Ifirn^amin She Wihediev 1 UNIVERSITY LECTURES PHONETICS Delivered in Johns Hopkins University, U. S. A., and Oxford University, England, With an Appendix on the Phonetics of Roman Letters. ALEXANDER MELVILLE BELL, AUTHOR OF VISIBLE SPEECH," "SOUNDS AND THEIR RELATIONS," "PRINCIPLES OF SPEECH, " PRINCIPLES OF ELOCUTION," " ESSAYS AND POSTSCRIPTS ON ELOCUTION," ETC., ETC., ETC. Edgar S. Werner, New York, 48 university place. 1887. ^^,_^ a/ '^/^s- WORKS BY A. MELVILLE BELL. Vocal Physiology and Impediments of Speech. I. PEINCIPLES OF SPEECH, DICTIONARY OF SOUNDS, AND CUEE OF STAMMERING.— In this work the theory of articulation and the mechanism of elementary sounds are minutely explained. English elements are separately treated of with reference to the Defects to which they are subject; and directions are given by which the Stammerer can, by his own efforts, remove the impediment. — Uemsed Edition. 12mo, cloth. Price $1.50. II. THE FAULTS OF SPEECH.— A Self-Corrector and Teachers' Manual for the removal of all Defects of Articulation. — 16mo, cloth. Price 60 cents. Theory and Practice of Elocution. ni. PRINCIPLES OF ELOCUTION.— This work contains a full development of the principles of Expressive delivery ; an original analysis of the Tones of speech; the laws of Emphasis, Gesture, &c., with a large collection of marked Illustrations and Exercises. — Fourth Edition. 12mo, cloth. Price $1.50. " Prof. Bell is well known as the author of ' Visible Speech,"* ' Principles of Speech and the Cure of Stammering,' ' Standard Elocutionist,' etc. He is the ablest living writer on the voice, its culture, management, etc. The work now noticed is the fourth edition of the book. In addition to the theoretical portions, there are a large number of choice extracts> marked carefully for the guidance of the student, in pronunciation, intonation, emphasis, gesture, and emotional expression." — Canada School Journal. " Without question, the writings and methods of instruction of Mr. Bell have exercised a potent influence on all elocutionary literature of the last thirty years. To an educator the introduction is worth many times the cost of the volume. The principles are admir- ably stated " — New England Journal of Education. " ' The Principles of Elocution ' is the best manual of the science and art of speaking we have seen. It is simple, systematic, and thorough, and drives home every precept with an appropriate example."— iCmjfs ton Daily News. " As a minute and thorough analysis of the art of expression, it is without equal among recent books. It is worth a host of ordinary works on elocution.^'— Educational Weekly. " I think your book one of the best, as it is certainly the most complete that has appeared." — Alex. J. Ellis, F. K. S. IV. THE EMPHASISED LITUEGY.— The Morning, Evening, Communion and Burial services, and all the Collects, marked for Emphasis and Clause. With introductory essay on the principles of Public Reading.— 12wart, they are very inadequately represented in writing. Glides have no distinctive signs; Tones are sel- dom expressed; and Vowels and Consonants are so insuffi- ciently provided with letters that innumerable inconsistencies of spelling are the result. The same alphabet" is, besides, used for many languages, and the letters are differently em- ployed in each language. The characters, indeed, may be said to be international, but their phonetic value changes at every national boundary. Practically, therefore, each lan- guage has its own alphabet. The inconvenience of such diversity has impelled gener- erations of scholars to much fruitless labour in endeavours to arrange an alphabet adapted for international employment. A universal alphabet that should furnish a distinct character for every sound had long been a dream of Philology; but this difficulty prevented its realisation, namely : That the ultimate elementary sounds of languages baffled investiga tion; while, of the comparatively small number of sounds respecting which there was agreement, the relations of the sounds to each other could not be satisfactorily determined. Many speech-sounds are modified by such minute and occult organic changes, and are so evanescent in their nature that even a trained ear can with diflficulty identify them in their combinations. The same sound seems to have a different quality in new positions; and really differing sounds seem to merge into one, under the influence of associated elements. We have all learned to speak by imitation merely; acquir- ing by single perceptions a knowledge of words, the utter- ance of which involves very complex organic operations; and the latter are performed entirely by habit, and without any consciousness of the mechanisms on which we act. Besides this, the letters by which we write our words have little — or, sometimes, no — relation to the sounds they rep- resent. In fact, if all the letters of the alphabet were shaken