Blumenbach has given us a most ingenious definition of this wonderful
function. The voice, properly speaking, is a sound formed by means of
expiration in the _larynx_, which is a most beautifully constructed organ,
fixed upon the top of the windpipe, like a capital upon a column. It is
composed of various cartilages, united in the form of a little box, and
supplied with numerous muscles, that, moving altogether or separately,
produce the variations of sound.
The part of the _larynx_ most concerned in producing the voice is the
_glottis_, or narrow opening of the windpipe, having the _epiglottis_
suspended over it like a valve. The air expired from the lungs strikes
upon the glottis, and thus becomes sonorous. The change that the glottis
undergoes in the modulation of the voice has been matter of much
controversy. Aristotle and Galen compared the glottis to a wind
instrument; Ferrein assimilated it to a chorded one. This latter
hypothesis was objected to, on the principle that a chord, to vibrate,
should not only be in a state of tension, but dryness; characters which
this organ does not possess, being constantly lubrified with mucus, and in
a state of greater or lesser relaxation. Fulgentius considers the human
voice to be composed of ten parts: the four first are the front teeth, so
useful for the appulse of the tongue in forming sounds, without which a
whistle would be produced instead of a voice; the fifth and sixth are the
lips, which he compares to cymbals striking against each other; the
seventh the tongue, which serves as a plectrum to articulate sounds; the
eighth is the palate, the concavity of which forms the belly of the
instrument; the ninth the throat, which performs the part of a flute; and
the tenth the lungs, which supply the place of bellows.
That every degree of action in the _glottis_ is due to the muscles of the
_larynx_ is proved by the experiment of tying or dividing the recurrent
nerves, when the voice is destroyed or weakened.
Speech is a peculiar modification of the voice adjusted to the formation
of the sounds of letters, by the expiration of the air through the
nostrils and mouth, and in a great measure by the assistance of the tongue
applied and struck against the neighbouring parts, the palate and front
teeth in particular, and by the diversified action of the lips. This is
Payne Knight's doctrine, in his analytical essay on the Greek alphabet,
and an illustration of the notions of Fulgentius.
Singing is compounded of speech and a musical modulation of the voice, a
prerogative peculiar to man even in his most savage state; for, despite
the assertions of the visionary Rousseau, who maintained that it is not
natural to our species, we find that even in the uncivilized regions of
Ethiopia, Greenland, and Kamtschatka, singing is a solace and a comfort.
The mechanism of speech and articulation is so intricate, that even the
division of letters and their distribution are attended with difficulties.
The following is the division of Amman in his work _Surdus Loquens_,
published at Amsterdam in 1629, and enlarged under the title of _Dissert.
de Loquela_, 1700, and is, perhaps, the most natural and intelligible.
He divides into, I. Vowels; II. Semi-vowels; III. Consonants.
I. The vowels are _simple_, _a_, _e_, _i_, _o_, _u_; and _mixed_ _ae_, _oe_,
_ue_: these are formed by the _voice_ only. The semi-vowels and consonants
are articulated by the mechanism of _speech_.
II. The semi-vowels are _nasal_, _m_, _n_, _ng_ (_n_ before _g_, which is
nearly related to it), that is, the labio-nasal _m_, the dente-nasal _n_,
and the gutture-nasal _ng_; or _oral_ (lingual), _r_, _l_, that is, _r_
with a vibration of the tongue, or _l_ with the tongue less moved.
