OF ARTICULATE SOUNDS. 465 



way than by a kind of imitation, which may be compared to the signs used 

 in hieroglyphic writing. These ideas it is the peculiar province of articulate 

 language to convey ; and we find that the vocal organ is adapted to form a 

 large number of simple sounds, which may be readily combined into groups, 

 forming words. The number of combinations which can be thus produced, 

 is so inexhaustible, that every language has its own peculiar series ; no dif- 

 ficulty being found in forming new ones to express new ideas. There is con- 

 siderable diversity in different languages, even with regard to the use of the 

 simplest of these combinations ; some of them are more easy of formation 

 than others, and these accordingly enter into the composition of all languages; 

 Avhilst of the more difficult ones, some are employed in one language, some 

 in another, no one language possessing them all. Without entering into any 

 detailed account of the mechanism required to produce each of these simple 

 sounds, a few general considerations will be offered in regard to the classifi- 

 cation of them ; and the peculiar defect of Articulation, termed Stammering, 

 will be briefly treated of. 



613. Vocal sounds are divided into Vowels and Consonants; and the dis- 

 tinctive characters of these are usually considered to be, that the Vowels are 

 produced by the Voice alone, whilst the sound of the Consonants is formed 

 by some kind of interruption to the voice, so that they cannot be properly 

 expressed, unless conjoined with a vowel. The distinction may be more 

 correctly Jaid down, however, in this manner: the Vowel sounds are con- 

 tinuous tones, modified by the form of the aperture through which they pass 

 out ; whilst in sounding Consonants, the breath suffers a more or less com- 

 plete interruption, in its passage through parts anterior to the larynx. Hence 

 the really simple Vowel sounds are capable of prolongation during any time 

 that the breath can sustain them ; this is not the case, however, with the 

 real Diphthongal sounds (of which it will presently appear that the English i 

 is one) ; whilst it is true of some Consonants. It seems to have been for- 

 gotten by many of those who have written upon this subject, that the laryn- 

 geal voice is not essential to the formation of either vowels or consonants ; for 

 all may be sounded in a whisper. It is very evident, therefore, that the 

 larynx is not primarily concerned in their production ; and this has been fully 

 established by the following experiment. A flexible tube was introduced by 

 M. Deleau through his nostril into the pharynx, and air was impelled by it 

 into the fauces ; then, closing the larynx, he threw the fauces into the differ- 

 ent positions requisite for producing articulate sounds, when the air impelled 

 through the tube became an audible whisper. The experiment was repeated, 

 with this variation, that laryngeal sounds were allowed to pass into the 

 fauces ; and each articulated letter was then heard double, in a proper voice 

 and in a whisper. 



614. That the Vowels are produced by simple modifications in the form 

 of the external passages, is easily proved, both by observation and by imita- 

 tive experiment. When the mouth is opened wide, the tongue depressed, 

 and the velum palati elevated, so as to give the freest possible exit to the 

 voice, the vowel a in its broadest form (as in ah] is sounded.* On the other 

 hand, if the oral aperture be contracted, the tongue being still depressed, the 

 sound oo (the continental w) is produced. If attention be paid to the state of 

 the buccal cavity, during the pronunciation of the different vowel sounds, it 

 will be found to undergo a great variety of modifications, arisingfrom varieties 

 of position of the tongue, the cheeks, the lips, and velum palati. The posi- 



This sound of the vowel a is scarcely used in our language, though very common in 

 most of the continental tongues; the nearest approach to it in English is the a in far : but 

 this is a very perceptible modification, tending towards aw. 



