VOICE AND SPEECH. 



437 



nants, as in make and no, m and n are seen to have the characters of the second 

 group, — Explosives. L is pronounced somewhat like n, but air is allowed to 

 escape through the mouth on each side of the tongue ; it may be produced 

 either with voice or without voice (in whispers). It may have vowel charac- 

 ters as in play. 11 is characterized as a vibrative and may have several seats 

 of articulation, as by the thrill of the tip of the tongue against the hard 

 palate, or that of the hind part of the tongue against the soft palate, or even 

 by the coarse vibration of the vocal cords themselves. In the first two cases 

 it may be sounded either with or without voice. Its vowel nature is shown in 

 such words as prat/. 



2. Explosives, which are produced either when an obstruction is suddenly 

 offered to or removed from the exit of air from the mouth; at the same time 

 a characteristic noise is produced. They may be subdivided according to the 

 place of articulation into labials (p, v) ; linguo-palatals (t, d) ; gutturals (k, g). 

 The similarity in the method of formation of p and b, t and d, k and g, is 

 striking. They are frequently characterized as being formed with or without 

 voice; that is, 6, d, and g require voice for their distinct recognition, and when 

 whispered they are easily mistaken for p, t, k, which latter do not require voire 

 (vibration of the vocal cords) for their recognition. A consonant, then, is said 

 to be formed with voice when it can be rendered distinctly only by an accom- 

 panying vibration of the vocal cords, without voice when articulated clearly 

 without laryngeal aid. The former are sometimes called sonants, the latter 

 surds. This classification only approximates the truth, for the suddenness and 

 energy with which the obstruction to the breath is removed determines our 

 recognition of the consonant irrespective of voice. 1 



Table of Consonantal Elements? 



Oral. 



Place of Articulation. 



Momentary. 



Continuous. 



Surds Sonants Surds sonants 



(without voice), (with voice), (without voice), (with voice), 



Nasal. 



Continuous. 



Sonants 



iwitii \ oice] 



Lips 



Lips and teeth 



Tongue and teeth . . . 

 Tongue and hard palate 



( forward ) 



Tongue and hard palate 



(hack) 



Tongue, hard palate, and 



soft palate 



Tongue and soft palate . 

 Various places 



t 

 ch 



f 

 th(in) 



sh 



<1| 7 

 z. r 

 zh, r 



y. 1 



3. Friction sounds or frictionals, often called aspirates, are all noises pro- 

 duced by the expired blast passing through a constriction in its passage, at 

 which point a vibration is set up. No obstruction being offered t" tin' sound, 

 they are known as continuous as distinguished from the momentary sounds of 



1 Griitzner, op. cit., pp. 211, 213. 



* Webster's International Dictionary, 1891, p. lxvi. 



