OF ARTICULATE SOUNDS. 857 



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 cor- 

 rectly laid down, however, in this manner: the Vowel-sounds are continuous 

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

 whilst in sounding Consonants the breath suffers a more or less complete in- 

 terruption 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 Eng- 

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

 forgotten 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 intro- 

 duced by M. Deleau through his nostril into the pharynx, and air was im- 

 pelled by it into the fauces ; then, closing the larynx, he threw the fauces 

 into the different positions requisite for producing articulate sounds, when 

 the air impelled through the tube became an audible whisper. The experi- 

 ment was repeated, with this variation, that the laryugeal sounds were al- 

 lowed to pass into the fauces ; and each articulated letter was then heard 

 double, in a proper voice, and in a whisper. Observations 1 made by Pro- 

 fessor Moore upon those who from some cause are unable to transmit the air 

 which has passed through the trachea and aperture of the glottis into the 

 mouth, have demonstrated (1) that the larynx is the seat of vocalization for 

 the vowels in all its forms, i long, o long, and the pure aspirate ; also for 

 the short vowels which are to some extent explosive, as i in sit, o in not, and 

 e in err, though the last can also be made in the front part of the mouth. 

 With the exception of the pure breathing and the short vowels all these 

 sounds receive a finish in the pharynx, nose, and mouth. (2) That the 

 vowels e long and oo, the diphthong eu, which is made up of these two ele- 

 ments, and all the consonants, are made above the larynx. 



704. 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. 2 On the other 

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

 sound oo (the Continental ) 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, arising from 

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

 position of the tongue is, indeed, one of the primary conditions of the varia- 

 tion of the sound ; for it may be easily ascertained that, by peculiar inflex- 

 ions of this organ, a great diversity of vowel sounds may be produced, the 

 other parts remaining the same. Still there is a certain position of all the 

 parts, which is most favorable to the formation of each of these sounds; but 

 this could not be expressed without a lengthened description. The follow- 

 ing table, slightly altered from that of Kempeleu, expresses the relative di- 

 mensions of the buccal cavity and of the orifice for some of the principal of 



1 See the interesting paper of Prof. E. M. Moore, New York Medical Kecord, vol. 

 vii, 187^, p. 49. 



2 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 an. 



55 



