VII THE EXPRESSIVENESS OF SPEECH 125 



and physical qualities, have hardly received sufficient 

 attention. 



Human cries have already been referred to when 

 noticing the difference between abrupt and continuous 

 sounds, but there are a few points of detail that may be 

 noted here. In the word whistle we have the nearest 

 representation a word can give to the action of whistling ; 

 in babble we have the ba ba of infancy ; in ivhifiper we 

 have a word which is a mere articulate breathing or 

 aspirate ; in hush ! we have a gentle aspirate alone ; in 

 cough, vjheeze, and spit, we have not merely the sounds but 

 the actions closely represented in words ; in pronouncing 

 yawn we open the mouth and produce a throat sound as 

 in yawning ; in scream, screech, squall, and yell, we have a 

 fair imitation of loud and energetic cries due to sudden 

 pain or auger ; while in moan, groan, ivail, sigh, and sob, 

 we hear the more subdued indications of grief or continuous 

 pain. Stutter and stammer almost exactly reproduce the 

 acts indicated. 



In naming the sounds or voices of animals we use words 

 which are almost universally imitative, and are so well 

 known that they need not be here given ; but we may note 

 how well chirp and warble represent the voices of the less 

 and more musical of our small birds, as do the cawing of 

 the rook, and the cooing of the dove, those of larger 

 species. 



It is when we come to the varied sounds of inanimate 

 nature that we begin to realize the wonderful expres- 

 siveness and picturesqueness of our every-day speech, and 

 how far superior it is to any purely conventional lan- 

 guage as a means of conveying to another person a 

 description of the varied scenes, actions, and passions of 

 life. 



And first, how well the word murmur serves to represent 

 the low, modulated sound of a gentle wind among 

 trees, or of the distant waves ; while breeze indicates the 

 distant rustle of leaves shaken by a stronger wind ; and 

 from these sounds and motions the word trees and tremble 

 have not improbably arisen, as they occur with but slight 

 modifications in all the Teutonic languages. Then, again. 



