# The Making of Latin/Chapter 2

London: J. Murray, pages 14–23
II. WHAT IS SPEECH?
§ 24. To follow the history of the sounds in any language we must understand how sounds are produced.
Just as in a whistle or an organ sound is made by a current of air passing through certain openings, and being set in vibration by certain tongues or edges put in the way of the current, so sound is produced in the human throat and mouth by a current of air sent out from the lungs; and different kinds of sound arise from the different ways in which the current is treated as it passes through the throat and mouth.
Breath and Voice
§ 25. In the larynx (that is, the upper end of the wind-pipe) through which the current passes, there are two wonderful pieces of soft muscle, which can be either left loose, in which case they fold themselves up against the wall of the larynx on either side, and do not affect the current of air at all; or stretched tightly, so that the current has to pass between two crisp, straight, and almost parallel edges (but not quite parallel since they meet at one end). These are ​called the Vocal Chords, or, better, the Vocal Edges. When the Edges are relaxed and folded up the current of air passes unmodified and inaudible into the mouth; the current is then called Breath, and any sounds made with it in the mouth are said to be Breathed, such as p, t, f; or s in Eng. so, mist (often written c as in rice).
§ 26. But when the current of air has to pass between the Vocal Edges fully stretched, they vibrate and impart their vibration to the current. This so receives from them a musical quality, and is called Voice, and the sounds which it produces are said to be Voiced, such as b, d, v; or z in Eng. size (often written s, as in is, rose).
§ 27. The Vocal Edges can be stretched to different degrees of tightness; and in singing, the higher the note required the greater the tension; that is, the more tightly are the Edges stretched.
Vowels, Sonants, and Consonants
§ 28. Vowels are produced by Voice, as their name implies, passing through the mouth while the tongue and the lips are held in some particular position.
For a (as in Eng. father) the tongue is low in the mouth, its highest point being near the back. For e (as in Eng. men or as in Fr. passé) the tongue is raised so that its highest point is about in the middle of the mouth. For i (short in Eng. pit, long in Eng. machine) the tongue is raised high near the front of the palate. o (as in Eng. bond) and u (as in Eng. pull, push) are made ​very much like a and e except that the lips are rounded as the Voice passes through. This is of course only a very rough description. In nearly all languages there are a great many intermediate positions giving rise to special kinds of vowels.
§ 29. When the tongue is at rest and the lips are not moved during the passage of Voice through the mouth, the result is a colourless or “neutral” vowel, very common in unaccented syllables in English, e.g. in the second syllable of such words as suitable, different, memory. This vowel is conveniently denoted by ə, a symbol called ‘schwa,’ from the name of the sound in Hebrew.
§ 30. The vowels are the simplest kind of Sonants. By a Sonant we mean a sound which can by itself be pronounced as a syllable. By a Consonant we mean a sound which cannot be heard unless it is combined with a Sonant. Thus the sound p cannot be heard unless it is combined with a Sonant, as in pa, or in ep.
§ 31. All sounds except the vowels are produced by a movement of the organs of the mouth (lips, tongue, uvula), acting on a stream of either Breath or Voice. The movement interferes with the current in different ways.
Consonantal i and u (i̯, u̯)
§ 32. The simplest of all Consonants are those made by putting the tongue and lips into the position required for the vowel i, or the vowel u, and then abandoning the position at once while the current ​of air passes, and producing another sound. Thus we get what are called Consonant i and Consonant u, conveniently written i̯ and u̯, always in combination with a vowel. These sounds differ very little from those represented by the English letters y and w (§ 45). For instance the English word way begins with u̯ and ends with i̯, and would be strictly spelt u̯ei̯. Eng. yes begins with consonant i and Eng. low ends with consonant u̯. The sounds might be strictly classed as a weak kind of Fricative (§ 35). Hence i and u are sometimes called Semi-Vowels to suggest their use both as Sonants and as Consonants.
