ARTICULATE SPEECH VOWELS AND CONSONANTS. 559 



the various organs which intervene between the larynx and the os 

 externum. The simplest of these modifications is that by which the 

 Vowel sounds are produced, these sounds being continuous tones, 

 modified by the form of the aperture through which they pass out. 

 Thus, let the reader open his mouth to the widest dimensions, depress 

 the tongue, and raise the velum palati, so as to make the exit of air as 

 free as possible ; on then making a vocal sound, he will find that this 

 has the character of the vowel a in ah. On the other hand, if he draw 

 together the lips, still keeping the tongue depressed, he will pass to the 

 sound represented in the English language by oo, in the Continental 

 languages by u. By attention to the production of other vowel sounds, 

 it will be found that they are capable of being formed by similar modi- 

 fications in the form of the buccal cavity and the size of the buccal 

 orifice ; and that they are capable of being sustained for any length of 

 time. There is an exception, however, in regard to the sound of the 

 English i, as in fine, which is, in reality, a diphthongal sound, produced 

 in the act of transition from a peculiar indefinite murmur to the sound 

 of the long e, which takes its place when we attempt to continue it. 

 The short vowel sounds, moreover, such as a in fat, e in met, o in pot, 

 &c., are not capable of being perfectly prolonged, as they require, for 

 their true enunciation, to be immediately followed by a consonant. A 

 tolerably goo(J artificial imitation of Vowel sounds has been effected by 

 means of a reed-pipe representing the larynx, surmounted by an India- 

 rubber ball, with an orifice, representing the cavity and orifice of the 

 mouth. By modifying the form of the ball, the different vowels could 

 be sounded during the action of the reed. 



982. In the production of the sounds termed Consonants, the breath 

 suffers a more or less complete interruption, in its passage through the 

 parts anterior to the larynx. The most natural primary division of 

 these sounds is into those which require a total stoppage of the breath 

 at the moment previous to their being pronounced, and which, there- 

 fore, cannot be prolonged ; and those in pronouncing which the inter- 

 ruption is partial, and which can, like the vowel sounds, be prolonged 

 ad libitum. The former have received the designation of explosive con- 

 sonants ; the latter are termed continuous. In pronouncing any conso- 

 nants of the explosive class, the posterior nares are completely closed ; 

 and the whole current of air is directed through the mouth. This may 

 be checked by the approximation of the lips, as in pronouncing b and p ; 

 by the approximation of the point of the tongue to the front of the palate, 

 as in pronouncing d and t ; or by the approximation of the middle of 

 the tongue to the arch of the palate, as in pronouncing the hard g or k. 

 The difference between b, d, and#, on the one hand, andp, t, and ~k, on the 

 other, depends simply upon the greater extent of the meeting surfaces 

 in the former case than in the latter. In sounding some of the con- 

 tinuous consonants, the air is not allowed to pass through the nose ; but 

 the interruption in the mouth is incomplete ; this is the case with v and 

 f, s and z. In others, the posterior nares are not closed, and the air 

 has a nearly free passage, either through the nose alone, as in m and n, 

 or through the nose and mouth conjointly, as in I and r. The sound of 

 h is a mere aspiration, caused by an increased force of breath ; and that 



