THE ELEMENTS OF SPEECH AND SONG.
The subject treated in this chapter may be made dry enough; but if the
student will, while reading the descriptions given, endeavor to form
the sounds described, observing at the same time his own
resonance-chambers (mouth parts) carefully in a hand-glass, and then
follow up the applications made, the reader's experience will be, in
all probability, like the author's: the more the subject is studied
the more interesting does it become, especially if one experiments
with his own resonance apparatus.
Vowels and consonants are the elements of syllables, and words are
composed of the latter. However pure a vowel is, it is accompanied in
its utterance by some noise; a consonant, by relatively a great deal
of noise.
A _noise_, in distinction to a musical tone, is characterized by
irregularity as regards the vibrations that reach the ear, while in
the case of a tone a definite number of vibrations strikes against the
drum-head of the ear within a given time; so that so far as syllables
and words, even vowels, are concerned, we are not dealing with pure
tones.
For the formation of each vowel a definite form of the
resonance-chambers is essential. In uttering, either for the purposes
of speech or song, the vowel _u_ (_oo_), the mouth cavity has the form
of a large flask such as chemists use for their manipulations, but the
neck in this case is short. The whole resonance cavity is elongated,
and the lips are protruded; the larynx is depressed, and the root of
the tongue and the fauces (folds from the soft palate, usually spoken
of as the "pillars of the fauces") approach. The pitch of this vowel
is very low.
[Illustration: FIG. 56 (Beaunis). Shows the position of parts in
sounding the vowel _a_. By comparing this illustration with those
following, the relatively greater size of the cavity of the mouth in
this case will be evident. The reader is recommended to at once test
the correctness of these representations by sounding the vowels, and
observing the parts of his own vocal mechanism with a hand-mirror.]
In _[=o]_ the lips are nearer to the teeth, and the neck of the flask
is shorter and wider; the larynx is somewhat more elevated than in the
last case, and the pitch of the sound is higher.
When sounding _a_ (as in _father_) the mouth cavity has the shape of
a funnel, wide in front; the tongue lies rather flat on the floor of
the mouth, the lips are wide apart, and the soft palate is somewhat
raised.
In _[=a]_ (as in _fate_) there is some modification of the last, the
tongue and larynx being more raised. The pitch of this vowel is higher
than is that of the more open _a_.
In the case of _[=e]_ (as in _me_) the flask is relatively small, and
the neck is long and narrow, the larynx much raised, the lips drawn
back against the teeth, and the tongue greatly elevated, so as to form
the narrow neck of the flask. The pitch of this vowel is high.
[Illustration: FIG. 57 (Beaunis). Shows the relative position of parts
in sounding _I_. In sounding _E_ the position is a good deal like that
for _I_.]
When sounding _[=i]_ (as in _mine_) the cavity of the mouth behind
resembles a small-bellied flask with a long, narrow neck, the larynx
is at its highest, and the lips assume a position much as in the case
of _[=e]_; between the hard palate and the back of the tongue there is
only a narrow passage--a mere furrow. The pitch of this vowel is also
high.
It is thus seen that every vowel has its characteristic quality and
pitch, the order as regards the latter being from below upward, _u_,
_o_, _a_, _[=a]_, _e_, _i_.
That the mouth cavity really can act as a resonance-chamber can be
easily demonstrated by holding a small vibrating tuning-fork before
the open mouth, and varying the shape and size of the cavity till the
sound of the fork is observed to be suddenly increased in volume. The
cavity then is a resonance-chamber for the fork, and thus intensifies
its sound; in other words, the air in the mouth cavity vibrates in
harmony with the tuning-fork.
To demonstrate in a simple manner that each vowel has its own pitch,
the mouth cavity is put into the form usual in sounding the vowel, and
the finger is filliped against the cheek, when a tone answering in
pitch to that of the vowel in question results. The demonstration is
easier with the lower-pitched, broader vowels, but the correctness of
the order of the pitch mentioned above can thus be shown to be
established.
Some very important principles for the speaker and singer hinge upon
the above-mentioned facts. It follows, for example, that it is
impossible to give a vowel its _perfect_ sound in any but one
position of the mouth parts, so that for a singer to utter a word
containing the vowel _[=u]_ (_oo_) at a high pitch is a practical
impossibility. The listener may know what syllable is meant, and
overlook the defect either from habit or from an uncritical attitude,
but composers of vocal music should bear such facts in mind and not
impose impossibilities on singers. At the same time, the vocalist, in
order to satisfy a modern audience, is obliged to sound every word and
every syllable as correctly as possible, even if the tone suffer
somewhat thereby. It is wonderful how fully the best poets have, with
the insight of genius, adapted their words (vowels) to the ideas they
wish to convey, and had all composers of vocal music done the same,
the path of the singer would not have been strewn with so many
thorns. The difficulties in the case of the speaker are similar, but
less marked, as his range is so much more limited as regards pitch.
[Illustration: FIG. 58 (Beaunis). Shows the relative position of the
parts in sounding _OU_.]
This subject has also most important bearings on the learning of
languages. One is born with tendencies toward certain mouth positions,
etc., and from infancy he is constantly using the resonance-chambers
in certain characteristic ways. In the course of years these
positions, etc., become such fixed habits that it is difficult to
change them, so that for this as well as many other reasons the
learning of languages by persons beyond a certain age is a difficult
matter. But to all students of a foreign tongue it is really essential
to explain the physical mechanism by which the various sounds are
made. The author has known an adult to struggle for months with French
and German pronunciation, and get into a state of discouragement,
fearing that he never would be able to learn the languages in which he
wished to speak and sing, when a few moments spent in explaining just
what we have written above for vowels, and what we have earlier and
shall now more fully set forth in this chapter as regards consonants,
have been followed by the lifting of the cloud from the mind and of a
load of heaviness from the heart.