together in a bag, and the first drawn out were called A, the second B, the third C, and so forth, they would serve the purpose of denoting the elements of speech almost as well under this chance arrangement as they do now. In 1854 a concerted effort was made to collate the ele- ments of an international alphabet by a conference of the leading philologists of Europe, which was held in London under the presidency of the Russian ambassador, the Chev- alier Bunsen. After four deliberations the attempt was abandoned, because no more than seventeen sounds — and those the commonest in all languages — could be agreed on as sufficiently definite for inclusion in the proposed alpha- bet. The want of a physiological basis was declared to be the insuperable impediment to the construction of an international scheme. To this declaration was added, as the final and unanimous Resolution of the Conference, that " it would be useless and impossible to attempt to provide for every shade of sound a distinct graphic sign." The recommendation was that — typical letters being selected — each nation should adopt to represent its peculiar sounds the letters whose ordinary phonetic values most nearly re- sembled the sounds to be denoted. In the then existing state of the highest knowledge of Phonetics, as expounded by this learned Conference, the provision of a separate sign for every recognised shade of sound was declared to be an impossibility. In the absence of a physiological basis, such a literation of sounds was, no doubt, impossible; but the physiological basis might be found. In a very few years afterward it was found; and the previous impossibility be- came entirely practicable. For, not only every linguistic element, but every possible shade of sound — every action, and even every silent position of the vocal organs—has on this basis, its own distinct graphic sign. The operative vocal organs are : the lungs, to supply breath; the glottis, to vocalise it; the pharynx, to compress it; the tongue and the lips to parcel it; and the cavities of pharynx, mouth, and nose, to mould it. What of the teeth? Are they not operative? In mastication they are so, but not in speech. There we have simply to keep them out of the way. Notwithstanding the fact that grammarians have used the term •• dentals " to denote a whole class of ele- mentary sounds, there is not an element that cannot be distinctly formed by a speaker who has not a tooth in his head. The sound of tli is the one in which the teeth are the most obviously employed; but the characteristic quality of th may b3 produced with the tip of the tongue applied to any accessible part of the mouth — to the palate — to the gum — to the teeth — or even to the lips. A fundamental question is : What constitutes a word? Is it the uttered sound, or the letters by which the sound is represented? In English, it is both. The sound is the primitive word, but the letters by which the sound is writ- ten constituts a separate pictorial word. Thus, the words night and knight have the same sound, but they are two words, having no connection in sense. Almost every Eng- lish sound has a diversity of modes in which it is written; and this diversity contributes to the pictorial distinctiveness of words. Herein lies the source of the objections so com- monly urged against alterations in spelling : they destroy the identity of pictorial words. But the sounds of words — that is, the primitive words themselves — have changed; and they are constantly changing to a greater or less extent; while the pictorial words have, since the universal dilfusion of literature through the printing press, become generally fixed. Mr. Alexander John Ellis has devoted much ingenious re- search to the discovery of the details pf English pronuncia- tion as heard in the days of Chaucer and of Shakespeare. The regular sound of A was then ah ; so that what we call " and " was ahnd, " face " was fahs, " Shakespeare " was Shahkspare, &c. The letters ew, whicli we pronounce u in v'eiv, oo in drew^ and o in sew, were uniformly heard, in 6 accordance with the spelling, as e-oo. Thus, new was ne-oo, drew was dre-oo, sew was se-oo. Our " short " u was sounded oo, as in oos and oop for us and up\ and our " long " u, as in tune, music, mule, was the same as the Ger- man ii — a sound which has dropped entirely out of our lan- guage. Thus, in the Shakespearean theatre, the line "Mewling and puking in the nurse's arms/' ^ was heard as : "Me-ooling ahnd piiking in the noorse's arms." The general effect of Shakespearian English, as repro- duced by Mr. Ellis, is very like the pronunciation still lin- gering in some of the counties of England, and in the low- lands of Scotland; although modern intercourse and education are fast obliterating old customs of speech. These modes of provincial English, and of Scottish utterance are, doubt- less, with very slight changes, the modes in which the