318 S. Porter on the Vowel Elements in Speech. 
presented a partial obstruction, of a yielding nature, over which 
the vocal current breaks, or by which it rubs, producing a murs 
mur, burr, or trill, only, instead of a reverberation and ringing 
out of the sound. 
Turning again now to the w, we find here a contrast of ten- 
sion and non-tension of the lips as a further distinction between 
this consonant and the vowel u!/, is may be made visible 
and palpable in the word woo, which presents the two elements 
quite open as labials to external observation. 
In explaining the theory of the diphthong, there was occasion 
to notice the development of w between two vowels whose suc- 
cession involves transition from a close to an open position of the 
lips,—as in the Fr. out and the Eng. ae f ' y in hke 
manner in the transition from a forward to a backward (or what 
some would call a close and an open) palato-lingual articulation, 
—as in million, billzard. Now, such transition requires a relax- 
ation of the tension which characterizes vowel-articulation ; and 
either a hiatus or a consonant must intervene. The simple re- 
laxation of the articulating organs, with continuance of the tone, 
gives us win one case and y in the other. From this we may 
conclude, first, negatively, that these consonants are not more 
close than the vowels from which they are developed by transi- 
tion to a more open position; second, positively, that this relax- 
ation, or non-tension, is what essentially distinguishes these con- 
sonants from the vowel 
: The characteristic feature of the vowel depends, then, upon hav- 
ing a palato-lingual tube formed in the manner described for the re- 
verberation of the sound from the larynx, and cousists in the actual 
Be es. Dt NSERC fT a tay eee eee eS ee 
