlem pen diulem." "The soft palate. The soft part of the palate, which forms two arches affixed laterally to the tongue and pharynx."-Hooper. Pharynx, “farins,” “The muscular bag at the back part of the mouth.”—Hooper. (41.) "Yu viule." Latin diminutive of uva, a grape.

(42.) Herschell. ib. parr. 346–352.

(43.) Or "ǎkaustiks," from the Greek άxouw (ekauo, or akuo in M. G.), I hear, whence the adjective axovorinòs (ekau'stikos, or akustikos in M. G.), relating to hearing. This term being entirely subjective (relating to the sensations of the perceiver) is highly appropriate.

netics.(44) Phonetics(45) is therefore a branch of Acoustics, and treats of sounds of a peculiar nature only (namely, articulate sounds)(46) produced by a peculiar instrument (the human organ of voice). Professor Willis's experiments tend to shew that the same sounds may be also produced mechanically,(47) or, in other words, by a human contrivance, a circumstance greatly tending to give us a clearer idea of their nature.

CHAPTER 2.-ON ARTICULATE SPEECH IN GENERAL.

It is impossible for us to suppose those whom we address ignorant of reading and writing; but it is at the same time difficult for them to form a just conception of the real nature of spoken language, while they habitually refer it to the conventional symbols by which it is usually indicated -we can hardly say, represented. Let them imagine themselves transported to some part of the world where alphabetical writing is unknown, as to China. Let them listen to what is uttered. What is it they hear? A succession of sounds, each one being an "undivided unit, which cannot properly be said to be compounded of several others, as a written word is

(44.) "Fonetiks," from the Greek Qwvn (foni), the voice, whence the adjective Qwuntinòs (foni-tikos, or fonitikos in M. G.), related to the voice.

(45.) It is preferable to consider the names of sciences which terminate in ics as singular, and not as plural. In French we have la physique, la mécanique, &c., in German die Physik, die Mechanik, &c., all in the feminine singular, answering to our physics, mechanics, &c. In the words music, arithmetic, we have also preserved the singular form.

(46.) In Latin, the word articulus signifies a little joint, or link. Sound which is articulated consists of a number of small fragments linked together. If these fragments are not perceptibly distinct, the effect would be one of continuity, and the result would be inarticulate. This may be illustrated thus: if we play four consecutive notes on one string of a violin, staccato, or simply with a separate bow for each, the resulting sounds are articulate; they will be less so, if the notes be slurred or all played with one bow; but if the finger be allowed to slide down the fingerboard from the first to the fourth position, the bow being kept in action, all clearness the sound becomes continuous and inarticulate. Articulate is, however, by general consent, confined to speech: a man speaks articulately, and one man more articulately than another; a beast speaks inarticulately. Articulate is hence often synonymous with distinct. Homer calls men μέροπες (mëropes), from μείρα (mairo, or miro in M. G.), I divide, and (ops), the voice, because of the distinct fragments of sound which they utter in speaking.

ceases,

i. e.,

(47.) But not by any means so clearly or beautifully as by the human voice.

organs

of letters."(1) Each sound is due to one impulse given to the air by the of voice, and the first and most obvious way of representing these sounds would be to have a separate character for each separate sound; that is, a sign which should direct any one who sees it that he is to give the air a similar impulse. The number of these characters would be immense, and some means would have to be devised for reducing it. For this purpose we must reflect upon the manner in which the complicated machine of the human body acts. There is not a single motion in this machine, however simple to outward appearance, which is not really the result of the motion of many parts, the individual motions of each part being wholly imperceptible. We should therefore conclude, that the impulse given to the air is the result of the action of numerous portions of the human machine; that the impulses differ from one another only by the different manner in which these parts come into action, and that we may therefore simplify our representations of these impulses by having characters which shall recall the action of each part separately, (or as nearly so as may be convenient,) and the number of these actions which occur simultaneously.

A little consideration would shew us that there is one action which is common to all the sounds heard, and which in fact constitutes the very essence of the sound,-it is the production of voice, the rude clay as it were, which is subsequently moulded into the various forms of sound afterwards perceived. This voice we may easily discover, in a general way, is the result of some action in the throat, no matter what. (2)? How then are the different modifications produced. By action of the throat, and of the cavities of the mouth and its various parts, would be the answer which we should almost immediately return. Let us then have characters, we might say, to represent these actions; it will not be necessary to represent the voice itself, because that must be understood throughout.

