RESPIRA TION 267 



consonants formed there, such as p and 6, are called labials. 

 A second articulation position is between the anterior part 

 of the tongue and the teeth and hard palate. Here are 

 formed the dentals, t, d, etc. The ordinary English r, and 

 the r of the Berwickshire and East Prussian 'burr,' also arise 

 in this position through a vibratory motion of the point of 

 the tongue. The third position of articulation is the narrow 

 strait formed between the posterior portion of the arched 

 tongue and the soft palate. To the consonants arising here 

 the name of gutturals has been given. They include k, g, 

 the Scottish ch, and the uvular German r. The latter is 

 produced by a vibration of the uvula. The aspirated h is a 

 noise set up by the air rushing through a moderately wide 

 glottis, and some have therefore included the glottis as a 

 fourth articulation position for consonants. Certain sounds 

 like n, m, and ng, when final (as in pen, dam, ring), although 

 produced at the glottis, are intensified by the resonance of 

 the air in the nose and pharynx, and are sometimes spoken 

 of as nasal consonants. 



As we have said, the vowels are produced by vibrations of 

 the vocal cords, but they owe their special timbre to the 

 reinforcement of certain overtones by the resonating cavities, 

 the shape and fundamental tone of which are different for 

 each vowel. When a vowel is whispered, the mouth assumes 

 a characteristic shape, and emits the fundamental tone proper 

 to the form and size of the particular ' vowel-cavity,' not as 

 a reinforcement of a tone set up by the vibrations of the 

 vocal cords, but in response to the rush of air through the 

 cavity; just as a bottle of given shape and size gives out a 

 definite note when the air which it contains is set in vibra- 

 tion, by blowing across its mouth. A whisper, in fact, is 

 speech without voice ; the larynx takes scarcely any part in 

 the production of the sounds ; the vocal cords remain apart 

 and comparatively slack ; and the expiratory blast rushes 

 through without setting them in vibration. 



The fundamental tone of the 'vowel-cavity' may be found 

 for each vowel by placing the mouth in the position necessary 

 for uttering it, then bringing tuning-forks of different period 

 in front of it, and noting which of them sets up sympathetic 



