112 APES AND MONKEYS 



sound is such as would be made by the human voice in 

 ordinary speech. The letter " X " indicates a repetition 

 of the sound, and the numeral placed after it will show the 

 number of times repeated, instead of the pitch. For exam- 

 ple, we will write the sound (.), which is equivalent to long 

 "O," made in a normal tone; the same symbol written 

 thus (.) 2 indicates that the sound is made with greater 

 energy, and about five semitones higher. To write it thus, 

 (.) 2 X, indicates that the sound is five semitones above the 

 normal pitch of the human voice and is once repeated. 



I shall not subject the reader to the tedium of elaborate 

 details of the system here outlined. This brief expose of 

 the method of representing the sounds of animals is suffi- 

 cient to convey an idea of the means by which it is possi- 

 ble to write the sounds of all animals, so that the student 

 of phonetics will recognize at once the character of the 

 sound, even if he cannot reproduce it by natural means. 



It may be of interest to describe the character and use 

 of some of the sounds uttered by the chimpanzee. The 

 most frequent sound made by animals is that referring to 

 food, and therefore it may claim the first attention. This 

 word in the language of the chimpanzee begins with the 

 short sound of the vowel "U," which blends into a strong 

 breathing sound of " H." The lips are compressed at the 

 sides, and the aperture of the mouth is nearly round. It 

 is not difficult to imitate, and the ape readily understands 

 it even when poorly made. By the method of writing 

 above described it is expressed thus, ( : )\ 



A sound that is of frequent use among them is that used 

 for calling. The vowel element is " U " long, slightly 



