438 THE BODY AT WORK 



distasteful to the hearer as those of a vulgarian. Unpleasant 

 also is a nasal twang, illogically so called, since it is due, not 

 to .the opening of the resonating chambers of the nose, but 

 to the restriction of the entry of air into them. In this it 

 is somewhat similar to the effect produced by a severe cold. 

 Resonance in the nasal chambers produces a clear, ringing 

 voice. 



A little consideration of the varying qualities of different 

 voices suffices to show how largely they depend on resonance. 

 When vowel-sounds are analysed, it is found that the dis- 

 tinctive character of each of them is dependent upon the 

 overtones which it contains. For every vowel the overtones 

 are fixed, or very nearly so, no matter what may be the pitch 

 of the note to which the vowel is sounded. 



It is much to be regretted that the alphabet was settled 

 before the physiology of speech was understood. Were it 

 based upon reasonable principles, children would be spared 

 the bewilderment which overtakes them when they endeavour 

 to establish in their minds some kind of relation between the 

 names of consonants and their effects upon the blast of air 

 as it passes through throat and mouth, and between tongue 

 and palate, teeth and lips. The vowels, had physiologists 

 defined them, would have been real pure vowel-tones 60, o, 

 ah, ee sounds which can be sustained for an indefinite time, 

 and allowed to die away without deterioration in their quality. 

 A (e as pronounced in France) is doubtfully pure it has a 

 tendency to tail off in ee ; \ is frankly a diphthong, ai (ah-5e). 

 Try to hold a long final note on the syllable " nigh " ! An 

 international standard of vowel-sounds would have been fixed, 

 by giving the vibrating periods of the tuning-forks for which 

 in each several case the resonating chambers are shaped, and 

 defining the relative accentuation of each overtone. Greatest 

 boon of all, the irruption of the Essex dialect would have been 

 dammed. It would not have been allowed to inundate London, 

 or to submerge Australia, debasing our English tongue. In 

 Cockney speech vowels degenerate down the line of greatest 

 indolence. Aw becomes or, or ar ; a becomes i. It requires 

 a greater effort to pronounce a full a than a flat a, a definite 

 flat a than i. And worse than a Cockney's unwillingness to 

 take the trouble necessary for the production of dignified 