III. The consonants he distinguishes into _sibilant_ (pronounced in
succession), _h_, _g_, _ch_, _s_, _sh_, _f_, _v_, _ph_, that is _h_,
formed in the throat, as it were a mere aspiration; _g_ and _ch_, true
consonants; _s_, _sh_, produced between the teeth; and _f_, _v_,
_ph_--formed by the application of the lower lip to the upper front
teeth--and _explosive_ (which are as it were suddenly exploded by an
expiration for a time suppressed, or interrupted), namely _k_, _q_, formed
in the throat; _d_, _t_, about the teeth; _p_, _b_, near the lips; and
_double_ (compound), _x_, _z_.[3]
It has been thought that the tongue was indispensable for the purposes of
speech, yet there are instances on record in which this has not been found
an invariable rule. Dr. Conyers Middleton mentions two cases of distinct
articulation with at least little or no tongue. In his exposure of the
_pious_ deceptions of weak and wicked Christians during the first
centuries of the Christian era, he notices a pretty tale of an Arian
prince cutting out the tongues of some of the orthodox party, and these
being as able to talk as before; nay, one of them, who had been dumb from
his birth, gained the faculty of speech by losing his tongue! We find
various accounts of persons who spoke more or less fluently without this
organ. Jussieu has inserted in the _Memoires de l'Academie des Sciences_,
1718, the case of a Portuguese girl, who instead of a tongue had merely a
little protuberance of about four lines in diameter in the middle of her
mouth, and endowed with the power of contraction and dilatation; she spoke
distinctly, but experienced difficulty in pronouncing _c_, _f_, _g_, _l_,
_n_, _r_, _s_, _t_, _x_, and _z_, when she was obliged to bend her neck
forward to upraise as it were the larynx. In this case, deglutition could
not be well performed, and she was obliged to use her finger to propel the
masticated food downwards.
Dr. Eliotson observes, that it is by no means improbable that the progress
of modern art may present us at some future period with mechanical
substitutes for orators and preachers; for, putting aside the magic heads
of Albertus Magnus and Roger Bacon, Kratzenstein actually constructed an
instrument to produce the vowels. De Kempelin has published a full account
of his celebrated speaking machine, which perfectly imitated the human
voice. The French celebrated mechanician, the Abbe Mical, also made two
heads of brass, which pronounced very distinctly entire phrases; these
heads were colossal, and their voices powerful and sonorous. The French
government refusing, it is said, in 1782, to purchase these automata, the
unfortunate and too sensitive inventor, in a paroxysm of despair,
destroyed these masterpieces of scientific ingenuity.
It has been observed, that in various races the pronunciation seemed to
depend upon some peculiar and characteristic conformation; and Adelung
informs us that in the Hottentots, the bony palate is smaller, shorter,
and less arched than in the other races, and that the tongue, especially
in the Bosjesman tribe, is rounder, thicker, and shorter. Hence their
pronunciation is singular, and has been compared to the clucking of the
Turkey, or the harsh and broken noises produced by some other birds. They
combine their aspirated gutturals with hard consonants, without any
intervening vowels, in a manner that Europeans cannot imitate.
No doubt the differences of language are as numerous as the other
distinctions which characterize the several races of men. The various
degrees of natural capacity and of intellectual progress; the prevalence
of particular faculties; the nature of surrounding circumstances; the ease
or difficulty with which our different wants and desires are gratified,
will produce not only peculiar characters in the nature and construction
of language, but in its copiousness and development.
One of the most curious points in the subject of language, is the
continued existence in a large portion of Asia, very anciently civilized,
and considerably advanced, at least in the useful arts, of simple
monosyllabic languages, which are not in the slightest degree connected
with the peculiar organization of the Mongolian variety, to which these
people belong, and whose language is distinctly polysyllabic.
The attempts that have been made to trace the origin of languages to the
varieties of our species, or to the influence of climate, have hitherto
been fruitless, and the doctrines broached on the obscure subject refuted
by observation. Mr. Jefferson states that there are twenty radical
languages in America for one in Asia; more than twenty languages, he adds,
are still spoken in the kingdom of Mexico, most of which are at least as
different from one another as the Greek and the German, the French and the
Polish. The variety of idioms spoken by the people of the new continent,
and which without the least exaggeration may be stated at some hundreds,
offers a very striking phenomenon, particularly when we compare it to the
few languages spoken in Asia and in Europe. Vater also informs us, that in
Mexico, where the causes producing insulation of the several tribes
have been for a long time in a course of diminution, Clavigero
recognised thirty-five different languages. Some of these words are
rather of difficult pronunciation, and Humboldt tells us that
_Notlazomahuiztespixcatatzin_ is the term of respect with which they
addressed their priests. During the French revolution, a learned Jacobin
discovered that the early Peruvians adored a divinity who patronized the
_Sans-culottes_, of their day, and who was named _Cawaltze-quos_, i. e.
without breeches. Such barbarous words do not constitute that engaging
tongue that Shakspeare calls "_speaking holiday_," but rather confirms
Byron's ideas of the Russians' difficult expressions, which no man has
leisure to pronounce except on high-days and holidays.
