528 REPOKT— 1897. 



monosyllabic roots often meaning very different things according to the 

 inflection of tone, the variations in pitch being used in that language to 

 convey shades of meaning. 



(2) Remarks on Analysis of Curves. — When human voice sounds are 

 produced in singing, especially when an open vowel sound is sung on a 

 note of definite pitch, the record is much more easily understood. Then 

 we have the waves following each other with great regularity, and the 

 pitch can easily be made out. Still, as has been well pointed out by Dr. 

 E.. J. Lloyd, of Liverpool, a gentleman who has devoted much time and 

 learning to this subject, it is impossible by a visual inspection of the 

 vowel curve to recognise its elements. Thus two curves very similar, 

 possibly identical to the eye, may give different sounds to the ear — that is 

 to say, the ear, or ear and brain together, have analytical powers of the 

 finest delicacy. No doubt, by the application of the Fourierian analysis, 

 -ve may split up the periodic wave into a fundamental of the same period, 

 and a series of waves of varying strength vibrating 2, 3, 4, 5, &q., times 

 faster than the fundamental, and the relative amplitude of each of these 

 may be determined. If all these waves of given amplitude and given 

 phase acted simultaneously on a given particle, the particle would 

 describe the vibration as seen in the original curve. Dr. Lloyd, however, 

 is of opinion that even a Fourierian analysis may not exhaust the con- 

 tents of a vowel, as it does not take account of inharmonic constituents 

 which may possibly exist. Hermann • and Pipping ^ have also been 

 investigating the analysis of vowel tones, and their investigations have 

 revealed many difliculties. Hermann experimented with the ordinary 

 phonograph, and obtained photographs of the movements of the vibrating 

 glass plate. His curves are small, not unlike those seen in Koenig's flame 

 pictures. In many cases they have sharp points. This, however, may 

 not interfere with analysis. Pipping's curves were not obtained from the 

 phonograph, but from the vibrations of a minute membrane made to 

 represent the drum-head of the ear. His curves show large periodic 

 waves with minute waves on their summits, and they suggest that the 

 large waves may be vibrations due to the membrane itself. Not having 

 seen the apparatus, and as the observations have been made by one well 

 aware of the possibility of this error, I do not venture to do more than 

 suggest this difficulty, especially as I now show you a series of tracings 

 on a glass plate very similar to those in Pipping's figures. These were 

 obtained by singing a vowel into a receiver furnished with a small mem- 

 brane, to which a recorder was attached. The glass plate (smoked) moved 

 rapidly across in front of the marker. Alongside of these you will see 

 curves obtained directly from the recorder attached to the glass disc of a 

 phonograph. In the second you see waves more like those of Hermann. 

 The larger waves in the tracing, like that of Pipping, are, I believe, due, 

 in my experiment, to the vibrator, and do not represent the glottal 

 vibrations. This conclusion is strengthened by noting the pitch of the 

 sound, as made out by counting, not the larger, but the smaller waves, 

 which corresponds to that of the vowel sound. I therefore think that 



' Hermann, ' Ueber A&s. Verhalten der Vocale am neuen Edisonschen Phonographen,' 

 rtliiger's Arcliiv,yo\. xlvii., 1890; also ' Phonophotographische Untersuchungen,' op. 

 cit., ii. and iii. 



- Pipping, 0»i Klat^gfdrgen lios sjwngna Vokaler. Discussed in Dr. Lloyd's 

 paper on the ' Interpretation of the Phonograms of Vowels.' Jl. of Anat. and 

 Physiohg., 189G. 



