Phonetics

“ From a more theoretical point of view phonetics is, in the first place, the science of linguistic observation. Without phonetic training the dialectologist, and the missionary who is confronted with a hitherto unwritten language, can neither observe fully nor record accurately the phenomena with which they have to deal. These investigations have greatly widened the scope of the science of language. The modern philologist no longer despises colloquial and illiterate forms of speech. ”

“ I therefore pass on to another field where advantages are likely to accrue from a more extended knowledge of phonetics. The question of spelling reform is a burning one in all civilized countries. Not only in English, but also in French, in German, in Danish, in Swedish, in Russian, and to a much lesser degree in Italian and Spanish, do we find numerous instances of words spelt otherwise than pronounced, of mute and superfluous or ambiguous letters. ”

“ The teacher of foreign languages will find that a thoro knowledge of the essentials of phonetics will be extremely helpful to him in his classroom. Everybody knows the manner in which corrections of pronunciation were generally made in old-fashioned classes, and how they are still made by too many teachers, even among those who have themselves acquired a good pronunciation of the language they are teaching. The pupil reads some word in some miserably erroneous way, the teacher stops him and pronounces the word in, let us assume, the correct way. ”

“ The unpopularity of phonetics is not wholly undeserved: from its early elements, the comfortably broad distinctions of convincing importance, it has progressed to a stage of almost infinite differentiations and subtleties ”

“ Sound is produced by the expulsion of air from the lungs through the windpipe. When this air in its passage through the throat sets the vocal cords in vibration, voice is produced. After passing through the throat the voice enters the mouth or nose or both. As a practical science, phonetics comprehends not only a knowledge of the sounds uttered in human speech, but the invention or discovery of an alphabetical symbol to represent each. The sounds are of two kinds: Fixed sounds, where the cavities of the mouth remain unchanged during the passage of the air ”

“ If, then, we speak without consciousness of the separate sounds, much more are we completely unconscious 29 of the movements of our vocal organs. It is only very recently that these movements have been carefully investigated, and the results of the science of phonetics are in very many respects as yet sub judice, while even the most superficial knowledge of the subject can only be attained by a conscious and careful effort of attention, and by the exercise of much patience in the observation of our precise actions when speaking. ”

“ I am, however, inclined to think that the radical spelling reform I am hoping for, will be brought about not so much thru a diffusion of phonetic science proper as by one of its accessories, namely phonetic symbolization. Any science needs some more or less conventional symbols; the mathematician has his +, and -, and √, the chemist has his letters and formulas, etc., and similarly the phonetician must have his signs and symbols to denote sounds and their relations. ”

“ Then he is able to strike at the root of the evil, chiefly thru an isolation of both sounds concerned: he pronounces them long and distinct by themselves, without any sounds before or after which are apt to bewilder the ear by diverting the attention from the sounds themselves, and then he shows how the difference of impression which it is now easy to appreciate, is produced by shifting the tongue a little forward or a little backward, or by voicing the sound, or whatever the mistake in question may be. ”

“ Phonology.—The history of the sounds of a language is, to a considerable extent, that of its inflections, which, no less than the body of a word, are composed of sounds. This fact, and the fact that unconscious changes are much more reducible to law than conscious ones, render the phonology of a language by far the surest and widest foundation for its dialectology, the importance of the sound-changes in this respect depending, not on their prominence, but on the earliness of their date. ”

“ It is an interesting chapter in English phonology to trace the tortuous course of a given sound, say a, through its various mutations from the Anglo-Saxon period down to the present time. Our vowels, especially, have changed and interchanged to an extent which is simply astonishing. The average scholar who has not made a special study of our English language has absolutely no conception of the radical nature and vast extent of the change and development [Pg 18] of English sounds. Take as an illustration our vowel e. ”

“ To illustrate: When there are two or more vowels in a word of one syllable, the first vowel is long, and the last silent, as: came, leaf, coat, rain.
"When there is one vowel in the word and it is the last, it is long," as: me, he, fly.
All vowels are short unless modified by position.
Have the children notice the effect of final "e" upon some of their short vowel words. These lists will furnish good pronunciation drills.
Call attention to the vowel digraphs in the same way: ea, ai, oa, ay. ”

“ An Articulate Sound is the sound of the human voice, formed by the organs of speech.
A Vowel is a simple articulate sound, formed by the impulse of the voice, and by the opening only of the mouth in a particular manner.
A Consonant cannot be perfectly sounded by itself; but joined with [3] a vowel forms a compound articulate sound, by a particular motion or contact of the parts of the mouth.
A Diphthong, or Double Vowel, is the union of two or more vowels pronounced by a single impulse of the voice. ”

“ As already stated, the modifications of the vowel sounds for articulate speech are made in the cavities of the mouth, the upper part of the throat and by the nostrils, and are further modified by the position of the teeth, lips and palate. In perfect singing or speaking, we must have all these parts in a normal condition, and where there is no obstruction, defect, congestion or inflammation, there is no interference with the free motion or vibration of the parts concerned in voice production. ”

“ The pitches of the breath consonants are absolutely fixed in each individual pronunciation, while those of spoken vowels can be varied indefinitely within the compass of each voice by tightening the vocal chords in various ways and shortening their vibrating portions· the tighter and shorter the vibrating body, the quicker its vibrations, and the higher the tone. But when a vowel is whispered or breathed nothing is heard but the resonance of the con figurative passages, especially in the mouth, and the pitches of these resonant cavities are as fixed as those of the breath consonants ”

