Page:Proposals for a missionary alphabet; submitted to the Alphabetical Conferences held at the residence of Chevalier Bunsen in January 1854 (IA cu31924100210388).pdf/26



Let us pronounce the guttural semi-vowel as heard in the Dutch dag or the Hebrew 'hain, and, if we try to change this semi-vowel gradually into the vowel a, we feel that what we effect is merely the removal of that stoppage which in the formation of the semi-vowel takes place at the very point of guttural contact.

The vowels, as was said before, are formed by the voice modified, but not interrupted, by the various positions of the tongue and the lips. "Their differences depend," as Professor Wheatstone adds, " on the proportions between the aperture of the lips and the internal cavity of the mouth, which is altered by the different elevations of the tongue."

The organic succession of vowel sounds is the same as for consonants, guttural, palatal, labial, a, i, u. The succession of vowel sounds produced by the gradual lengthening of a cylindrical tube joined to a reed organ-pipe, as described by Professor Willis, is an interesting experiment as to the scale of vowels in the abstract. It gives, or, at least, is reported to give,

i, beat, €, bait, 21, bath, aw, 0, Lt. bought, boat, boot.

But as these pipes are round and regular, while the construction of the pipe formed by larynx, throat, palate, jaws, and lips is not, the succession of vowels given by these pipes cannot be expected to correspond with the local succession of vowels as formed by the organs of speech.

Kempelen states that if we pay attention to the successive contraction of the throat only, we shall find, indeed, that the aperture of the throat is smallest if we pronounce the Italian i, and that it gets gradually larger as we pronounce e, a, o, u; while if we pay attention to the successive contraction of the lips, which is quite as essential