THE CONSONANTS. 1233 



while he admits that in the vowel A, the fundamental is not heard so 

 loudly as in other vowels. Hermann suggests that when the prime tone 

 is heard of very weak intensity it may exist only in the ear, but Lord 

 Eayleigh shows that even then it does exist in the external air. 



General conclusion. — It would appear, on the whole, that the 

 truth does not rest entirely on the side of one theory, but that both are 

 partially true. The view of Donders, that each vowel has a mouth 

 cavity of unchangeable and fixed pitch is too exclusive, and, on the other 

 hand, it cannot be denied (as is virtually done by those who uphold the 

 relative-pitch theory) that each vowel has a predominant partial or 

 predominant partials which give it a definite character, and which must 

 be produced by the mouth cavity as a whole, or by the double resonance 

 of portions of the cavity, as contended by Lloyd. When a vowel is 

 spoken, either separately or as it exists in a word, the complex tone is 

 produced by the vocal cords. The resonance chambers above assume a 

 certain form, and one or more partials peculiar to the vowel are so 

 strengthened as to give such character to the vowel-tone as to enable 

 the ear at once to identify it. As the form of the mouth cavity varies in 

 individuals and in different races, the partials may not be identical in 

 each case, but they will be so near a common pitch as to enable the ear 

 at once to identify the vowel. If, however, men of different nationalities 

 attempt to fix the absolute pitch of the partial, they will not agree, as 

 has been found to be the case. Again, in singing a vowel in a scale, 

 very slight alterations in the form of the resonance cavities take place. 

 In rising from the lower to the higher notes, the larynx rises, and more 

 or less of a muscular strain acts on the walls of the resonance cavities. 

 Thus there must be a slight change in the volume of these cavities, lead- 

 ing to the development of partials different from those formed by the 

 cavity at rest or in speech, but still so sufficiently near as not materially 

 to alter the quality of the tone. Consequently the ear still recognises 

 the tone of the vowel, even when sung at a high pitch, and it may even 

 recognise the special quality of a particular voice. Sometimes, though 

 rarely, the quality may become richer as the voice rises in pitch; usually 

 for each voice there is a register in which the voice has its maximum of 

 good quality. It is not surprising, therefore, that a singer almost instinct- 

 ively chooses such vowels as best suit the resonating arrangements of 

 his or her voice, and avoids tones, vowels, and words containing vowels 

 that would force the production of notes of inferior quality. On the 

 whole, we are of opinion that Lloyd's theory of double resonance accounts 

 best for the true nature of vowel-tones. 1 



The Consonants. 



The classification of the consonants suggested by Wyllie 2 will be 

 adopted here. 



It will be observed that they are arranged from above down, accord- 

 ing to the part of the oral cavity in which they are produced. Again, 

 the rows are themselves divided into three vertical columns, the 



1 Another method of examining the marks on the wax cylinder of the phonograph, as 

 regards speech, but without reference to analysis, is given with numerous figures in " La 

 parole d'apre.s le trace du phonographe," par H. Marichelle, Paris, 1897. 



2 " Disorders of Speech," 1894, p. 8. 



VOL. II. 78 