Although brutes pronounce no articulate sounds, there is, no doubt but
they have a language perfectly intelligible to one another. Their manner
of expressing their different emotions is in some instances perfectly
distinct; and birds have most decidedly a peculiar language. The following
may be said to be the words of a nightingale's strain observed by
Bechstein, an ingenious ornithologist, and committed to paper several
times while he listened with deep attention to that sweet bird's
"complaining notes," that "tune our distresses and record our woes."
Tiouou, tiouou, tiouou tiouou
Shpe, tiou, tokoua
Tio, tio, tio, tio.
Kououtio, kououtio kououtio,
Tskouo, tskouo, tskouo,
Tsii, tsii, tsii, tsii, tsii, tsii, tsii, tsii tsii tsii,
Kouoror tiou. Tskoua pipitskousisi
Tso, tso, tso, tso, tso, tso, tso tso, tso, tso, tso, tso, tsirrhading!
Tsisi si tosi si, si, si, si, si, si, si.
Tsorre tsorre tsorre tsorrehi
Tsatn, tsatn, tsatn tsatn tsatn tsatn tsatn tsi,
Dlo, dlo, dlo dla, dlo dlo dlo dlo dlo
Kouioo trrrrrrrrtzt
Lu, lu, lu, ly ly ly li li li li
Kouio didl li loulyli
Ha guour, guour, koui kouio!
Kouio, kououi kououi kououi koui, koui, koui, koui,
Ghi ghi ghi
Gholl, gholl, gholl gooll ghia hududoi
Koui koui koui ha hia dia dillhi!
Hets, hets, hets, hets, hets, hets, hets hets, hets, hets
Hets, hets, hets, hets, hets
Tourrho hostehoi
Kouia, kooia, kouia, kouia, kouia kouia kouia kouiati!
A story is related of an irascible Irish piper of the name of _Molroy_,
who declared a war implacable against the feline race, as he swore that
they invariably pronounced his name in their nocturnal concerts. Gall and
various observers of animals have fully ascertained that the attention of
dogs is awakened by our conversation. He brought one of these intelligent
creatures with him from Vienna to Paris, which perfectly understood French
and German, of which he satisfied himself by repeating before it whole
sentences in both languages. A recent anecdote has been related of an old
ship-dog, that leaped overboard and swam to the shore on hearing the
captain exclaim, "Poor old Neptune! I fear we shall have to drown him!"
and such was the horror which that threat inspired, that he never
afterwards would approach the captain or any of the ship's company, to
whom he had previously been fondly attached. It must, however, be observed
that in the brute creation, as in ours (sometimes more brutal species),
peculiar attributes, that do not belong to the race, distinguish
individuals gifted with what in man we might call a superior intellect,
but which in these animals shows a superiority of what we term instinct.
Spurzheim relates an instance of a cow belonging to Mr. Dupont de Nemours,
which, amongst the whole kindred herd, was the only one that could open
the gate leading to their pastures; and her anxious comrades, when
arriving at the wished-for spot, invariably lowed for their conductor. It
is also related of a hound, who, unable to obtain a seat near the fire
without the risk of quarrelling with the dozing occupants that crowded the
hearth, was wont to run out into the court-yard barking an alarum that
brought away his rivals in comfort, when he quietly reentered the parlour,
and selected an eligible stretching-place. This animal displayed as much
ingenuity as the traveller who, according to the well-known story, ordered
oysters for his horse for the purpose of clearing the fireside.