. Introduction to the natural history of language . flaccid. The first deter-mination of a sound as an element of speech is made at thispoint and in this way. Next, after leaving the glottis, thecurrent of air is subject to modifications of the finest andmost complicated descriptions, by the action of the musclesof the throat, tongue, soft palate, under-jaw, lips, and these agencies the sound-passage during speech is con-tinually shortened, lengthened, closed, or narrowed into amost subtle variety of shapes and with the greatest to the investigations of physiologists
. Introduction to the natural history of language . flaccid. The first deter-mination of a sound as an element of speech is made at thispoint and in this way. Next, after leaving the glottis, thecurrent of air is subject to modifications of the finest andmost complicated descriptions, by the action of the musclesof the throat, tongue, soft palate, under-jaw, lips, and these agencies the sound-passage during speech is con-tinually shortened, lengthened, closed, or narrowed into amost subtle variety of shapes and with the greatest to the investigations of physiologists like Briickeand Helmholtz, assisted by the laryngoscope, and of phoneticphilologists like Ellis, Sweet, Sievers, etc., the operations in-volved in speech and the special characters differentiatingthe several classes of speech-sounds have been ascertainedto a high degree of scientific precision. The following diagram may be taken as representing Phonology roughly the positions of the organs of speech in a state ofrest :— Incisor .Teeth . LowerJaw. Glottis and Vocal Chords Hard Palate Soft Palate(Velum Palati) Epiglottis In the above figure the head and neck are representedin section from back to front; the lips are closed, the nasalpassage being left open for breathing. The tongue lies inits natural position, the muscles of the pharynx are at rest,while the glottis is left open and without muscular tension It may be as well, without entering into unnecessarydetail, to say something of the constitution and action ofeach of the several organs employed in the conversion of thestream of breath into speech. («) The Larynx, Glottis, and Vocal Chords.—Thelarynx is a species of cartilaginous box, composing theupper part of the windpipe (or trachea). Of the enclosingcartilages those known as the thyreoid, or thyroid (the frontand side walls, recognisable from the exterior as the Adamsapple), the cricoid (a horizontal ring), and the two arytaenoid(the upper part of the back wall) are
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Keywords: ., bookcentury1900, bookdecade1900, booksubjectlanguageandlanguages
