308 OF THE VOICE AND SPEECH. 



experiment. When the mouth is opened wide, the tongue depressed, and the 

 velum palati elevated, so as to give the freest possible exit to the voice, the 

 vowel a in its broadest form (as in ab) is sounded.* On the other hand, if 

 the oral aperture be contracted, the tongue being still depressed, the sound oo 

 (the continental u) is produced. If attention be paid to the state of the buccal 

 cavity, during the pronunciation of the different vowel sounds, it will be found 

 to undergo a great variety of modifications, arising from varieties of position 

 of the tono-ue, the cheeks, the lips, and velum palati. The position of the 

 tongue is, indeed, one of the primary conditions of the variation of the sound ; 

 for it may be easily ascertained that, by peculiar inflexions of this organ, a 

 great diversity of vowel sounds may be produced, the other parts remaining 

 the same. Still there is a certain position of all the parts, which is most 

 favourable to the formation of each of these sounds; but this could not be 

 expressed without a lengthened description. The following table, slightly 

 altered from that of Kempelen, expresses the relative dimensions of the buccal 

 cavity and of the oral orifice, for some of the principal of these ; the number 

 5 expressing the largest size, and the others in like proportion : 



Vowel. Sound. Size of oral opening. Size of buccal cavity. 



a as in ah 5 5 



a as in name 4 2 



e as in theme '3 1 



o as in cold 2 4 



oo as in cool 1 5 



These are the sounds of the five vowels, a, e, i, o, u, in most Continental lan- 

 guages ; and it cannot but be admitted that the arrangement is a much more 

 natural one than that of our own vowel series. The English a has three 

 distinct sounds capable of prolongation ;t the true broad a of ah, slightly 

 modified in/r ; the a of fate, corresponding to the e of French ; and the a of 

 fall, which should be really represented by au. This last is a simple sound 

 though commonly reckoned as a diphthong. In Kempelen's scale, the oral 

 orifice required to produce it would be about 3, and the size of the buccal 

 cavity 4.J On the other hand, the sound of the English i cannot, like that of 

 a true vowel, be prolonged ad libitum; it is in fact a sort of Diphthong, result- 

 ing from the transition from a peculiar indefinite murmur to the sound of e, 

 which takes its place when we attempt to continue it. The sound oy or oi, 

 as in oil, is a good example of the true diphthong ; being produced by the 

 transition from au to e. In the same manner, the diphthong ou, which is the 

 same with ow in owl, is produced in the rapid transition from the broad a of 

 ah, to the oo of cool. Much discussion has taken place as to the true charac- 

 ter of y, when it commences a word, as in yet, yawl, &c. ; some having main- 

 tained that it is a consonant, (for the very unsatisfactory reason, that we are in 

 the habit of employing a rather than an, when we desire to prefix the indefi- 



* This sound of the vowel a is scarcely used in our language, though very common 

 in most of the continental tongues; the nearest approach to it in the English is the a in 

 far : but this is a very perceptible modification, tending towards au. 



j- The short vowel sounds, as a in fat, e in met, o in pot, &c., are not capable of pro- 

 longation. 



+ The mode of making a determination of this kind may here be given, for the sake of 

 example. If the broad a be sounded, the mou.th and fauces being opened wide, and we 

 contract the oral orifice by degrees, at the same time slightly elevating the point of the 

 tongue, we gradually come to the sound of u; by still further contracting the orifice, 

 and again depressing the tongue, \ve form oo. On the other hand, in sounding e, the 

 tongue is raised nearly to the roof of the mouth; if it be depressed, without the position 

 of the lips being altered, au is given. 



