Mr. Daniel Jones [Feb. 9, 



WEEKLY EVENING MEETING, 



Friday, February 9, 1917. 



The Right Hox. Lord Raylekih, O.M. P.C. D.C.L. F.R.S., 

 in the Chair. 



Daniel Joxes, M.A. M.R.I. 



Experimental Phonetics and its Utility to the Linguist. 



The art of speaking a foreign language demands (among other 

 things) an ability to perform all kinds of difficult movements with 

 the tongue and other parts of the speech-mechanism. Such ability 

 may be acquired by the learner, if he is provided with precise 

 instructions as to what he must do. It is the function of the 

 phonetician to supply these instructions. 



Instructions as to how to pronounce must, in order to be efficacious, 

 be based on accurate analysis of the pronunciation. Many of the 

 facts of pronunciation can be ascertained by direct observation (by 

 auditive, visual, tactile, and muscular sensation) on the part of those 

 who have a specially-trained ear and a highly-developed control over 

 their vocal organs. These methods are extremely important, and no 

 satisfactory analysis of a language can be made without them. 

 Other methods, however, may be used to supplement these, namely 

 mechanical analysis by means of specially-designed apparatus. 

 Analysis of this kind constitutes the branch of phonetics known as 

 experimental phonetics. It is these mechanical aids to analysis which 

 form the subject of the present discourse. 



It will be well to give first a few examples, to show how informa- 

 tion regarding ton{/i(e-positio7is may be ascertained experimentally. 



One way of getting information is that known as Falatonraphy. 

 It consists in using a special kind of artificial palate, in order to find 

 out what parts of the roof of the mouth are touched by tiie tongue 

 in the production of different speech-sounds. 



The requirements of this special type of artificial palate are that 

 it should be very thin, should fit very accurately, should be dark- 

 coloured, and should cover the whole of the hard palate, alveolars, 

 and the under-side of the upper front teeth. Such palates may be 

 made of vulcanite, or metal, or other substances. 



When the palate is to be used, it is dusted over with powdered 

 chalk ; it is then inserted into the mouth ; the sound to be studied 

 is pronounced, and the palate is taken out. It will be found that the 

 chalk has been removed by the tongue at every point which the 



