90 ON THE AMOY COLLOQUIAL DIALECT. 



done. But in Chinese an element of fully equal value is the pitch of 

 the tone with which the word is uttered or the nature and extent of 

 the modulation. This want of ear (as it is called) has been a serious 

 hindrance to many earnest men in their efforts to speak Chinese. 



It must not be supposed that the absolute pitch of the tones is the 

 same with all men, or even with the same man at different times . 

 Different men speak on different keys ; the sam.e person speaks on dif- 

 ferent keys at various times and in various circumstances. So the 

 tones are constantly varying in their absolute pitch with the variation 

 of key, and yet bear to each other a fixed relation. So also the ex- 

 tent of the modulation varies with the emotions of the speaker. In 

 tranquil utterance the range of modulation is usually a third, while in 

 excited conversation it rises to a perfect fifth. Little children give a 

 greater lange to their modulations than adults. 



Helaiion of the Amoy Tones to the ordinary tones of common utterance. 



It will be observed that the Amoy Tones are such as we use in 

 ordinary speech. Every one is employed in speaking English. But 

 ■ while in Chinese the tone is an essential and unvarying element of the 

 word, in English it changes with the emotions of the speaker or the 

 general drift of the sentence. Anger, fear, love, reverence, desire, 

 pride, shame, and other feelings, determine our tones and modify them 

 constantly. In speaking in an earnest, impassioned manner, the mo- 

 dulations are almost always appropriate and impressive. But in 

 speaking Chinese, it is to be borne in mind that the very tones which 

 seem to us so natural and expressive of our emotions, have been pre- 

 engaged, and are already enlisted in the service of Orthoepy. As 

 rhetorical powers, they no longer exist, having been im.pressed for the 

 work of mere verbal enunciation. A European, in speaking Chinese, 

 must therefore be ever on his guard, lest the habits of his youth carry 

 him away, before he is aware, and the modulations be employed in the 

 expression of emotion, which must be jealously reserved for the dis- 

 tinction of words. In public speaking, great care is requisite, lest the 

 feelings of the orator ruinously modify his utterance and render unin- 

 telligible or absurd his most weighty sentences. 



But the question may be asked " Have the Chinese then no tone* 

 of emotion ?" No one can listen to an earnest altercation, without 

 perceiving that there is no lack of emotional modulation. But these 

 tones are different from those used in the utterance of words. Any 



