35° 



THE POPULAR SCIENCE MONTHLY 



THE SOUNDS OF " CH " AXD 



Br WINIFRED SCRIPTURE 



BHYN MAWB COLLEGE 



THE sounds " ch " and " j," as in " church " and " judge," have 

 been represented, on the one hand, as being composed of two 

 sounds, " t " or " d " with " sh " (in phonetic transcription ts and dz) 

 and on the other as being single sounds (in phonetic transcription c and 

 j). Eelated to this is the question whether the Italian " c" and "g" 

 before " i " or " e," as in " cio " and " gia," are more like " ch " and 

 " j " or like the two forms of " sh." 



Eecords of these sounds were made with a voice-recording apparatus 

 (Fig. 1). This apparatus consists of a mouthpiece into which the 

 words are spoken. The waves thus formed proceed down a tube to a 

 rubber membrane at the end, making it vibrate. A straw lever is 

 attached to the membrane with which it rises and falls in unison and so 

 makes a record on a surface of smoked paper around a revolving 

 cylinder. 



Eecords of typical pronunciations of " ch " and " j " enable us to 

 settle their nature definitelv. 



Fig. 1. Recording the Voice. The waves from the mouth proceed down the 

 wide tube to the rubber membrane at the end. The vibrations of the membrane are 

 recorded by a straw lever on a surface of smoked paper around a revolving crlinder. 



