1897 - 98 .] Dr Lloyd on Analysis of Tracings of Vowels. 
99 
though it represents no amplitude, it represents a very distinct 
period or repetition, for the whole curve repeats itself at each 
vibration of the glottis, so long as the same note and the same 
vowel are held. But the upper partials are none of them associated 
with any visible period of this kind, and may be taken to be sub- 
jectively present in the degree denoted by their amplitude in the 
analysis, with qualifications to be hereafter mentioned. 
What is it which confers upon a certain note the quality of a 
certain vowel 'i It is undoubtedly the articulation, — the shape into 
which the mouth and pharynx are thrown in order to produce the 
vowel. Vary the articulation and you vary the vowel ; maintain 
the articulation and you maintain the vowel, whether you maintain 
the same tone or not. You may even abolish the tone, and speak 
in whisper, but you still have the same vowel, if the articulation is 
maintained. What power, then, has the articulation over the tone ? 
Hone whatever, except that of resonance. The cavities of the 
articulation have the power to magnify certain partials of the 
glottal note, and to damp others. They magnify those which are 
nearest to the pitch of their own proper resonances, and they damp 
the remainder. This is best seen by examples. 
It is impossible to take a phonogram from the larynx which shall 
be totally uninfluenced by the voice-passage, because the tone must 
always come through the voice-passage. But we may choose from 
among available phonograms that of a vowel w r hich seems to be least 
influenced by the voice-passage, because it has the simplest articula- 
tion and the least distinctive quality. The ideal vowel would be a 
simple emission of voice, like the interjection Uh. Nearest to this 
come Hermann’s phonograms of German short u. The analysis of one 
of these is here graphically displayed ; it was sung on p, 196 v.d. - 
l 1 i i 
38 20-6 19-1 77 5-4 3'6 27 1 6 0'5 08 
Fig. 2. 
