OF ARTICULATE SOUNDS. 307 



II. Of Articulate Sounds. 



413. The larynx, as now described, is capable of producing those tones of 

 which Voice fundamentally consists, and the sequence of which becomes 

 Music : but Speech consists in the modification of the laryngeal tones, by other 

 organs intervening between the Glottis and the Os Externum ; so as to produce 

 those articulate sounds of which Language is formed. It cannot be questioned 

 that Music has its language ; and that it is susceptible of expressing the 

 emotional states of the mind, among those at least who have been accustomed 

 to associate these with its varied modes, to even a higher degree than articu- 

 late speech. But it is incapable of addressing the intellect, by conveying 

 definite ideas of objects, properties, actions, &c., in any other way than by a 

 kind of imitation, which may be compared to the signs used in hieroglyphic 

 writing. These ideas it is the peculiar province of articulate language to 

 convey ; and we find that the vocal organ is adapted to form a large number 

 of simple sounds, which may be readily combined into groups, forming words. 

 The number of combinations which can be thus produced is so inexhaustible, 

 that every language has its own peculiar series ; no difficulty being found in 

 forming new ones to express new ideas. There is considerable diversity in differ- 

 ent languages, even with regard to the use of the simplest of these combinations ; 

 some of them are more easy of formation than others, and these accordingly 

 enter into the composition of all languages ; whilst of the more difficult ones, 

 some are employed in one language, some in another, no one language pos- 

 sessing them all. Without entering into any detailed account of the mechanism 

 required to produce each of these simple sounds, a few general considerations 

 will be offered in 'regard to the classification of them ; and the peculiar defect 

 of Articulation, termed Stammering, will be briefly treated of. 



414. Vocal sounds are divided into Vowels and Consonants ; and the dis- 

 tinctive characters of these are usually considered to be, that the Vowels are 

 produced by the Voice alone, whilst the sound of the Consonants is formed by 

 some kind of interruption to the voice, so that they cannot be properly ex- 

 pressed, unless conjoined with a vowel. The distinction may be more cor- 

 rectly laid down, however, in this manner ; the Vowel sounds are continuous 

 tones, modified by the form of the aperture through which they pass out ; 

 whilst in sounding Consonants, the breath suffers a more or less complete in- 

 terruption in its passage through parts anterior to the larynx. Hence the 

 really simple Vowel sounds are capable of prolongation during any time that 

 the breath can sustain them ; this is not the case, however, with the real 

 Diphthongal sounds (of which it will presently appear that the English i is 

 one) ; whilst it is true of some Consonants. It seems to have been forgotten 

 by many of those who have written upon this subject, that the laryngeal voice 

 is not essential to the formation of either vowels or consonants ; for all may be 

 sounded in a whisper. It is very evident, therefore, that the larynx is not 

 primarily concerned in their production ; and this has been fully established 

 by the following experiment. A flexible tube- was introduced by M. Deleau 

 through his nostril into the pharynx, and air was impelled by it into the 

 fauces ; then, closing the larynx, he threw the fauces into the different posi- 

 tions requisite for producing articulate sounds, when the air impelled through 

 the tube became an audible whisper. The experiment was repeated, with 

 this variation, -that laryngeal sound^ were allowed to pass into the fauces ; 

 and each articulated letter was then heard double, in a proper voice and in a 

 whisper. 



415. That the Vowels are produced by simple modifications in the form of 

 the external passages, is easily proved, both by observation and by imitative 