language was pronounced by the best speakers in the days of Queen Elisabeth. Look at the spelling of words, as practised then, and in earlier times : it is altogether unsettled and arbitrary ; the same writer often spelling the same word in a variety of ways. Even Shakespeare, we are told, spells his own name — so far as it is decipherable — in almost as many ways as we have specimens of his autograph. When we look at the works of the fathers of our literature, we must admit that there can be but little force in the objections made to alterations in our present spelling. One might as well maintain that the spelling oY the Elisabethan age should be tlie standard for our orthography in all time. Why select tlie present period to furnish a standard? Its only claim to the distinction is that it is an age of books, and mag- azines, and newspapers — and readers; and that any change now made would be felt by perhaps hundreds of thousands, for every single reader who would have been affected by a change, in the time of Chaucer or even of Shakespeare. Objections to any desirable and consistent change are, in view of the historic facts of orthography, altogether ground- less. If the written word can be made to correspond with the spoken word, the mere pictorial alteration is unworthy of much consideration. But tlie question arises : Can we, with our present alpha- bet, phoneticise English spelling? Undoubtedly we can not. Any attempt to do so leads to anomalies and inconsistencies ; almost as great as those to which existing orthography is subject. Even the common-sense procedure of dropping si- lent letters only destroys pictorial identities, without etfect- ing a phonetic improvement in the general character of our writing. For example, the I in could might be dispensed with : but where would be the phonetic consistency of writing c o u d ^ for could, while we use loud for loud ? Suppose this anom- aly to be obviated by changing ou to ow in the last word — to make it match with crowd; where would be the consis- tency of writing ow for the vowel in loud, while we use the same letters to represent the different vowel in own and know'l Every single alteration necessitates a host of others, without the possibility of attaining consistency after all. Our alphabet does not contain letters for much more than one-half of our sounds, and new letters are indispen- sable to success in any attempts to phoneticise our gen- eral spelling. For whose benefit are we asked to amend our orthogra- phy? For the benefit of children, and of foreign learners of our language.* But experiments have abundantly proved that the difficulties of initiation can be overcome by special methods of instruction, and without disturbance of spell- ing. In the phonetic system introduced under the joint authorship of Ellis and Pitman, some forty years ago, new letters were added to the alphabet and spelling was made 8 accordant with sound. For initiatory purposes, the method was excellent, as it enabled learners to read in a very short space of time, while the transition to reading from ordi- nary books was ejected almost unconsciously by the learn- ers themselves. In another phonetic system, from which results of almost equal value were obtained, new letters were altogether dispensed with. This method was intro- y duced by myself, over thirty years ago, in a little book entitled '• Letters and Sounds." The principle then illus- trated has since been imitated in books now extensively "> used in schools, under the name of the Leigh system. The principle was to print every letter of the full orthography in order to accustom the eye to the pictorial aspect of words, but to show silent letters in a different type from that of ' the sounded letters. For this purpose, silent letters were printed in small "superior" type — that is, type standing above the general line. Thus : a*m, le^f, ri^^t, ^no^, du*. In the Leigh books the silent letters are shown in thin skeleton type, instead of " superior " letters. Each of these three methods — namely, the Pitman-Ellis extended alphabet, the " superior " silent letters, and the skeleton silent letters — has been found to work well, both with children and adults. Now, if such partially phonetic modes of initiation have been proved to be advantageous, surely much more, advantageous would be a completely pho- netic introduction to reading, by means of special letters. When learners have become sufficiently acquainted with the phonetic characters to translate them readily into sound, a key is possessed to the pronunciation of words printed in the ordinary way, and such words will then be learned from their pictorial aspect alone — as wholes — and without the bewildering and unphonetic preparatory analysis of a b ah, e b eb, &c. Another, and the crowning, advantage of a completely phonetic initiatory sj^stem is, that it enables learners to read the words of any language