SPEECH. 271 



voice. First of these come the ventricles of tlie larynx, 

 while above are the pharynx, nasal fossae, and frontal, 

 sphenoidal, and maxillary sinuses (p. 222); and among 

 various causes which combine to alter the tones of the voice 

 in old age, may be mentioned the tendency of the entrances to 

 these sinuses to get contracted or blocked up; for, although 

 the dimensions of the various air-cavities of the skull get 

 larger in advanced life, the entrances into them become 

 smaller. From the low position of the larynx, in the utter- 

 ance of deep notes, overshadowed as it then is by the root of 

 the tongue, the voice is thrown more backwards in them, and 

 reverberates more in the various sinuses. 



198. Speech is to be carefully distinguished from voice. 

 Voice without speech is an. inarticulate sound; speech 

 without voice is a whisper. Speech is accomplished by the 

 modifying action of various organs on the expiratory currents 

 of air passing through the mouth. The tongue is by no 

 means the exclusive, nor even the principal organ of speech. 

 In ordinary language, speech is referred to as the use of the 

 tongue, and taste as the use of the palate; and even the 

 word "language," etymologically, means action of the tongue. 

 Yet the palate has little to do with taste, the tongue being 

 the only part in which that sense resides; while the palate, 

 the lips, the fauces, and even the nose are organs of speech 

 as well as the tongue, and persons from whom the tongue 

 has been completely removed by operation continue to speak 

 sufficiently plainly to be understood. The sounds of the 

 various vowels are made by varying the shape of the aperture 

 through which the air escapes by the mouth; the consonants, 

 on the other hand, are sounded by placing obstructions of 

 different kinds, and in different places, in the way of the 

 current of air. 



In the following table an attempt is made to arrange all 

 the possible consonant sounds, according to their mechanism, 

 as labial, palatal or dental, and guttural. It will be observed 

 that the fore parts of the tongue take no part in the forma- 

 tion of any labial or guttural sound; and that in the dental 

 series there are two in which the tongue takes no part, 

 namely, sh and French j, the only two sounds in which the 

 lower teeth take part. The upper teeth take part in two 



