IX. THE INSTRUMENT OF SPEECH. The speaking apparatus consists first of a reservoir for air; secondly of a reed for forming sound; and thirdly of a resonance-box susceptible of a great variety of modifying configurations. The air-reservoir is the cavity of the chest ; the sounding-reed is in the throat; the resonance-box consists of the cavities of the pharynx and the mouth. By considering the instrument of speech in this simple manner, a clearer idea will be gained of the mutual relations of the organs of respiration, voice, and articulation, than by the most exact study of the organs themselves. Thus the airreservoir may be too contracted, or it may be insufficiently charged; the reed may be out of order; or some part of the resonance-box may be encumbered, or it may be leaky; and corresponding imperfections will follow.

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Speech consists of breath emitted; and, consequently, inflation of the lungs must always precede utterance. full inspiration dilates the chest in all directions, and when the lungs are really filled, they will be felt to expand the back as well as the chest. This may be taken as the test of complete inflation. Speaking and singing are alike in this respect they are both processes of expiration; and vocal exercise in either way is healthful and unfatiguing, in proportion as the lungs are kept well supplied with air, and replenished at moderate intervals.

It is a common error to suppose that the breath should be inhaled only at the commencement of a sentence; and that, in proportion to the length of the period, should be the quantity of air inspired. The effect of such sentential respiration is to give disproportionate energy to the commencement of a period, and to cause the terminationwhich is generally the most important part-to sink into

feebleness and inaudibility. One of the best qualities of delivery is that of sustaining an equal volume of voice throughout the longest period; and this can only be done by frequent inspirations. Speech really uses very little breath, and the chest would be uncomfortably distended if the breath were held in at every pause. Pause should,

therefore, be synonymous with change of breath. In this way, respiration, while supplying the artificial requirements of utterance, will, at the same time, fulfil its vital functions without interruption.

All audibility of respiration is due to contraction of the air-passages; these, therefore, should be perfectly expanded in inspiration, or the process will be disagreeably manifest. Some speakers breathe as if the fingers of a garrotter were compressing the windpipe, and every inspiration seems an appeal for sympathy with strangulation. This blemish should be carefully avoided. Nature has provided us with two channels for respiration-the nostrils and the mouth; the former to be used when the latter is closed, or engaged in fulfilling other functions, as in mastication; but in speech, both channels should be used, and, if neither of them is abnormally constricted, the fault of audible respiration will be easily prevented.

Any part of the breath-channel, from the top of the windpipe to the lips, may be closed or contracted in any degree, at will; and these modifications are the mechanical cause of the various elementary sounds of speech. The windpipe is surmounted by a cartilaginous box, called the larynx, the component parts of which are susceptible of a multitude of minute adjustments affecting the size and shape of the interior passage. The lid of this box is divided in the centre, so that, when the central edges meet, the box is closed, as at the commencement of a cough; and when

they separate, by sliding to right and left, the passage is opened, in any degree, from the narrowest fissure to the full extent of the organ. The aperture of the larynx is called the glottis; and its edges are called the vocal liga

ments.

Voice is simply the sound caused by the friction of the breath passing through the narrow glottis, and setting its edges in vibration. The length of the vibrating membranes, and the degree of their tension, affect the pitch of the voice, and relaxation of the vocal ligaments produces hoarseness.

The pharynx is the space between the top of the windpipe and the mouth. The degree in which the cavity of the pharynx is contracted or expanded affects the character and quality of elementary sounds. Thus the sound of ah results from the maximum enlargement of the space between the root of the tongue and the back of the pharynx ; and the sound of gargling results from the narrowing of the same passage, by the close approximation of the tongue to the pharynx.

The pharynx communicates both with the nostrils and the mouth. Between these passages the soft-palate is suspended as a valve, by means of which the nostrils or the mouth may be closed or opened, separately or simultaneously. Both passages are closed in pronouncing k; the passage to the mouth is closed, and that to the nostrils opened, in pronouncing the final consonant in the word song; both passages are open in pronouncing the French sounds in, on, un, etc.; and the nasal passage is closed, and the oral passage open, in pronouncing ordinary vowel sounds.

The mouth consists of the passive organs-the palate and the teeth; and the active organs the tongue and

the lips; by means of which the size and the shape of the oral cavity are altered at will, in a variety of degrees and modes. For example: a series of Back Vowels results from approximation of the tongue to the back of the palate; a series of Front Vowels from approximation to the front of the palate; and a series of Intermediate Vowels by approximation of the middle of the tongue to the roof of the mouth. The lips also modify the voice-channel, and yield a labialised or "round" variety for every vowel formed by the tongue.

Consonants are transitional closures or squeezings, or vibrations of portions of the breath-passage, in the throat or the mouth. The audible results are puffs or hisses of the breath, or flaps of the articulating organs. Closures with suction are also consonant elements in some languages. The material affected by consonant-actions may be vocal or non-vocal, and the emission may be through the mouth or through the nose. Another class of elements called "glides " occupy an intermediate place between vowels. and consonants. For a full detail of the various elements of speech, the reader is referred to the appropriate Textbooks.

Enough has been said here to show that the formation of speech-sounds is entirely mechanical, and that, therefore, any defect or peculiarity of utterance is perfectly susceptible of correction. The only difficulty lies in the total unconsciousness with which the acts of speech are generally performed. Master the instrument, and correction is easy. So, too, the peculiar sounds of foreign languages may be acquired in vernacular perfection by those who will first learn their mechanism, and then overcome old tendencies, or the vis inertia of unaccustomed organs, by a moderate amount of elementary exercise.