42 THE STUDY OF SPEECH CURVES. 



of [au]. The two sounds in these portions are therefore similar although 

 not identical; assuming that the [a] of " regard" is typical, we can say that 

 most of the second vowel of " without" consists of [a]. We note next that 

 the last portion of this vowel, line 96, shows a few waves that differ con- 

 siderably from the [a] waves; this we expect, because we have been taught 

 to consider this vowel as a diphthong, but what we do not expect is to find 

 that this portion is exceedingly short, comprising not more than one-sixth 

 of the whole vowel sound. The waves do not resemble the waves of the 

 distinctly spoken short [u] in " to," line 102; the sound may be [u] or [a], 

 but we do not have sufficient material on this plate for comparison ; com- 

 parison with other curves indicates that it is [u]. Quite unexpected is the 

 fact that the first portion of this vowel, line 95, shows waves that differ 

 from the [a]-waves. The vowel is therefore not a diphthong, but a triph- 

 thong. To judge from the resemblance of the waves in line 95 to those 

 in fine 106, the first portion is [o]-Uke in sound. We have here, then, the 

 triphthong [oau] in which the longest portion is [a] and the shortest [u]. 



Going back now to line 94, we observe that every third wave of [i] 

 has a small, sharp corner; the waves thus fall into groups of three. The 

 form of viljration is utterly different from any form seen in [au]. The 

 cavity tones must be different. The groups are all longer than in [au]; the 

 voice is consequently lower. The groups for the preceding [w], which can 

 be readily distinguished, are still longer. We see at once that the voice 

 begins low for [w], rises through [i] and becomes still higher in [au]. We 

 also note that internal changes take place during the [w] and during the 

 [i]. The change from [w] to [i] is gradual. At the end of line 94 the vibra- 

 tions weaken as the sound changes to [^]; they become steadily weaker 

 in line 95, till in the middle they change into [au]. There is no sharp 

 limit between [w] and [i], between [i] and [b] or even between [S] and [au]. 

 For example, the change from [S] to [au] occupies at least two groups of 

 vibrations in the middle of line 96. These might be reckoned to the begin- 

 ning of the vowel, although the first of the groups is weak and in both 

 the form is rather different from the typical form of the following vibra- 

 tions. They can hardly be reckoned to [S], for we define [S] as a sonant 

 fricative produced in a narrow passage between tongue and palate; here 

 the tongue has begun to make a large opening. We may call them a 

 "glide" from [S] to [a] although it is difficult to say why the second wave 

 is to be counted to the "glide" and the third to the vowel. A "glide" 

 is, moreover, merely a makeshift to help us out of the difficulties introduced 

 by the erroneous view that speech is made up of a series of independent 

 elements. Not only must we say that every individual sound changes 

 from beginning to end, but we must assert that each one develops out 