§ 33. Where the current of air is only modified by receiving a vibration from the tongue we get the Liquids, r when the tip of the tongue is vibrated, and l when the sides of the tongue are vibrated; to produce l the front of the tongue is generally set fast against the teeth or palate. Eng. and Lat. r and l are both made with Voice. In modern English the Vibration of r has become very weak, and at the end of a syllable it is hardly heard at all unless a vowel follows.
§ 34. This vibration may be short and followed immediately by a vowel; in this case we have Consonant r and Consonant l. But the vibration may be prolonged so as to make a syllable; in this case we have Sonant r and Sonant l, conveniently written r̥ and l̥. These sounds are very common in English, though they are spelt in many ways. The last sound of the words collar, brother, Cheshire, motor is (or, at least was) a Sonant r, though in Southern English it has sunk to little more than the neutral ​vowel ə (§ 29); and the last sound of dual, mussel, bottle, carol is a sonant l.
Fricatives, Plosives, and Aspirates
§ 35. When a current is modified not by a musical vibration, but roughly so that it is either rubbed in passing through a narrow passage, or for a moment altogether stopped and then released, we get the two classes of sounds called Fricatives, or rubbed sounds, and Plosives, sounds with a kind of burst or explosion. For Aspirates see § 50.
The interruption can be made at any part of the mouth by the lips or by the tongue, either alone or in combination with the teeth. We get therefore different kinds of Fricatives or Plosives according as the sound is formed by Breath or Voice, and according to the place at which the Breath or Voice is rubbed (in Fricatives) or stopped (in Plosives).
Velars, Palatals, Dentals, Interdentals, Labials
§ 36. Velar consonants are formed by the tongue and the Velum, that is the soft part of the palate at the back; e.g. the Velar Plosives Eng. c in cotton or g in got. These sounds are often followed by a consonant u, as in Eng. quantity, anguish; Lat. quod ‘what,’ unguo ‘I anoint.’ Strictly they are written q and ǥ (‘gu’).
§ 37. Palatal Plosives are made when the current of the Breath or Voice is stopped by the tongue pressed against some part of the hard palate, as Eng. k in kin or g in get. Strictly they are written k̑ and g̑.
§ 38. For Palatal Fricatives the current is ​not completely stopped but rubbed between the tongue and some part of the palate. The commonest kind is that of Eng. sh in shut, which is Breathed and which corresponds to the Voiced sound of Fr. j as in jour, or of Eng. z in azure. Sansk. ç (Breathed) and j (Voiced) are similar sounds. The final consonants of such German words as ich ‘I,’ weg ‘way’ are Palatal Fricatives of a slightly different kind. There were no such sounds in Latin in the time of Cicero.
§ 39. Dental Plosives are made when the current of air is stopped by pressing the tongue against the back of the upper teeth, t Breathed and d Voiced.
§ 40. But if the tongue is only brought near enough to the teeth to rub the current without completely stopping it, we get the Dental Fricatives, s (Breathed) as in Eng. us, nurse (often written c as in Eng. ace); z (Voiced) as in Eng. size (often written s as in Eng. is, rise).
§ 41. If the tongue is put below the upper teeth so that the current hisses out between the interstices of the teeth, and between the teeth and the tongue, we get what are called the Interdental Fricatives. In English these are represented, unfortunately, both by the same letters, th in thin (Breathed) and th in then (Voiced). These are properly written þ and đ respectively.
§ 42. The English sounds which are roughly classed as Dentals t, d, s, z are not true Dentals because the tongue is brought to touch or approach not the teeth themselves but the ridge of the palate behind the teeth and strictly these English sounds are called Alveolar. ​But the French t, d, s, z are true Dentals, and the Latin t, s, d, z may have been the same.
Labo-Dentals
§ 43. When the lower lip is pressed against the upper teeth, and the current of air forces its way out between them, we get the Labio-Dental Fricatives, Breathed as f m Eng. firm, Lat. firmus; Voiced as Eng. v in van.