with equal facility. You may put a French, a German, an Italian, or an English book into the hands of a learner initiated in only one language — say English — and he will read the other languages with full intelligibility to native speakers. Nations are no longer insulated, as in the days preceding steam navigation, rail- roads, telegraphs, and telephones; and facility of intercourse by language as well as by transit, is a demand of the age, which calls more and more imperatively for some common medium of Intel ligibilit}^ All the efforts made by phoneticians for the improve- x nient of English spelling would not help an English learner \ to a more easy acquaintance with foreign sounds. Yet this ) should be a chief aim in any proposed alteration. A change which does not assimilate the writing of our own \<^ language to that of other languages, or which does not fa- cilitate speech-reading between nations, is not worth striv- J ing for. So far as our own language only is concerned, we can overcome the impediments to its acquisition — as has been shown — by a partially phonetic method of teach- ing common letters in our primary schools; but we should remember that in our schools we are training not only^ citizens of our own country, but citizens of the world. Even the youngest of the classes will ver}^ soon be dis- persed throughout lands where alien tongues are spoken; and we should, therefore, aim at making speech-initiation phonetic in the widest sense. Children should, from the first, be trained not only in the pronunciation of native sounds, but of all linguistic sounds. The mouth and its adjustments should be the object-lesson; and it would be one as simple as delightful to the youngest pupil, while, T 10 at the same time, it would be fraught with high impor- tance for the future. The number of Alphabets that a student of Comparative Philology has to master is an immeasurable drawback to the progress of the science. To say nothing of the He- brew, the Greek, the Russian, the Persian, and other Eastern alphabets, Roman letters alone furnish many distinct sys- tems. A pamphlet recently issued by the American Bible Society contains specimen verses printed in 243 languages. About 120 of the alphabets illustrated are varieties of Ro- man letters; yet no reader of any Romanically written language can pronounce these specimens — or any one of them — merely from the writing. The Missionary Societies have several Romanic arrangements; the American Ethno- logical Bureau has its own separate scheme; English liter- ature has another; French literature another; and there is not in use in all the world an Alphabet adapted for in- ternational employment. The system which I shall now have the honor of ex- plaining constitutes a Science of Phonetics^ — an indispen- sable helpmeet to the Science of Philology. The phys- iological letters are not intended to displace any other alphabet, but to be used as a key to all alphabets. In this way they have already been found of unique value to students of languages. Their introduction into Primary schools has not yet opened up this widest field of useful- ness; but there can be no doubt that the physiological alphabet will prove the readiest means of enabling chil- dren to read their mother-tongue. Our literature will, probably for a long period, continue to wear its homespun garb of letters, at liome; but languages should be provided with a traveling phonetic suit to wear when they go abroad. A completely different alphabet for phonetic purposes has this advantage, that it raises no prejudice on the part of scholars, while changes of orthography, or new uses for 11 old letters, are deprecated by many, and favoured by com- paratively few. The number of sounds discriminated in languages is now much greater than it was when alphabets were first intro- duced. A mere indication of th6 position of the principal vowel in a word, without distinction of qualities of sound, even now suffices for intelligibility in the writing of a famil- iar tongue. The English language abounds in words of the same primitive meaning, but which have come to be applied to different thoughts, or shades of thought. In this way, words etymologically the same are by no means syn- onymous in use. Refinements in the use of words have led to refinements of phonetic apprehension, so that syl- lables which were, at first, sufficiently discriminated by one of the primitive vowels A E I O U would be no longer dis- tinguishable without an indication of intermediate shades of sound. In treating of phonetic elements, all associations with letters must be discarded. We have to deal with sounds alone. But we must have some means of representing each element, to enable us to identify 'the sound without am- biguity. For this purpose there is no other existing means than tbe symbols of "Visible Speech." These mathemat- ically phonetic letters are so related to each