1861.] 325 [Consonants. 



against the palate. The fact of the air being there retained is made 

 very evident in the pronunciation of h^ where the sonant air is col- 

 lected in the mouth without its inflating the cheeks at all, as in the 

 pronunciation oip. The use of this retention of the air seems to be 

 to prevent the full force of the column of air from the lungs to press 

 against the closed station, and it acts thus as a sort of regulator of 

 the breath. In fact this retaining of the breath hi/ any of the vocal 

 organs, either by the lungs themselves or the glottis, or the anterior 

 or posterior parts of the mouth, instead of allowing its full force to 

 bear against the closed apertures of the vocal tube, as in the case of 

 the hard consonants, I regard as the chief characteristic of the soft 

 consonants, and as their principal distinction from the hard. In 

 proof of this I adduce the German language, where the sole distinction 

 between the hard and soft consonants consists in the lesser weight of 

 air brought to bear against the closed stations, else the soft consonants 

 could not be changed into their corresponding hard consonants at the 

 end of words by simply increasing the pressure of the air in their 

 pronunciation. Still, in thus making the leading characteristic of 

 the soft consonant to consist in the lesser weight of air brought to 

 bear against the closed station, I do not, on this account, object to 

 the explanations of Dr. Briicke and R. von Raumer, as may be seen 

 from what follows : I only object to the generalization of the former 

 in making all soft consonants sonant. 



My position will become more evident by the following investiga- 

 tion into the nature of the consonants in general. 



There are three elements conspiring in the pronunciation of the 

 consonants : 1, the air from the lungs; 2, the disposition of the glot- 

 tis ; 3, the manner in which the articulating stations in the vocal 

 tube are disposed. Each of these elements undergoes various modi- 

 fications during the pronunciation of the consonants. R. von Rau- 

 mer makes the modifications of the air itself the criterion of a division 

 of the consonants. Dr. Briicke those of the glottis, and I the difi'erent 

 dispositions of the various articulating stations. The urticulatincj 

 stations modify the breath passing through them, and are modified 

 by it in return. They modify the breath in a twofold way, by either 

 being kept closed or left ajar; and when they are kept closed they 

 are again affected by the opposing breath in a twofold way, viz., the 

 breath can either press against the closed station in a very forcible 

 manner, or else more mildly; in the former case the stations are 

 closed more firmly, and in the latter case more lightly. There are 

 thus altogether three modifications in the arrangement of the articu- 



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