TOCAL LANGUAGE OT" LAURA BRIDGEMAN. 117 



tlie hearers, led only to harsh, and seemingly aimless sounds. Her 

 teachers accordingly, while imparting to her a finger-utterance, arrested 

 her in the effort to form a phonetic language, and taught her to 

 restrain her desire for vocal expression. Yet even now the sense of 

 «njoyment survives ; and she will at times, when alone, indulge her- 

 self in giving free utterance to her voice. 



But while the process of developing a vocal language was arrested in 

 Laura Bridgeman by the very means which brought her into intelli- 

 gent intercourse with her fellow-heicgs, there is one important ex- 

 ception. Abstract ideas are now represented solely by her acquired 

 finger-language, or by writing ; but the persons she comes in contact 

 with receive from her an audible designation. She has a sound, gen- 

 erally a monosyllable, for every individual in whom she takes an in- 

 terest. Dr. Lieber, who, some years since, devoted considerable time 

 to the study of her vocal sounds, ascertained that she then used nearly 

 sixty as signs of individuals.^ It is thus apparent that while she 

 lacks all means of vocal intercourse, by which alone organic utterances 

 are matured into the recognized symbols of thought, she nevertheless 

 has the innate idea of language, and makes sound supply the repre- 

 sentatives of impersonations. The names moreover, are not arbitrarily 

 given ; but appear to have some association of specific ideas with 

 certain sounds. Miss "Wright, one of her teachers, remarks : " Before 

 learning language, Laura used many signs to make known her wants, 

 and for a long time gave to many of her friends names, which in some 

 way were associated in her mind with the variety of their characters. 

 She produces still the same sound for me that she made eight years 

 ago, with this difference, that originally it was very soft and gentle ; 

 now it is louder and fuller, to conespond, as she says, with the change 

 in myself." In another case she deliberately altered the associated 

 sound. "One of her teachers," says Dr. Lieber, "told me that Laura 

 once omitted to produce the accustomed sound indicating the person 

 who related the incident, for a whole week ; after which she uttered 

 an entirely different name-sound, and said: this is your name; — which 

 name, the teacher retained at the time the account was given to me." 

 Here we perceive a deliberate selection and change of sounds to express 

 certain associated ideas, and probably altered opinions. 



Familiarity with the use of the finger-alphabet, and intercourse by 



' Smithsonian Contributions^ vol ii. 



