258 EXPEEIMENTAL PHONETICS. 



But the study of vowels is not the only result of recent research in 

 phonetics. The analysis of consonantal sounds is now being carried out 

 by various workers, such as Pipping, Scripture, and Lloyd. Meyer, 

 in Hermann's laborator}^ has investigated the pitch of words, sen- 

 tences, and syllables in speech. This has also been studied by phono- 

 graphic tracings by Marichelle. The wdiolc subject has also a i)ractical 

 bearing, as the knowledge acquired enables the teacher of deaf uuites 

 so to instruct his pupils in the use of their organs as to avoid the 

 dreary monotone of those who learn to speak by watching only the 

 movements of the lips. 



It only remains to notice the remarkable monograph of Jespersen. 

 This is an attempt to aid the study of phonetics by the use of a scien- 

 tific nomenclature to express sounds, so that just as the chemist 

 represents by letters and figures the nature of a chemical substance 

 of complex constitution so the student of phonetics may be able to 

 express the sounds of words by symbols. The visible-speech system 

 of Melville-Bell consisted of symbols which expressed more or less 

 accurately the physiological movements to be made, or the posi- 

 tion to be assumed during the pronunciation of a given sound; ])ut 

 the symbols of Jespersen are letters and figures. The letters or 

 figures, however, to be useful must have a physiological meaning. 

 Strictly speaking, the symbols denote, not sounds, l)ut the elements of 

 sounds. Thus so simple a sound as )ii is physiologically the result of 

 {a) lips shut; {h) |3oint of tongue resting in the ])ottom of the mouth; 

 (c') surface of tongue not raised toward the palate; {(I) nasal passage 

 open; {e) vocal cords vibrate, and {f) air expelled from lungs. The 

 attempt of Jespersen may be called an alphabetic system of writing, 

 symbolizing, not sounds, but the elements of sounds. At present it 

 is severely technical, but it seems to ''provide a means of writing 

 down and descri})ing phonetic minutia' in a comparatively easy and 

 unaml)iguous manner.'' It will do for the i)honetician what symbol- 

 ism does for the mineralogist. It is a kind of algebra for speech 

 sounds. 



In advocating the establishment of a photographic nuiseum, to be a 

 visual register of the past, Janssen recently Avrote as follows: ''Pho- 

 tography registers the chain of phenomena during time, just as 

 writing registers the thoughts of men during the ages. Photogi-aphy 

 is to sight what writing is to thought. If there is any difference, it 

 is to the advantage of photography. Writing is subject to conven- 

 tionalities from which photography is free; writing em})loys a partic- 

 ular language, while photography speaks the universal language." 



But if ther(» is to l)e a museum of photographs, appealing to the 

 sense of sight, why should Ave not have a nuiseum of sounds, in the 

 shape of phonograph records, appealing to the sense of hearing? 

 HoAv little can Ave tell from written characters the exact sounds of 



