AAIUKE 



[Febkuarv 2, 1899 



a further difficulty which is clearly brought out in the 

 famous chart of drawings exhibited by Koenig in 1867. 

 This difficulty is due to the fact that the characteristic 

 grouping for each vowel differs with the pitch at which 

 the sound is uttered, and that no two speakers sound the 

 vowels in precisely the same manner, each one ha\ing 

 his personal peculiarities of voice. Fortunately it is not 

 necessary to learn to read them in this way, since their 

 interest lies chiefly in the completeness with which they 

 serve to show a multitude of details and peculiarities of 

 articulate speech, which cannot be so directly studied in 

 any other manner. 



Not only are the subtle differences which distinguish 

 the vowel sounds uttered by persons spe.iking various 

 dialects manifested by differences in the flame groupings, 



UU4UMmm\\m\k\\U\U4UM4M 



miUHMMM4Mmmm 



■ Mmi 



mm 



wmmmwm 



'ilimi'llimmiltlmmillUiUmmMllllmtM^ 





V\'.. 4 — Sp'-cirncns of chrono-i>"jOlogr.-iohs of the manometric flame. [The 

 reduced by one-third.) 



but, as I have just pointed out, the individual peculiarities 

 in the utterance of different speakers using the same 

 dialect are plainly discernible. We have, moreover, in 

 the record of each individual syllable, most interesting 

 evidence of the gradual formation of the full vowel sound 

 as the mouth opens at the beginning of the syllable, and 

 the modification of the sound again as the mouth closes 

 at the end. .Another peculiarity which the reader of the 

 iTianometric records encounters, lies in the fact that the 

 pauses between words in ordinary speech are often of no 

 greater duration than pauses between syllables of the 

 same word. There is thus no way of separating words 

 from one another until fhe record has been interpreted, 

 and each group of flame-images has been assigned its 



NO. 1527, VOL. 59] 



place in the phrase. This difficulty is akin to the one 

 with which we meet when, with unaccustomed ears, we 

 try to distinguish for the first time the spoken words of a 

 foreign language. The flame record does, on the other 

 hand, for the reader what the printed page does not do. 

 It shows clearly by means of the strength of oscillation 

 into which the flame is thrown, which syllables are 

 accented and which are unaccented by the speaker ; and 

 more than this, it is capable of indicating the degree of 

 emphasis placed upon each syllable, and of recording 

 faithfully those only too numerous cases in which we slur 

 over, in careless speech, portions of a word which should 

 perhaps be clearly enunciated 



It is unfortunately not possible to illustrate these points 

 of interest without the use of very large plates. To show 

 properly the record of a word or 

 phrase containing four syllables, the 

 photograph must be at least one 

 metre in length. It is only possible 

 to clip here and there an interesting 

 passage from the records by way of 

 illustration of the appearance of the 

 photographs which may be obtained. 

 These passages are of necessity very 

 brief, covering a time interval in each 

 case of less than two-tenths of a 

 second. One cannot even give the 

 record of a smgle complete, de- 

 liberately spoken syllable upon a 

 plate of the width of a page of 

 N.\TUR1£. 



The photograph numbered I in 

 Fig. 4 is the first part of the record 

 obtained when the syllable dii (as in 

 dart) is deliberately spoken. It shows 

 the gradual formation of the serrated 

 image as the mouth opens, which 

 reaches its ma.ximum of strength 

 immediately thereafter. This is fol- 

 lowed by a short interval, which 

 may be called the iuten'al of ad- 

 jiis/imnt, during which the mouth 

 is being brought into a position to 

 litter the vowel properly. M the 

 extreme right-hand the first vibra- 

 tions due to the fully developed 

 vowel sound are to be seen. This 

 photograph gives about one-third 

 of the complete record obtained 

 from such a syllable. 



No. 2 shows in like manner the 

 formation of the syllable a/i, deliber- 

 ately spoken, in which the mouth 

 opens more slowly and the forma- 

 tion of the vowel is preceded by 

 a characteristically difl'erent set of 

 flame groupings. This trace is like- 

 rieiiLiI wiilih b.is hull wise cut off for lack of space, so as 

 to show only the first third of the 

 syllable. 

 No. 3 shows the whole of an accented syllable in a 

 rapidly spoken word. The word in this case was pie- 

 posterous, and the syllable selected for illustration here is 

 the antepenultimate pos. 



No. 4 shows a syllable still further shortened by 

 rapidity of speech, namely tan at the end of the word 

 Raritan. 



No. 5 is a small portion cut from the middle of the 

 record obtained from the word ri-cr It is introduced 

 into the plate for the purpose of showing the partial 

 interruption of the vibrations due to the sounding of the 

 V in the middle of this word. It is interesting to note 

 likewise the gradual modification of the vowel sounds 

 before and after ;' as the mouth closes and opens again. 