“ It is even doubtful if the innate sonority of a phonetic system counts for as much, as esthetic determinant, as the relations between the sounds, the total gamut of their similarities and contrasts. As long as the artist has the wherewithal to lay out his sequences and rhythms, it matters little what are the sensuous qualities of the elements of his material.
The phonetic groundwork of a language, however, is only one of the features that give its literature a certain direction. Far more important are its morphological peculiarities. ”

“ The subject of phonetic change in language is too vast, and runs out into a too infinite detail, to be treated here with any fulness: we can only attempt to direct our attention to its most important features and guiding principles.
Each one of the sounds composing our spoken alphabet is produced by an effort in which the lungs, the throat, and the organs of the mouth bear a part. The lungs furnish the rough material, an expulsion of air, in greater or less force; the vocal cords in the larynx, by their approximation. ”

“ For older students, however, especially students at home, where no teacher is available, phonetic writing by means of diacritical marks has great value.* It is the only practicable way of representing the sounds of the voice on paper. When the student writes phonetically he is obliged to observe closely his own voice and the voices of others in ordinary speech, and so his ear is trained. It also takes the place of the voice for dictation in spelling tests by mail or through the medium of books. ”

“ All vowels in combination with consonants are naturally short unless the long sound is given by combination with other vowels, by accent, or by position in the syllable with reference to consonants.
2. Law: Words derived from other words by the addition of prefixes or suffixes always retain the original form as far as possible.
1. We are likely to suppose that the natural or original sound of a vowel is the long sound, because that is the sound we give it when naming it in the alphabet. ”

“ By modulation we mean the wavelike rise and fall of the voice that always occurs in some degree in speech,—sometimes called melody—and the change of key, or general pitch, in passing from one sentence, or part of a speech, to another. Frequently, novices in speaking and in reading, will swing the voice upward in the first part of every sentence, give it perhaps another rise or two as the sentence proceeds, and swing it down, always in precisely the same way, at the end. ”

“ I. Review Single and Blended Consonants, Digraphs, Short and Long Vowels, and All Phonograms.
II. Continue Pronouncing Exercises, Teaching New Phonograms.
Continue word study by the analytic-synthetic process. These phonic drills will deal largely with the new words that occur in the daily reading lessons.
III. Syllabication.
In mastering the pronunciation of new words, pupils should acquire the habit of analyzing them into syllables.
The ear must be trained to hear syllables, they should be separately pronounced, and clearly imaged. This makes for effective spelling later. ”

“ They make their sounds with the vocal organs, and [Pg 202] modulate them with the teeth, tongue and lips, in the same manner that man controls his vocal sounds. The fundamental sounds appear to be pure vowels, but faint traces of consonants are found in many words, especially those of low pitch; and since I have been able to develop certain consonant sounds from a vowel basis, the conclusion forces itself upon me that the consonant elements of human speech are developed from a vowel basis. ”

“ There are two distinct registers which should be judiciously alternated by the speaker. These are the "chest" register, in which the vocal cords vibrate their whole length, and [Pg 114] the quality of tone derives most of its character from the chest cavity; and the "head" register, in which the vocal cords vibrate only in part, and the quality of tone is reenforced by the resonators of the face, mouth, and head. The first of these registers is sometimes called the "orotund" voice from its quality of roundness, and is employed principally in language of reverence, sublimity, and grandeur. ”

“ It must be remembered that a phonetic system can only be an approximation. The differences of pronunciation existing among educated persons are so great, that, on the phonetic system, different persons ought to spell differently.
But the phonetic party have produced something which will immortalize their plan: I mean their shorthand, which has had a fraction of the success it deserves. All who know anything of shorthand must see that nothing but a phonetic system can be worthy of the name: and the system promulgated is skilfully done. ”

“ For the singing voice it is always best to simplify, hence we divide the consonantal sounds into two general divisions: the aspirates, those which are the result of complete obstruction and explosion, or of partial obstruction only, breath and vowel sound; the sub-vocals, those which are the result of partial obstruction and explosion, or of partial obstruction only, sub-vocal and vowel sound. The sub-vocals, as ending or final consonants, are the most difficult of all to give their proper value and effect. ”

“ All the vowels do not equally well exemplify in their utterance a distinction of sound in their radical and vanishing movements, because some vowel sounds are less diphthongal than others, and some, again, are pure monophthongs; but these two movements and the concrete variation of pitch, the result of one impulse of the voice, are the essential structure of every syllable, and are characteristic of speech-notes as contradistinguished from those of song. ”

“ Nothing contributes so much to give ability to manage the voice as the separation of words into the simple elements of sound, and continued practice in the enunciation of these. They can be best learned from the short-hand system of tachygraphy or phonography, or from the phonetic print. In these we find sound resolved into its elements, which are but few in number, and on which we can practice until every difficulty in enunciation is overcome. If there is a fault in our articulation, we will find just where it is, and can bring all our practice directly to its remedy. ”

“ If the hand be placed so as to cover the ear, or if the entrance of the meatus auditorius be closed by the finger without pressure, the perception of external sounds will be considerably diminished, but the sounds of the voice produced internally will be greatly augmented: the pronunciation of those vowels in which the cavity of the mouth is the most closed, as e ou, &c., produce the strongest effect; on articulating smartly the syllables te and kew, the sound will be painfully loud. ”