DIPHTHONGS AND NASAL TIMBRE OF VOWELS. 52 1 



latter is shorter and wider as the lips are nearer to the teeth. The larynx is slightly higher 

 than with U, while the resonance chambers also are shorter (tig. 366). 



When sounding I, the cavity of the mouth, at the posterior part, is in the form of a small- 

 bellied flask with a long narrow neck, of which the belly has the fundamental tone, f, the 

 neck that of d'". The resonating chambers are shortest, as the larynx is raised as much as 

 possible, while the mouth, owing to the retraction of the lips, is bounded in front by the teeth. 

 The cavity between the hard palate and the back of the tongue is exceedingly narrow, there 

 being only a median narrow slit. Hence, the air can only enter with a clear piping noise, 

 which sets even the vertex of the skull in vibration, and when the ears are stopped the sounds 

 seem very shrill. When the larynx is depressed and the lips protruded, as for sounding U, I 

 cannot be sounded. 



When sounding E, which stands next to I, the cavity has also the form of a flask with a 

 small belly (fundamental tone, f), and with a long, narrow neck (fundamental tone, b'"). The 

 neck is wider, so that it does not give rise to a piping noise. The larynx is slightly lower 

 than for I, but not so high as for A. 



Fundamentally, there are only three primary vowels I, A, U, the others and the so-called 

 diphthongs standing between them (Briicke). 



Diphthongs occur when, during vocalisation, we pass from the position of one 

 vowel into that of another. Distinct diphthongs are sounded only on passing from 

 one vowel with the mouth wide open to one with the mouth narrow; during the 

 converse process, the vowels appear to our ear to be separate (Briicke). 



II. Timbre or Clang-Tint. Besides its pitch, every vowel has a special timbre, 

 quality, or clang-tint. 



The vocal timbre of U (whispering) has, in addition to its fundamental tone, b, a deep 

 piping timbre. The timbre depends upon the number and pitch of the partials or overtones of 

 the vowel sound ( 415). 



Nasal Timbre. The timbre is modified in a special manner when the vowels are spoken with 

 a "nasal " twang, which is largely the case in the French language. The nasal timbre is 

 produced by the soft palate not cutting off the nasal cavity completely, which happens every 

 time a pure vowel is sounded, so that the air in the nasal cavity is thrown into sympathetic 

 vibration. When a vowel is spoken with a nasal timbre, air passes out of the nose and mouth 

 simultaneously, while with a pure vowel sound, it passes out only through the mouth. 



When sounding a pure vowel (non-nasal), the shutting off of the nasal cavity from the mouth 

 is so complete, that it requires an artificial pressure of 30 to 100 mm. of mercury to overcome 

 it (Hartmann). 



The vowels, a, a (se), o (ce), o, e, are used with a nasal timbre a nasal i does not occur in 

 any language. Certainly it is very difficult to sound it thus, because when sounding i, the 

 mouth is so narrow that when the passage to the nose is open, the air passes almost completely 

 through the latter, whilst the small amount passing through the mouth scarcely suffices to 

 produce a sound. 



In sounding vowels, we must observe if they are sounded through a previously closed glottis, 

 as is done in the German language in all words beginning with a vowel (spiritus lenis). The 

 glottis, however, may be previously opened with a preliminary breath, followed by the vowel 

 sound ; we obtain the aspirate vowel (spiritus asper of the Greeks). 



B. If the vowels are sounded in an audible tone, i.e., along with the sound from 

 the larynx, the fundamental tone of the vocal cavity strengthens in a characteristic 

 manner the corresponding partial tones present in the laryngeal sound ( Wheatstone, 

 v. Helmholtz). 



318. CONSONANTS. The consonants are noises which are produced at 

 certain parts of the resonance chamber. [As their name denotes, they can Only be 

 sounded in conjunction with a vowel.] 



Classification. The most obvious classification is according to (I.) Their acoustic properties, 

 so that they are divided into (1) liquid consonants, i.e., such as are appreciable without a 

 vowel (m, n, 1, r, s) ; (2) mutes, including all the others, which cannot be distinctly heard 

 without an accompanying vowel. (II.) According to their mechanism of formation, as well as 

 the type of the organ of speech, by which they are produced. They are divided into 



1. Explosives. Their enunciation is accompanied by a kind of bursting open of an obstacle, 

 or an explosion, occasioned by the confined and compressed air which causes a stronger or weaker 

 noise ; or, conversely, the current of air is suddenly interrupted, while, at the same time, the 

 nasal cavities are cut off by the soft palate. 



2. Aspirates, in which one part of the canal is constricted or stopped, so that the air rushes 

 out through the constriction, causing a faint whistling noise. (The nasal cavity is cut off.) In 



