MECHANISM OF ARTICULATE SOUNDS. 239 



difficulty. That it is the short duration of speaking sounds 

 which distinguishes them from those of singing, is proved by 

 this, that if we prolong the intonation of a syllable, or utter 

 it like a note, the musical sound becomes evident. And if 

 we pronounce all the syllables of a phrase in the same tone, 

 the speaking voice closely resembles psalm-singing. Every 

 one must have noticed this in hearing school-boys recite or 

 read in a monotone, and the analogy is complete when the 

 last two or three syllables are pronounced in a different tone. 

 Spoken voice is moreover always a chant more or less marked, 

 according to the individual and the sentiment which the 

 words express. The accentuation peculiar to certain lan- 

 guages also gives the speech the character of a chant : to a 

 French ear an Italian preacher seems always to sing. It is 

 a chant also which is caused by all those inflections of the 

 voice, which express our sentiments and our passions, and 

 which vary with every thought. They extend from the 

 feeble murmur, which the ear scarcely perceives, to the 

 piercing cry of pain. Affectionate, sympathetic, imperious, 

 or hostile, they sometimes charm, sometimes irritate, and 

 always move us. It is related of Gretry, that he amused 

 himself by noting as exactly as possible the "Bonjour, mon- 

 sieur!" (Good day, sir!) of the persons who visited him; and 

 these words expressed by their intonation, in fact, the most 

 opposite sentiments, in spite of the constant identity of the 

 literal sense. Baron, the comedian, moved his audience to 

 tears by his recitation of the stanzas of the song, "Si le roi 

 m'avait donne Paris sa grand* ville" If the king had given 

 me Paris his great city. 



Mechanism of articulate sounds. Writers are not in accord 

 in explaining the pronunciation of letters, that is, the me- 

 chanism of articulate sounds; but, whether grammarians or 

 physiologists, they all class the letters according to the parts 

 of the vocal apparatus which co-operate in their pronuncia- 

 tion, as labials, dentals, gutterals, &c. The division of the 

 signs of the alphabet into vowels and consonants expresses 

 the universal idea that a vowel is a voice, a sound perfect in 

 itself, while a consonant cannot be sounded without the help 

 of a vowel associated with it. The consonants, indeed, do 



