CHAP, vii.] SOME SPECIAL MECHANISMS. 1099 



catarrh, an adequate obstruction to the exit through the nasal 

 passages of the expiratory blast which creates the sound, it 

 becomes difficult if not impossible to establish the obstruction 

 in the mouth, since in that case there is no exit at all for the 

 expiratory blast. Hence in nasal catarrh there is a tendency for 

 the effort to pronounce M to result in B, and that to pronounce 

 N in D; 'name' becomes 'dabe.' 



If the tongue be brought to the back instead of to the front 

 of the hard palate the consonant K (hard C) is uttered ; if voice 

 be added the sound is G (hard). These are guttural explosives. 

 Allied to them is the brief sound which in certain cases inaugu- 

 rates a vowel and which, due to the sudden openimg of the closed 

 glottis, is immediately followed by the vibrations of the cords and 

 so by the true vowel sound. This is the spiritus lenis as distin- 

 guished from H or the spiritus asper, of which, formed as it is in 

 a different manner, we shall speak directly. 



Certain other consonants are continuous, and like L are 

 formed by the rush of air through a constriction formed some- 

 where in the passage ; they are friction al in origin. They differ 

 however from the ordinary L in that they are not always accom- 

 panied by voice ; like the explosives they may be uttered without 

 any vibrations of the vocal cords, and when these do accompany 

 the frictional sound the consonant is altered in its characters and 

 receives another name. As in the case of the explosives, in form- 

 ing the different members of the group, the vibrations giving rise 

 to the sound are started in different parts of the passage, at the 

 lips, at the teeth or hard palate, or at the fauces. 



When the constriction is caused by the lip being brought into 

 contact with the teeth (and generally the lower lip and upper 

 teeth are used), so as to reduce the outlet to a narrow space, the 

 vibrations started at the constriction give rise to F, when no 

 voice is uttered at the same time. If voice be also uttered the 

 F becomes V. If the teeth take no part in the constriction, and 

 this be made exclusively by the two lips, the vowel chamber at the 

 same time assuming the shape proper to the vowel U, the sound 

 if voice be uttered is W, the English W and the allied French 

 ou (in oui) may be regarded as the vowel U (in two different 

 forms) turned into consonants. The sound which is formed by 

 the two lips alone, in the absence of voice is the English (North 

 Country) Wh. 



When the constriction is formed between the tongue and the 

 teeth in such a way that the tip of the tongue protrudes between 

 the partially open rows of teeth the sound is called Th: a 'hard' 

 Th as in ' thin ' if without voice, a ' soft ' Th as in ' this ' if with 

 voice. The effect of this manoeuvre does not differ greatly from 

 that of forming F, and certain persons in attempting to pro- 

 nounce a hard Th give utterance to F, as in the cockney 'nuffin.' 



When the constriction takes place between the tongue and 