other, and to the organic positions which produce their sounds, that the reader sees the formation of every sound in its symbol. The entire alphabet — although consisting of upwards of 50 consonants and 36 vowels — requires but a single explana- tion to enable the learner to name every character. The name describes the organic position depicted in the sym- bol, and the assumption of the described position by the organs of speech necessarily produces the sound of the element. Practical facility, of course, depends on individ- ual aptitude and application; but the symbols themselves become teachers after the student has been once initiated 12 in their names. My object to-day is simply to enable you to take this' initiatory step. I shall present in one view the whole amount of phonetic variety, in connection, not with the sounds, but with the names of the symbols. An idea will thus be obtained of the various phonetic ele- ments in advance of the ability to produce the sounds. Straight Lines. — A straight line is the symbol of Voice. y The line depicts the linear aperture of the glottis when in the act of forming voice. Vowels. — Vowels, being formed of voice, are all repre- / sented by straight lines. Individual vowels are differen- tiated by the position of an auxiliary symbol attached to the vowel line. Thus : Bach Mixed Front High 1 I I Mid ] \ C Low J I I The position of the auxiliary symbol on the left is called " Back " ; on the right, '• Front " ; and on ))oth sides of the line, " Mixed." The position of the auxiliary at the top of the vowel line is called " High " ; at the bottom, " Low '' ; and at both ends, " Mid." The names of the above nine vowels — all the radical va- rieties — are, then : 1 Higli Back; ] Mid Back; j Low Back. I High Mixed; \ Mid Mixed; X Low Mixed. I Higli Front; [ Mid Front; \ Low Front. Another class of vowels, slightly different in (juality from the above •* Primary '* vowels, are distinguisluHl by an open 13 hook, instead of a solid point, attached in the same po- sitions to the straight line. All vowels of this class are called "Wide." Thus: 1 High Back Wide ; T High Mixed Wide ; f High Front Wide. 3 Mid Back Wide; 1 Mid Mixed Wide; C Mid Front Wide. J Low Back Wide ; x Low Mixed Wide ; x Low Front Wide. The only remaining vowel symbol is a bar across the straight line. The name of this symbol is " Round." The nine Primary vowels and the nine Wide vowels, as above, are all repeated with this barred stem. Thus : t H. B. Round; | H. M. Round; f H. F. Round. } Mid B. Round ; ^ Mid M. Round ; { Mid F. Round. J Low B. Round; J Low M. Round; i LowF. Round. i H. B.Wide Round; T H. M.Wide Round; f H.F.Wide Round. } M. B.Wide Round; ^ M. M.Wide Round; £M.F. Wide Round. J L. B. Wide Round; j; L. M. Wide Round; x L. F.Wide Round. Tlie reader should, at this point, exercise himself in naming each of the thirty-six vowels, as they are collected in the following Table : 1 T I 3 I c J X X i I f } I i J i I 14 Curves. — Carved lines depict the outline of the tongue and of the lips, as seen when the face is turned to the right. Thus : C Outline of the back of the tongue. O •' " top '* « (J «' « point " *« D " " lips. Consonants. — Consonants being formed by positions of the tongue or the lips are denoted by the curves which rep- resent the part of the mouth employed in forming the consonant. The above four curves are named, as consonant elements : C Back. O Top. U Point. Lip. The mechanical varieties of consonants are differentiated by auxiliary symbols joined to the organic curves. Thus, small curves joined to the ends of the principal curves ex- hibit a "mixture" of opposite curves with the one in sub ordination to the other. These symbols are named : G back mixed; q top mixed; o point mixed; o lip mixed. For another class of consonants, the curves are indented, or "divided" in the middle. The four symbols of this class are named : c back divided; co top divided; co point divided; 3 lip divided. " Divided " consonants may be also of *' mixed " forma- tion. The four compound symbols of this class are named: 15 ^ back mixed divided ; w top mixed divided ; w point mixed divided; ^ lip mixed divided. For another class of consonants, the curve is closed bj^ a thin line drawn across its ends, to symbolise the ''shut." position of the organs. The four letters of this class are named : a back shut; q top shut; o point shut; o lip shut. In tlie next and last of the organic consonant symbols the curve is also closed, but a waving line (the sign of nasality) is added to the line of closure. The names of the four resulting compound symbols are : Q Back nasal; ^ Top nasal; ^ Point nasal; O Lip nasal. Twenty -four consonant symbols have now been evolved from the four organic curves, c o o 3 . The reader, before proceeding, should exercise himself in naming each of the twenty-four symbols, as collected in the following table : c c C e a Q o Q G