492 THE POPULAR SCIENCE MONTHLY. 



Grunting is a noise which is produced when, after the larynx has 

 been perfectly closed, whether spasmodically or as a voluntary action 

 with the object of holding the breath, the current of air thus inter- 

 rupted is suddenly resumed. In the grunt we must distinguish two 

 elements ; the first is a clicking sound, and the other an explosive 

 sound or slight report. The click is the noise produced by the meet- 

 ing of air in the space left vacant when two moistened bodies are sud- 

 denly separated. It forms, however, but a very small part of the noise 

 of grunting, and can scarcely be experimentally demonstrated. The 

 " report " is the well-known phenomenon connected with the sudden 

 expansion of a body of compressed air. 



" Talking through the nose " when a person has a cold is in reality 

 talking with the nose so stopped that less rather than more than the 

 usual quantity of vibrating air can pass through the nasal cavity. In 

 producing certain articulate sounds — those which occur in English are 

 represented by m, n, and ng — all the vocal air escapes from the pharynx 

 by the nose. The nasal air-passage has the general form of a resonator, 

 and there can be no doubt but that it has a corresponding influence, 

 and that the sounds produced by the air passing through it are strength- 

 ened by its resonance. The larger the nasal cavity the more powerful 

 the resonance, and consequently the re-enforcement experienced by the 

 tone. Sounds uttered with the nasal resonance, particularly the nasal 

 vowels, are fuller and more ample than the same sounds when strength- 

 ened by the resonance of the cavity of the mouth, and it is for this 

 reason that third-rate tragic actors like to give a nasal resonance to all 

 the vowels in the pathetic speeches of their heroic parts. The reso- 

 nance of the nasal cavity plays a part also in the formation of non-nasal 

 articulate sounds ; then, however, appearing only as a re-enforcement 

 of the resonance of the cavity of the mouth. The directly excited 

 nasal resonance sometimes plays an immediate part in the formation of 

 all articulate sounds, producing the nasal " twang." But the general 

 conception of this mode of speaking is by no means scientifically cor- 

 rect, every species of pronunciation in which the nasal element asserts 

 itself with undue prominence being called " talking through the nose." 

 It may, however, arise from two unlike causes : firstly, from a stoppage 

 of the nasal cavity ; or, secondly, from incomplete closure of the poste- 

 rior entrance to this cavity. If the nasal cavity is obstructed, as when 

 a child's nose is pinched and he is told to say " pudding," an accumula- 

 tion of air forms in the back of the mouth, being unable to escape 

 through the nose, and in the end is obliged to find exit through the 

 mouth. The resonance is also altered, and the nasal sounds are, there- 

 fore, formed imperfectly and falsely. The same disturbance is pro- 

 duced by the partial obstruction of the nasal cavity which is experi- 

 enced from the swollen condition of the mucous membrane, and from 

 its increased secretion, during a " cold in the head." 



A nasal twang from improper escape of air through the nasal cav- 



