Abstract
THE movements of the organs of voice and speech are so complicated as to require for their elucidation the application of many methods of research. When one speaks there are movements of the lips, tongue, soft palate and larynx, and sometimes movements of the muscles of expression. Then, again, there are special characteristics about vowel sounds which apparently distinguish these from the sounds of musical instruments. Thus questions arise as to the true nature of vowel-sounds and as to what is the physical constitution of a word of several syllables. It has also been suggested that language might be recorded, not by letters or syllables, but by signs or symbols which would indicate what had to be done by the vocal and articulating organs for the production of any given sound. There might thus be a physiological method of expressing speech by a series of alphabetical symbols for sounds varying in pitch, ntensity and quality. It will be seen that experimental phonetics constitutes a wide field of research, not only of great scientific interest, but also one having practical aspects not at first apparent. From the nature of the investigation, also, the problems seem to be specially suited for the application of the graphic method of research.
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Experimental Phonetics 1 . Nature 65, 182–189 (1901). https://doi.org/10.1038/065182a0
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1038/065182a0