334 SPEECH. [BOOK in. 



we call words being formed of two or more syllables, or at times 

 of one only. In the great majority of syllables we recognize two 

 kinds of sounds which we call vowels and consonants. Though it 

 is easy to say which is a vowel and which is a consonant, it is dif- 

 ficult to frame a definition which shall be free from all objections. 

 It has been said that vowels are formed by the voice, that is by the 

 vibrations of the vocal cords (hence the name vowel, vocalis), and 

 consonants by the mouth, lips or other parts of the chamber above 

 the larynx ; but as we shall see, on the one hand the vowels, as 

 indeed the name which we have adopted for the chamber indicates, 

 are formed by help of that chamber, and on the other hand many 

 consonants are formed by help of the voice. The word ' consonant' 

 expresses the view that what we call consonants are always sounded 

 with some vowel or other and cannot be sounded alone by them- 

 selves ; but several consonants can be so sounded ; hence the name 

 is inappropriate. We may make the distinction that whereas in 

 a vowel the form assumed by the resonance tube merely modifies 

 the sound produced by the larynx, in a consonant a change of 

 form in the same tube creates a noise which may exist by itself 

 or may mingle with the sound produced by the larynx ; but this 

 is not exact, since as we shall see such a consonant as M may be 

 used (as for instance in ' bottom,' in which though we write we do 

 not sound the second 0} in such a way that the form of the mouth 

 only modifies a laryngeal sound, and the utterance may be contin- 

 ued indefinitely, like that of a vowel. Indeed we employ M and 

 certain other consonants in two ways ; we use M as a true con- 

 sonant in company with a vowel as in ' my ' or, as in the above 

 instance, we may use it by itself, it alone forming a syllable. In 

 this latter function M may conveniently be called a sonant, the 

 sounds of speech being divided into ' sonants ' and true ' conson- 

 ants.' Again, it may be said that in the formation of a vowel, 

 the whole of the vowel chamber is employed, in the formation of 

 a consonant a particular part only. Lastly in M and similar con- 

 sonants the very assumption of the form of the vowel chamber, 

 which modifies the laryngeal sound, enters into the formation of 

 the whole sound ; this is not the case in a vowel ; hence we may say 

 that a vowel results from the mere relative position of, but a conso- 

 nant from some action or movement of, the parts of the vowel cham- 

 ber. We may however leave these definitions and turn at once to 

 the mode of formation of the several vowels and consonants, or 

 rather to the more common of these, since each language has 

 its own vowels and sounds, and while some are common to all, 

 some are special to a few, or even to one. We may merely remark 

 that in speech the vowels bear the brunt of the work,, they carry 

 the ' accent,' and the consonants are, so to speak, built upon them 

 as on a foundation. Some consonants (sonants) however may be 

 used like vowels to carry accent. 



917. Vowels. With the utterance, either in singing or 



