326 



THE VOICE 



pet) and I ( =ee) are double-toned. The back of the tongue is 

 brought up against the front part of the soft palate so that the 

 mouth is divided into two resonating cavities each with a charac- 

 teristic note (Fig. 70). 



By whispering the vowels one may readily determine the 

 resonance-pitch characteristic of each. U has the lowest pitch, 

 followed by and A. It is thus easier to sing U and on low 

 than on high notes. An attempt to go up the scale by sounding 

 " oos " will cause a tendency to clip the full vowel and sound aj 

 short " ee." The characteristic notes of each of these vowels 

 (by percussion, Expt. 51, p. 422) is given by Helmholtz as follows 

 (Fig. 71) : 



A = B u 



E - F l ; B m 



I = F, D lv 





IT 



O 



E 



FIG. 71 (Starling). Values obtained by percussing mouth cavity while shaped for the 

 pronunciation of the vowels. 



The English I is really a diphthong and is pronounced byj 

 rapidly uttering the component unit sounds, e.g. I (as in fight) 

 = AI = ah-ee. 



Consonants are not continuous but are sharply interrupted 

 sounds. The issuing air is suddenly shut off by the lips to give 

 the labials ; by the teeth to produce dentals ; by the tongue to 

 give rise to gutturals. If the check occurs before the sound is 

 produced, and the air is suddenly released, explosives are the 

 result. The characteristic sounds of some consonants, e.g. M 

 and N (which are mechanically the same as B and D), are produced 

 by keeping patent the posterior opening of the nares. In this 

 way some of the air comes continuously through the resonant 

 nasal passages. 



TABLE LIL 

 CONSONANTS. 



