Elements of Phonetics; English, French & German (Paperback)

This historic book may have numerous typos and missing text. Purchasers can download a free scanned copy of the original book (without typos) from the publisher. Not indexed. Not illustrated. 1903 Excerpt: ... THE SEPARATE SOUNDS. Designation of Sounds. 21. To avoid the necessity of constantly repeated descriptions, we must be able to express each sound by a clear and unmistakable symbol; we require a phonetic alphabet. The current spelling of English, French and German will not serve our purpose, for it is inconsistent (e.g. English not and what, French si and id, German wr and /ur), or awkward and inadequate (e.g. English thin, French mon, German schoo). In this book a phonetic transcript in square brackets is therefore employed, and it is the alphabet of the Association Phone'tigue Internationale (the journal of which is Le Maitre Phonttigue, edited by Dr Paul Passy, 20 rue de la Madeleine, Bourg-laBeine). The following table contains the symbols for such sounds as we shall meet with in English, French and German speech; the value of those symbols which are not familiar will become clear as we proceed. Clarendon type is employed to represent letters and words in the conventional spelling. B '7 ARTICULATION OF THE LARYNX. 1. Full opening of glottis. 22. When the glottis (the interval between the vocal chords) is fully opened, the breath passes through without producing any audible sound. Sound may, however, be subsequently produced when the breath reaches the articulations of the mouth, and the nose. 2. Slight opening of glottis and closure of glottis. 23. Notice the production of 'voice, ' described above in 10; it is not a speech-sound of itself, but an important part of many such sounds, which are hence called voiced; the rest are voiceless. Slight opening of glottis. 24. If the glottis be made sufficiently narrow, the breath brushing past the edges of the vocal chords produces a voiceless glottal continuant (or fricative), ...