1897-98.] Mr E. J. Lloyd on Consonant-Sounds. 229 
tion is maintained by a strong pull of the muscles running from 
the inner surface of the lower jaw to the tongue-hone and root of 
the tongue. The growing contraction of these muscles is to be 
easily felt outside, when the resonance of x is raised step by step 
to its highest. It seems to be of the essence, therefore, of x and x , 
that their constrictions shall open as abruptly as may be into the 
pharyngeal cavity ; and thus the formation of a resonant tube in- 
side the constriction, resembling that of / or 0, is avoided, ap- 
parently with intention and effort. Something of the same kind 
happens with / and 0. Their resonant passages cannot open so 
abruptly into the pharynx as that of x, because that is not their 
constricted end : but the same sharp declivity may be felt at the 
inner end of either passage; and the same co-operation of the 
muscles under the jaw may be felt externally, when the pitch of 
either resonance is carried towards its upward limit. If any of 
these consonants, /, 0, x, x , does possess an inner, weaker reso- 
nance, it is certainly of low pitch; for the larynx is wide open, the 
body of air to be agitated extends right down to the lungs, and its 
aperture is relatively small. It remains to be seen whether any 
such elements can be detected in phonograms. As for the principal 
resonance of x and x , it does not differ essentially from that of f 
or 6 ; the difference must again be sought, not in the resonance it- 
self, but in the nature of its distortions. These will probably be 
less random and less violent than those of either / or 0, especially 
in x . 
h. 
The production of the consonant h reposes upon four primary 
conditions, two of them again identical with, and the other two 
similar in kind to, those for /, 6, x, and x ; but it differs from any 
of these in its less degree of constriction, and its greater force of 
breath. These two conditions hang necessarily together ; for the 
h passage would, as a rule, on account of its wideness, let the 
breath pass without any audible friction, if it were not expelled 
with more than ordinary force. Hence comes the name aspirate , 
which is used to distinguish h and all other feebly constricted 
spirates from those of closer constriction. Aspirate sounds other 
than h are rare in English, but will be found to demand attention 
whenever the acoustic nature of ?, m, n , rj, r, jl , p, t , or 7c, is 
