Page:EB1911 - Volume 21.djvu/488

Rh by voice-glides are modified by simultaneous closure of the glottis, the larynx being raised by means of its muscles, so that it acts like a plug, compressing the air between the closed glottis and the mouth-stop, so that when the latter is released a peculiar choky effect is given to the off-glide.

Rounded glides may be heard in Russian in such words as komnata, where the rounding of the (o) is anticipated in the preceding consonant, being heard, of course, only in the off-glide of the consonant. The acoustic effect is between that of (kwo) and ordinary (ko).

Glideless consonant-combinations remain to be considered. The general articulative principle of taking the shortest way between sounds in juxtaposition necessarily results in certain transitions being effected without any glide at all. This is regularly the case when the consonants have the same place, and differ only in form, as in (nd, dlt), where the point of the tongue remains unmoved through the whole sound-group. In such combinations as (mf) the very slight glide is often got rid of entirely by assimilating the place of the first consonant to that of the second, so that the (m) becomes a lip teeth consonant, as in English nymph.

Even when consonants are formed in different parts of the mouth it is often possible to join them without any glide. In English such combinations as (kt, pt) are glide less, the point of the tongue being brought into position before the preceding stop is loosened. In French and most other languages such consonants are separated by a breath-glide.

Combinations of stops and vowel-like consonants (tr, gl, kw) are glideless in English and most other languages. In English the breath-glide after a voiceless stop unvoices the beginning of the following vowel-like consonant; thus try is almost (trhrai).

Vowel-glides.—Vowels are begun and ended in various ways. In the “gradual beginning,” which is the usual one in English and French, the glottis is gradually narrowed while breath is being emitted. In the “clear” beginning the breath is kept back till the glottis is closed for voice, which begins without any “breathiness.” German favours the clear beginning, generally exaggerating it into a glottal stop.

In the gradual as well as the clear beginning the stress begins on the vowel. If in the former it is thrown back on the breath glide, the latter is felt as an independent element and becomes the “aspirate” or (h), which in English and most other languages is a glide not only in the throat but in the mouth as well, the tongue and lips gradually moving up into the position for the following vowel while the glottis is being closed.

There is also a “strong” aspirate, which occurs in Finnish and other languages, in the formation of which the full vowel position is assumed from the beginning of the aspiration, which is therefore a voiceless vowel.

In most languages, when an aspirate comes between voiced sounds it is formed with imperfect vocality, the contrast of which with the full vocality of the other sounds is enough to produce the effect of breath Thus in Enlglish behold the voice runs on without any actual break, the glottal closure being simply relaxed, not fully opened for breath, as in the emphatic aha! In some languages, such as Bohemian, this “voice-aspirate” is used everywhere, initially as well as medially.

Vowels are finished analogously, either by a gradual opening of the glottis, or by a cessation of aspiration while the glottis is still closed for voice. If stress is put on the gradual ending it becomes a distinct aspirate, as in the Sanskrit “visarga” in such a word as manah.

Organic Basis.—Every language has certain general tendencies which control the formation of its sounds, constituting its “organic basis” or basis of articulation. The tendency of the present English is to flatten and lower the tongue and draw it back from the teeth, while the lips are kept as much as possible in a neutral position. The flattening of the tongue makes our vowels wide and favours the development of mixed vowels, and gives the dull quality which is especially noticeable in our (l); and its retraction is unfavourable to the development of teeth sounds; while the neutrality of the lips eliminates front-round vowels. In such a language as French everything is reversed. The tongue is arched, and raised, and advanced, and the lips articulate with energy. Hence French sounds tend to narrowness, mentality and distinct rounding.

National Sound-systems.—Each language uses only a part of the general phonetic material. Each one has only a limited number of sounds; and each one makes only a limited use of the synthetic distinctions of quantity, stress and intonation. As we have seen, many of these differences between individual languages are the result of, or may be referred to, differences in their organic basis.

Just as cognate languages differ from each other in phonetic structure, so also dialects of the same languages differ from each other more or less. Thus the sound-system of Lowland Scotch—which is, historically, a dialect of Northern English—differs considerably from that of standard English. Standard English itself was originally that mixture of the Midland and the Southern dialect which was spoken in London in the middle ages, just as standard French is, historically, the dialect of that district of which Paris is the centre. Standard English, like standard French, is now more a class-dialect than a local dialect: it is the language of the educated all over Great Britain. But it is not yet perfectly uniform. It is still liable to be influenced by the local dialects in grammar and vocabulary, and still more in pronunciation.

Again, English, like all other living languages, changes from generation to generation. Pronunciations which are vulgar in one century may become fashionable in the next. Sounds which are distinct in one generation may be confounded in another, and new distinctions may be made, new sounds may arise. A spoken language is, therefore, necessarily a vague and floating entity, and English is no exception to the rule. The very fixity of its written form gives all the freer play to the influences which cause change.

A standard spoken language is, strictly speaking, an abstraction. No two speakers of standard English pronounce exactly alike. And yet they all have something in common in every sound they utter. There are some divergences, some peculiarities of pronunciation, which pass unnoticed, while others, less considerable perhaps in themselves, are at once felt as archaisms, vulgarisms or provincial isms, as the case may be, by the majority of educated speakers.

Sounds of English.—The following is a convenient classification of the vowels of standard English:—

Here the vowels are in four rows: (1) normally short, or, more correctly, monophthongic, (2) long, or half-diphthongic, (3) full diphthongs, (4) murmur-diphthongs.

Those under (1) are often lengthened in monosyllables such as ten, good, but they always remain absolutely monophthongic. The only one in the next row that is always strictly monophthongic is (əə): all the others, as we shall see, tend to become more or less diphthongic, especially in the south of England, being often exaggerated into full diphthongs of the (ai) and (au)-type in vulgar speech.

(a), as in come up, is the short vowel corresponding to the (aa) in calm. (aa) is the mid-back-wide vowel, and (a) differs from it only in being narrow. Acoustically (a) is a muffled or obscure (aa): an the same effect may be produced by advancing the tongue from the mid-back to the corresponding out-back position, preserving the wide articulation: this ronunciation of u is common in the south of England. Historically, these sounds are the result of unrounding and older (u).

(ə), as in sofa, is a mixed vowel, tending to wideness and mid position, which occurs only unstressed. (əə) in turn, earth, is low-mixed-narrow. It is the result of absorption of an older (r), weakened into (ə).

(æ), as in man, is low-front-wide, from older mid-back-wide.

(i) in it is high-front-wide. The long (ii) in eat is narrow in the north of England, while in the south it is wide (') followed by (j).

(e) in men is generally mid-front-wide. (ei) in mane is the same vowel either narrow or wide, raised in its latter half towards (i).

(u) in good is high-back-wide-round. Narrow (uu) in too becomes (uw) in southern English.

(o) in not is low-back-wide-round. In (ou), as in no, the midback-round vowel, either narrow or wide, is over-rounded in its latter half. (ɔ), as in all, is low-back-narrow-round.

The full diphthongs (ai, au, oi), as in eye, now, oil, all end in lowered high vowels. Their first elements are only roughly indicated by the transcription, and vary in the mouths of different speakers. That of (ai) is generally the out-mid-back-wide, that of (au) the broader low-mixed-wide, that of (oi) the mid-back-wide-round.

The murmur-diphthongs (iə) as in here, (eə) as in air, (uə) as in