THE SPEECH OF CHIMPANZEES 71 



thus, )('), which is pronounced almost like "wu," 

 giving " u " the short sound again. 



I shall not lead the reader through the long and 

 painful task by giving the entire system as far as I 

 have gone, but what has been given will convey an 

 idea of a system, by means of which it will be pos- 

 sible to represent the sounds of all animals, so that 

 the student of phonetics will recognise at once the 

 character of the sound, even if he cannot reproduce 

 it by natural means. 



It would be tedious and of no avail to the casual 

 reader to reduce to writing here the sounds made by 

 the chimpanzee ; but it may be of interest to mention 

 and describe the character and use of some of them. 



Perhaps the most frequent sound made by all 

 animals, appears to be that referring to food, and 

 therefore it may claim the first place in our 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. 



Another sound of frequent use among them is that 

 used for calling. The vowel element is nearly the 

 same, though slightly sharpened, and merges into a 

 distinct vanishing w." The food sound is often 

 repeated two or three times in succession, but the 

 call is rarely ever repeated, except at long intervals. 



One sound is particularly soft and musical, the 