That such considerations as these originally actuated the framers of alphabets there cannot be much doubt, and if there were, it would be

(1.) "Das Wort tritt in der lebendigen Sprache ursprünglich als ungetheilte Einheit hervor; es wird nicht eigentlich zusammengesetzt aus Lauten, wie etwa das geschriebene Wort aus Buchstaben. Erst in der Betrachtung zerlegen wir das Wort in seine Elemente, und nennen diese Sprachlaute.”—Bekker; Ausführliche Grammatik, § 28.

(2.) In the preceding Chapter we have given a short general account of the parts of the human organism, by which the production of voice is effected; but this is of no importance in the present case. We do not now desire to know how the original voice is produced, but how it is modified when produced.

dissipated upon discovering that the oldest known alphabets never use any characters to represent the voice, but only such as represent the action of the parts of the mouth, &c. upon the voice.

There are, however, three kinds of action which should be carefully discriminated:

FIRST, Where the parts of the mouth, &c. do not touch, and are

not brought very nearly in contact;

SECOND, Where the parts of the mouth, &c. are really in contact; THIRD, Where the parts of the mouth, &c. are brought very nearly in contact, and a small aperture is left through which the voice is suffered to escape.

Again, there are two modes in which each of these kinds of action may take effect:

FIRST, The voice may be formed simultaneously with the other actions;

SECOND, A whisper (as the sighing of the wind through the trees,

or more familiarly, through a pair of bellows, being independent of the action of the larynx) may precede or succeed the formation of the voice.

We have thus learned in a general way how to analyse the spoken sounds which we may chance to hear. Each kind and mode of action gives rise to a class of modifications of the original voice-sound, to which names have been affixed, as follows:

FIRST KIND, Vowels:

First mode-Simple Vowels.

Second mode-Aspirated Vowels.

SECOND KIND, Explosive Consonants, or Mutes:

First mode-Spoken, or Sonorous, or Loquent, or Compressed, or
Vibrated, or Flat, or Thick, or Heavy, or Voice Consonants.
Second mode-Whispered, or Mute, or Susurrant, or Uncom-
pressed, or Simple, or Sharp, or Thin, or Light, or Voiceless.
Consonants.

THIRD KIND,-Continuous Consonants, or Semivocals :

First mode-Spoken, or &c. (as before), Consonants.

Second mode-Whispered, or &c. (as before), Consonants.

These we shall hereafter consider in detail; it is enough for the present that we have learned to separate the compound sounds into several articulate sounds,-that is, distinct fragments of sound, forming the links of the chains of utterance,—and these articulate sounds into intonations and articulations, which terms correspond respectively to the words voice and modifications (which we have adopted), although they are not gene

rally used in so strict a sense as that which we have thought proper to assign to these latter phrases.(3)

We cannot here enter into the question of the origin of speech, or the original meaning of uttered sounds; such discussions belong exclusively to works upon etymology.(4) Our object is to investigate the elements of spoken sounds considered as sounds simply, without any reference to the ideas which they are intended to recall. It seems scarcely necessary to mention anything which is so self-evident, were it not that one of the most pertinaciously repeated arguments against the introduction of an alphabetical system which shall truly represent the sounds uttered by the speaker, is derived from etymology only. This argument we shall take occasion to state at length, and attempt to refute, in a subsequent chapter.

CHAPTER 3.-ON THE VOWELS IN GENERAL.

We shall now consider generally the first kind of action of the parts of the mouth, mentioned in the last chapter, and the first mode; that is the simple vowels.

The Phenicians, to whom is ascribed the invention of the alphabet from which those used in Europe have been derived, seem only to have discriminated three cases; the first, where the tongue was depressed, and the mouth well opened, (this corresponds to the exclamation ah!); the second, where the aperture of the mouth was greatly diminished by the tongue approaching the roof of the mouth while the lips were opened transversely, (this corresponds to the Scotch word ee for eye); and the third, where the tongue was depressed, as in the first case, and the lips were projected and rounded (this corresponds to the French word où, the

(3.) We speak of an articulated skeleton, meaning one in which all the joints have been fastened together by some material which supplies the place of the natural ligament. In the same way the different modifications of which we have spoken serve to connect the otherwise disjointed set of voice sounds, and hence they may be termed articulations; while if we regard the articulations only, they are of course incapable of sounding except upon being intoned by the voice, whence the term intonation is naturally derived.

(4.) From the Greek Ervμos (etiumos, and sometimes nearly etsh'iumos; or etimos in M. G.), true; and λóyos (logos, or logos in M. G.), word. The word Etymology properly signifies the science of tracing words to their true roots, but it is frequently used in a more general sense.