The learner should (1) hear the sound (elemental--a vowel, say) from
the lips of the teacher, and actually perceive just what that sound
is--_i.e._, he must really hear it; (2) observe the shape of the
resonance-chambers; (3) try to produce the same shape of his own, and
under the guidance of his ear and his eye (watching the mouth of the
teacher) so utter the sound correctly. This sound should be fixed in
the mind, and the ear trained by comparing it with other sounds, as
the wise teacher will do, and require imitations. Any language can be
pronounced correctly in a short time, if this method be followed. It
is, indeed, the only one that rests on science and common sense. The
student when away from the teacher, after he has once learned to form
the vowels correctly, should practise with a hand-glass before him for
some time, at least.
The learning of a new language is the acquiring of a new mouth, or, at
all events, entirely new methods of using the old one. In reality,
however, this is not so fully the case as it at first seems. In all
the languages one wishes to acquire, the same vowels occur, and for
the learner it is often a question of lower or higher pitch, or
greater or less breadth, though all this involves the formation of new
habits and the fighting of old ones, and often in the case of the
adult the struggle is a long-continued and severe one. Some nations
speak at a lower pitch than others, and if a foreigner enunciate ever
so well, yet at the pitch of his own and not that of the new language,
his utterance may seem foreign. The Germans speak at a much lower
pitch than Americans, and their tongue, even when grammatically spoken
by the latter, is apt to have a sort of foreign flavor. It slightly
disturbs the listener, who is not accustomed to hear his mother-tongue
transposed into another key, so to speak.
We have known a learner to derive great benefit from having it pointed
out to him that certain of his vowel sounds would at once cease to be
incorrect if their pitch were altered. Of course, in doing this, there
were at once many changes made in the resonance-chambers, in order to
get the changed pitch. Pitch, accent, and duration of the sound throw
much light on the subject of dialect, as a little analysis of Irish or
Scotch will show.
Consonants are, as we have already said, noisy nuisances for the
singer, but indispensable for word-formation, and so for human
intercourse. Each has also its own pitch, and investigators have come
to a measurable degree of agreement on this subject.
To illustrate: Madame Seiler found that _r_ and _s_ are separated from
each other by an interval of many octaves: [Illustration: C], _r_;
[Illustration: b-flat'''], _s_. The latter, _s_, cannot be sounded
without more or less of a hissing sound, suggesting escape of air,
which is very unpleasant to the ear, and, unfortunately, these hissing
sounds are very common in English, so that the speaker or singer is
called upon to use all his art to overcome this disagreeable effect.
This is also prominent in _whispering_--_i.e._, the escape of breath,
with its corresponding effect on the ear. Whispering is effected
chiefly, if not solely, by the resonance-chambers, the vocal bands
taking only the slightest part, if any at all.
The physiologist Brücke, treating of the utterance of consonants,
considered that they were formed by the more or less complete closure
of certain doors in the course of the outgoing blast of air, and we
have already referred to a consonant as an unpleasant interrupter,
musically considered. Perhaps we should be disposed to compare them to
the people that talk during the performance at a concert, did we not
wish to avoid bringing such useful members of the speech community
into undeserved disrepute.
Consonants, like vowels, have their own mouth positions. This follows
from their having pitch, but, in addition, they require the use of the
tongue, lips, etc., in a special way. The principal articulation
positions are the following: (1) Between the lips; (2) between the
tongue and the hard palate; (3) between the tongue and the soft
palate; (4) between the vocal bands.
To indicate this, certain terms have been employed, and as they are in
common use by those who treat of this subject, it will be well to
explain them.
_Explosives_ are consonants in uttering which there is complete
closure with a sudden opening of the resonance-chambers in front, as
in _b_ and _p_.
[Illustration: FIG. 59 (Beaunis). Representation of the relative
position of the parts and the resulting shape of the sounding chamber
when the consonants indicated are formed vocally. Verification of the
truthfulness of the illustrations will prove profitable.]
_Vibratives_ call for an almost complete closure of the door and a
vibration of its margin, as in _r_.
_Aspirates_ partly close the opening, which is at once suddenly opened
again, as in _f_, _v_, etc.
_Resonants_ close the mouth, so the sound must find its way out
through the nose, as in _m_, _n_, _ng_.
The above may be put in tabular form as follows:
Articulation
Positions. Explosives. Aspirates. Vibrates. Resonants.
1 _b, p_ _f, v, w_ _m_
2 _t, d_ _s, z, l, sch, th_ _n_
3 _k, g_ _j, ch_ Palatal _r_ _ng_
4 _h_
Of course the above is only one of many possible classifications, and
expresses only a part of the whole truth, for the formation of a
single consonant is a very complicated process, the exact nature of
which can only be very imperfectly analyzed and expressed in words.
In complexity of action the resonance-chambers are wonderful beyond
any instrument devised by man, and the more one studies the subject,
the greater the wonder becomes at the amount and complexity of the
work done in a single day's speaking. It is also easy to understand
how difficult it is to attain to absolutely perfect results. To enable
one's fellow-creatures to understand him in even his mother-tongue
involves an amount of effort and energy, a complexity and facility in
function, that can only be reached after months of practice in
infancy; but to attain to that degree of perfection that makes an
artist in speaking, how much greater is the expenditure in vital
capital! Is not the result when attained worth the best efforts of the
most talented individual?