THE VOICE AND SPEECH. 447" 



The arches of the palate and the uvula become contracted during 

 the formation of the higher notes; but their contraction is the same for 

 a note of given height, whether it be falsetto or not; and in either case 

 the arches of the palate may be touched with the finger, without the 

 note being altered. Their action, therefore, in the production of the 

 higher notes seems to be merely the result of involuntary associate ner- 

 vous action, excited by the voluntarily increased exertion of the muscles 

 of the larynx. If the palatine arches contribute at all to the production 

 of the higher notes of the natural voice and the falsetto, it can only be 

 by their increased tension strengthening the resonance. 



The office of the ventricles of the larynx is evidently to afford a free 

 space for the vibrations of the lips of the glottis; they may be compared 

 with ^the cavity at the commencement of the mouth-piece of trumpets, 

 which allows the free vibration of the lips. 



Speech. Besides the musical tones formed in the larynx, a great 

 number of other sounds can be produced in the vocal tubes, between the 

 glottis and the external apertures of the air-passages, the combination of 

 which sounds by the agency of the cerebrum into different groups to 

 designate objects, properties, actions, etc., constitutes language. The 

 languages do not employ all the sounds which can be produced in this 

 manner, the combination of some with others being often difficult. 

 Those sounds which are easy of combination enter, for the most part, 

 into the formation of the greater number of languages. Each language 

 contains a certain number of such sounds, but in no one are all brought 

 together. On the contrary, different languages are characterized by the 

 prevalence in them of certain classes of these sounds, while others are 

 less frequent or altogether absent. 



Articulate Sounds. The sounds produced in speech, or the ar- 

 ticulate sounds, are commonly divided into vowels and consonants, the 

 distinction between which is, that the sounds for the former are gene- 

 rated by the larynx, while those of the latter are produced by interrup- 

 tion of the current of air in some part of the air-passages above the 

 larynx. The term consonant has been given to these because several of 

 them are not properly sounded, except consonantly with a vowel. T^hus, 

 if it be attempted to pronounce aloud the consonants b, d, and g, or 

 their modifications, p, t, k, the intonation only follows them in their 

 combination with a vowel. To recognize the essential properties of the 

 articulate sounds, it is necessary first to examine them as they are pro- 

 duced in whispering, and then investigate which of them can also be 

 uttered in a modified character conjoined with vocal tone. By this pro- 

 cedure we find two series of sounds: in one the sounds are mute, and 

 cannot be uttered with a vocal tone; the sounds of the other series can 

 be formed independently of the voice, but are also capable of being ut- 

 tered in conjunction with it. 