But note that this latter sound did not arise in Latin from Consonant u until the 2nd Century A.D. (see § 158). In Latin at the time of Cicero Consonant u (which in modern times has in Latin texts been commonly printed v) was pronounced very nearly as English w, that is to say, it was not Labio-Dental but a pure Labial (§ 45).
Labials
§ 44. Labial Plosives are made when the current is stopped by closing the lips, p (Breathed), b (Voiced).
§ 45. Pure Labial Fricatives are made by rubbing the current between the lips, Eng. wh in what (Breathed), w in wet (Voiced); note however that in vulgar southern English wh is sounded as w. The only difference between this Voiced Labial Fricative (Eng. w) and consonant u (Lat. v as in vento) is that in the Fricative the lips are held a little longer and more tightly
Nasals
§ 46. Nasal sounds are produced when a portion of the current of air is allowed to escape through the nose. The entrance to the nasal passage is above the throat at the back of the mouth; this entrance is closed when the uvula is pressed against the back wall of the throat. When the uvula hangs loose, part of the current escapes through the nose, or the whole current, if the mouth is closed.
§ 47. If this passage is left open while vowels are being formed, they are given what is called a ‘nasal colour’; this is often heard in some English dialects, especially in America and Canada.
§ 48. When part of the Voice escapes through the nose during the formation of Voiced Plosives, we get the corresponding Nasals. For instance m is the same sound as b except that part of the Voice escapes through the nose while the contact for b is being made by the lips. m is therefore called ‘the Voiced Labial Nasal.’ n is the Voiced Dental Nasal, and there are also nasal sounds corresponding to the Palatal and Velar Plosives. Both of these latter nasal sounds are commonly denoted in English and in Latin merely by the letter n as in Lat. ingero, unguo, Eng. linger, anguish.
§ 49. If the humming sound produced by the part of the Voice that escapes through the nose is prolonged enough to make a syllable while the part of the current that is in the mouth is still stopped we get the ‘Nasal Sonants’; for instance m̥, n̥, which are common in English though they are spelt in many ways. Sonant ​n occurs in the last syllable of words like London, open, and before a consonant in isn’t. Sonant m is heard in the second syllable of Chatham, anthem, bottom, and is spelt by m alone in some words recently taken from Greek (directly or through French) like chasm, rhythm.
The Aspirates
§ 50. By an Aspirate we mean the combination of a Plosive with a slight emission of Breath before the next sound. This combination is conveniently represented by adding the symbol h to the symbols of the Plosives, gh, ǥh, k̑h, g̑h, th, dh, ph, bh. All these sounds (except the Velar qh and ǥh) exist in Sanskrit; and the Voiced Aspirates occurred in a great number of words in the parent Indo-European language.
None of these sounds occur in pure Latin words; but Breathed Aspirates existed in Greek at least down to the Christian era, and frequently appear in words borrowed from Greek into Latin, e.g. in names like Philippus, Phoebus, Charon. They must be carefully distinguished from the fricative sounds like Eng. th, Germ. ch (see §§ 38, 41).
§ 51. But the Aspirates, both in Greek words and in Latin words borrowed from Greek, passed into Fricatives some time in the course of the Roman Empire, so that the first syllable of Philippus came to be pronounced as it still is in English, and so ph came to be only another way of writing f. But in Greek, before the Christian era, the Breathed Aspirates φ, θ, ​and χ were pronounced like ph in Eng. uphill, th in Eng. boat-house, kh in Eng. pack-horse.
English and Latin h, Greek ῾
§ 52. The sound which is denoted by the letter h is a slight rustle of Breath, which can hardly be heard unless a Vowel or Liquid immediately follows. A rustle of this sort can be produced by a very slight. rubbing of the current of Breath at almost any point. In English it is made by sending some Breath through the larynx while the Vocal Edges are in course of being stretched: so soon as they are stretched the following vowel sound begins.
§ 53. The proper name for the sound of h is therefore what it is called in Greek, namely a ‘rough breathing’; and it is unfortunate that it has popularly come to be called “the aspirate,” since this word is used in Phonetics, as we have seen, to mean something different.