PHONETICS — SCRIPTURE. 243 



PHONETICS. 



Scripture, E. W., Zurich, Switzerland. Grant No. 246. Researches 

 in experime?ital phonetics. (For previous reports see Year Book 

 No. 2, p. xl, and Year Book No. 3, p. 114.) $2,700. 



Abstract of Report. — The manuscript of a volume on the "Study 

 of speech vibrations " has been received. It contains an account 

 of the methods of recording, tracing, measuring, and analyzing 

 speech vibrations. Experiments on the diaphragms used for record- 

 ing sound showed that they follow the air wave by bending con- 

 centrically, and that the formation of nodal lines is almost lacking. 

 The special apparatus giving curves of speech of the highest accu- 

 racy is described in detail. It works automatically, so that whole 

 speeches, requiring two or three months for tracing, can be obtained, 

 after the apparatus is once started, by simply attending to it for a 

 short time once every twelve hours. Such a tracing covers a strip 

 of paper often a quarter of a mile long. The material furnished by 

 these tracings is unique, no tracing of continuous speech having 

 ever before been made for any language. 



Illustrations of the work of the apparatus are given in a plate of 

 curves from a speech by Dr. Depew and another from the Cock Robin 

 record ; in examples of various vowels in English and other lan- 

 guages, and in a number of curves of such phenomena as the vibra- 

 tion of a gong, the noise of two blocks struck together, of a con- 

 ductor's whistle, of a locomotive whistle, of locomotive puffs, of 

 tones from a trombone, of a chord from a piano, of a tone from a 

 plucked string, of notes from an orchestra and a band, of yodeling, 

 of whistling, etc. The two plates are used to illustrate the methods 

 of reading phonetic results from the curves with the unaided eye. 



The volume also describes the simpler methods of measurement 

 by which information concerning the pitch of the voice at each 

 instant, the duration of sounds, accent, etc., are ascertained. The 

 methods are illustrated by various examples, among which are some 

 interesting studies of the interjections spoken by Dr. Weir Mitchell, 

 and of initial vowels by Dr. Depew. 



Several chapters are devoted to the methods of analyzing vibra- 

 tions. The Fourier analysis into a series of simple sinusoids is 

 shown to be inapplicable to speech curves, because it does not provide 

 for inharmonic components and for friction. A method is developed 

 whereby one factor of friction can be considered and the iuharmonics 

 can be closely approximated. 



