ARTICULATE SOUNDS 521 



brought together. On the contrary, different languages are characterized by 

 the prevalence in them of certain classes of these sounds, while other sounds 

 are less frequent or altogether absent. 



Articulate Sounds. The sounds produced in speech, or the articu- 

 late sounds, are commonly divided into vowels and consonants: the distinc- 

 tion between which is that the sounds for the former are generated by the 

 larynx, while those for the latter are produced by interruption of the current 

 of air in some part of the air-passages above the larynx. The term consonant 

 has been given to these because several of them are not properly sounded, ex- 

 cept, consonantly with a vowel. Thus, if it be attempted to pronounce aloud 

 the consonants b, d, and g, or their modifications, p, t, k, the intonation fol- 

 lows them only in their combination with a vowel. To recognize the essential 

 properties of the articulate sounds, it is necessary first to examine them as they 

 are produced in whispering, and then investigate which of them can also be 

 uttered in a modified character conjoined with vocal tone. By this procedure 

 we find two series of sounds: in one the sounds are mute, and cannot be 

 uttered with a vocal tone; the sounds of the other series can be formed inde- 

 pendently of voice, but are also capable of being uttered in conjunction 

 with it. 



All the vowels can be expressed in a whisper without vocal tone, that is, 

 mutely. These mute vowel sounds differ, however, in some measure, as to 

 their mode of production, from the consonants. All the mute consonants are 

 formed in the vocal tube above the glottis, or in the cavity of the mouth or 

 nose, by the mere rushing of the air between the surfaces differently modified 

 in disposition. But the sound of the vowels, even when mute, has its source 

 in the glottis, though its vocal cords are not thrown into the vibrations neces- 

 sary for the production of voice; and the sound seems to be produced by the 

 passage of the current of air between the relaxed vocal cords. The same 

 vowel sound can be produced in the larynx when the mouth is closed, the 

 nostrils being open, and the utterance of all vocal tone avoided. The sound, 

 when the mouth is open, is so modified by varied forms of the oral cavity as to 

 assume the characters of the vowels a, e, i, o, u, in all their modifications. 



The cavity of the mouth assumes the same form for the articulation of 

 each of the mute vowels as for the corresponding vowel when vocalized; the 

 only difference in the two cases lies in the kind of sound emitted by the 

 larynx. It has been pointed out that the conditions necessary for changing 

 one and the same sound into the different vowels are differences in the size of 

 two parts the oral canal and the oral opening; and the same is the case 

 with regard to the mute vowels. By oral canal is meant here the space 

 between the tongue and palate: for the pronunciation of certain vowels 

 both the opening of the mouth and the space just mentioned are widened; 

 for the pronunciation of other vowels both are contracted; and for others 

 one is wide, the other contracted. Admitting five degrees of size, both of 



