nounce a, e, i, o, u (the vowels to be pronounced as in Italian). Is it possible, then, to produce a vowel, to evoke a certain timbre of our mouth, without giving at the same time to each vowel a certain musical pitch? This question has been frequently discussed. At first it was taken for granted that vowels could not be uttered without pitch; that there could be mute consonants, but no mute vowels. Yet, if a vowel was whispered, it was easy to see that the chorda vocales were not vibrating, at least not periodically; that they began to vibrate only when the whispered vowel was changed into a voiced vowel. J. Müller proposed a compromise. He admitted that the vowels might be uttered as mutes without any tone from the chorda vocales, but he thought that these mute vowels were formed in the glottis by the air passing the non-sonant chords, while all consonantal noises are formed in the mouth.1 Even this distinction, however, between mute vowels and mute consonants is not confirmed by later observations, which have shown that in whispering the vocal chords are placed together so that only the back part of the glottis between the arytenoid cartilages remains open, assuming the form of a triangle' Through this aperture the air passes, and if, as happens not unfrequently in whispering, a word breaks forth quite loud, betraying our secrets, this is because the chorde vocales have resumed their ordinary position and been set vibrating by the pass 1 Funke, Handbuch der Physiologie, p. 673. Different views of Willis and Brücke, p. 678. • Helmholtz, p. 171. ing air. Cases of aphonia, where people are unable to intone at all, invariably arise from disease of the vocal chords; yet, though unable to intone, these persons can pronounce the different vowels. It can hardly be denied, therefore, that the vowels pronounced with vox clandestina are mere noises, colored by the configuration of the mouth, but without any definite musical pitch; though it is equally true that, in whispering vowels, certain vague tones inherent in each vowel can be discovered, nay, that these inherent tones are invariable. This was first pointed out by Professor Donders, and afterwards corrected and confirmed by Professor Helmholtz.1 It will be necessary, I think, to treat these tones as imperfect tones, that is to say, as noises approaching to tones, or as irregular vibrations, nearly, yet not quite, changed into regular or isochronous vibrations; though the exact limit where a noise ends and tone begins has, as far as I can see, not yet been determined by any philosopher. Vowels in all their varieties are really infinite in number. Yet, for practical purposes, certain typical vowels have been fixed upon in all languages, and these we shall now proceed to examine. From the diagrams which are meant to represent the configuration of the mouth requisite for the formation of the three principal vowels, you will see that there are two extremes, the u and the i, the a occupying an intermediate position. All vowels are to be pronounced as in Italian. 1. In pronouncing u we round the lips and draw down the tongue so that the cavity of the mouth as 1 l. c. p. 172. sumes the shape of a bottle without a neck. Such bottles give the deepest notes, and so does the vowel u. According to Helmholtz its inherent tone is F.1 2. If the lips are opened somewhat wider, and the tongue somewhat raised, we hear the o. Its pitch, according to Helmholtz, B' flat. 3. If the lips are less rounded, and the tongue somewhat depressed, we hear the å. 4. If the lips are wide open, and the tongue in its natural flat position, we hear a. Inherent pitch, according to Helmholtz, B" flat. This seems the most natural position of the mouth in singing; yet for the higher notes singers prefer the vowels e and i, and 1 I give instances of short and long vowels, both in open and closed syllables (i. e. not followed or followed by consonants), because in English particularly, hardly any vowels pair when free and stopped. On the quali tative, and not only quantitative, difference between long and short vowels, see Brücke, l. c. p. 24, seq.; and R. von Raumer. |