the number of possible shades of sounds is almost infinite, even the most minutely accurate of them can do so only within certain limits. The Organic Alphabet especially makes a large use of “modifiers”—characters which are added to the other symbols to indicate nasal, palatal, &c., modifications of the sounds represented by the latter, these modifiers being generally represented by italic letters in the Narrow Romic transcription; thus (ln) = nasalized (l).
In the Roman alphabet such symbols as f, v are arbitrary, showing no connection in form either with one another or with the organic actions by which they are formed; but in the Organic symbol of v, for instance, we can see the graphic representation of its components “lips, teeth, voice-murmur.” By omitting superfluous marks and utilizing various typographical devices the notation is so simplified that the symbols, in spite of their minute accuracy, are often simpler than in the corresponding Roman notation. The simplicity of the system is shown by the fact that it requires only about 110 types, as compared with the 280 of Lepsius's very imperfect Standard Alphabet.
All the systems hitherto considered are also alphabetic in a wider sense: they are intended for continuous writing, the more cumbrous “narrow” notations being, however, generally employed only in writing single words or short groups. An “analphabetic" basis was first definitely advocated by Jespersen, who represents each sound by a group of symbols resembling a chemical formula, each symbol representing not a sound, but an element of a sound: the part of the palate, tongue, &c., where the sound is formed, the degree of separation (openness) of the organs of speech, and so on. The two great advantages of such a system are that it allows perfect freedom in selecting and combining the elements and that it can be built up on the foundation of a small number of generally accessible signs.
As regards Jespersen's scheme, it is to be regretted that he has not worked it out in a more practical manner: that in his choice of the thirty odd symbols that he requires he should have gone out of his way to mix up Greek with Roman letters, together with other characters which would be avoided by any one constructing even a scientific alphabetic notation. And his use of these symbols is open to much criticism. In fact, it cannot be said that the analphabetic principle has yet had a fair trial.
The Organs of Speech.—Most speech-sounds are formed with air expelled from the lungs (voice-bellows), which passes through the two contractible bronchi or bronchial tubes into the also contractible wind-pipe or trachea, on the top of which is fixed the larynx (voice-box). Across the interior of the larynx are stretched two elastic ledges or cushions called “the vocal chords.” They are inserted in front of the larynx at one end, and at the other they are fixed to two movable cartilaginous bodies “the aretynoids,” so that the passage between them—the glottis—can be narrowed or closed at pleasure. The glottis is, as we see, twofold, consisting of the chord glottis and the cartilage glottis. The two can be narrowed or closed independently. The chords can also be tightened or relaxed, lengthened and shortened in various degrees.
When the whole glottis is wide open, no sound is produced by the outgoing breath except that caused by the friction of the air. Sounds in whose formation the glottis is in this passive state are called “breath” sounds. Thus (f) is the breath consonant corresponding to the “voice” or “voiced” consonant (v). In the production of voice, the chords are brought close enough together to be set in vibration by the air passing between them. In the “thick” register of the voice (chest voice) the chords vibrate in their whole length, in the “thin” register or falsetto only in part of their length. If the glottis is narrowed without vibration, “whisper” is the result. In the “weak whisper” there is narrowing the whole glottis; in the “strong whisper,” which is the ordinary form, the chord glottis is entirely closed, so that the breath passes only through the cartilage glottis. In what is popularly called “whisper”—that is, speaking without voice—the breath sounds remain unchanged, while voiced sounds substitute whisper (in the phonetic sense) for voice. Thus in whispering such a word as feel the (f) remains unchanged, while the following vowel and consonant are formed with the glottis only half closed. Whispered sounds—both vowels and consonants—occur in ordinary loud speech in many languages. Thus the final consonants in such English words as leaves, oblige are whispered, except when followed without a pause by a voiced sound, as in obliging, where the (ʒ) is fully voiced.
Above the glottis—still within the larynx—comes the “upper” or “false” glottis, by which the passage can be narrowed. On the top of the larynx is fixed a leaf-like body, the “epiglottis," which in swallowing, and sometimes in speech, is pressed down over the opening of the larynx. The contractible cavity between the larynx and the mouth is called the “pharynx.” The roof of the mouth consists of two parts, the “soft” and the “hard palate.” The lower pendulous extremity of the soft palate, the “uvula,” in its passive state leaves the passage into the nose open. In the formation of non-nasal sounds, such as (b), the uvula is pressed up so as to close the passage from the pharynx into the nose. If (b) is formed with the passage open, it becomes the corresponding nasal consonant (m). The other extremity of the (hard) palate is bounded by the teeth, behind which are the gums, extending from the teeth-rim to the arch-rim—the projection of the teeth-roots or alveolars.
There is great diversity among phoneticians as regards the mapping out—the divisions—of the palate and tongue, and their names. Foreign phoneticians generally adopt very minute distinctions, to which they give Latin names. Bell in his Visible Speech makes a few broad fundamental divisions. In the arrangement adopted here (mainly based on his) sounds formed on the soft palate are called “back,” and are subdivided into “inner” = nearer the throat, and “outer” = nearer the teeth, further subdivisions being made by the terms “innermost,” “outermost,” the position exactly half way between these two last being defined as “intermediate back.” Sounds formed on the hard palate or teeth may be included under the common term “forward,” more accurately distinguished as “teeth” (dental), “gum,” “front” (palatal, afterwards called “top” by Bell), which last is really equivalent to “mid-palatal,” including the whole of the hard palate behind the gums. All of these divisions are further subdivided into “inner,” &c., as with the back positions.
Of the tongue we distinguish the “back” (root), “front” or middle, “point” (tip), and “blade,” which includes the point and the surface of the tongue immediately behind it. The tongue can also articulate against the lips, which, again, can articulate against the teeth. The lip passage can be closed, or narrowed in various degrees. Sounds modified by lip-narrowing are called “lip-modified” (labialized) or “round” (rounded), the last being specially used in speaking of vowels.
Speech-sounds.—The most general test of a simple as opposed to a compound sound (sound-group) is that it can be lengthened without change. As regards place of articulation, no sound is really simple: every sound is the result of the shape of the whole configurative passage from the lungs to the lips; and the ultimate sound-elements, such as voice, are never heard isolated. The most indistinct voice-murmur is as much the result of the shape of the super glottal passages as the clearest and most distinct of the other vowels; and its organic formation is as definite as theirs is, the only difference being that while in what we regard as unmodified voice all the organs except the vocal chords are in their passive, neutral positions, the other vowels are formed by actively modifying the shape of the super-glottal passages—by raising the tongue towards the palate, narrowing the lips, &c.
The most important elements of speech-sounds are those which are dependent on the shape of the glottis and of the mouth passage respectively. It is on the relation between these two factors that one of the oldest distinctions between sounds is based: that of vowel and consonant. In vowels the element of voice is the predominant one: a vowel is voice modified by the different shapes of the super glottal passages. In consonants, on the other hand, the state of the glottis is only secondary.
