The Brain and the Voice in Speech and SongMott, F. W. (Frederick Walker)
Science
The Brain and the Voice in Speech and Song
Mott, F. W. (Frederick Walker)
Voice
Another hypothesis which was brought forward by Grieger and supported by
some authors is summarised by Ribot as follows: "Words are an imitation of
the movements of the mouth. The predominant sense in man is that of sight;
man is pre-eminently visual. Prior to the acquisition of speech he
communicated with his fellows by the aid of gestures and movement of the
mouth and face; he appealed to their eyes. Their facial 'grimaces,'
fulfilled and elucidated by gesture, became signs for others; they fixed
their attention upon them. When articulate sounds came into being, these
lent themselves to a more or less conventional language by reason of their
acquired importance." For support of this hypothesis the case of
non-educated deaf-mutes is cited. They invent articulate sounds which they
cannot hear and use them to designate certain things. Moreover, they employ
gesture language--a language which is universally understood.
Another theory of the origin of the speaking voice is that speech is an
instinct not evolved, but breaking forth spontaneously in man; but even if
this be so, it was originally so inadequate and weak that it required
support from the gesture language to become intelligible. This mixed
language still survives among some of the inferior races of men. Miss
Kingsley and Tylor have pointed out that tribes in Africa have to gather
round the camp fires at night in order to converse, because their
vocabulary is so incomplete that without being reinforced by gesture and
pantomime they would be unable to communicate with one another. Gesture is
indispensable for giving precision to vocal sounds in many languages, e.g.
those of the Tasmanians, Greenlanders, savage tribes of Brazil, and Grebos
of Western Africa. In other cases speech is associated with inarticulate
sounds. These sounds have been compared to clicking and clapping, and
according to Sayce, these clickings and clappings survive as though to show
us how man when deprived of speech can fix and transmit his thoughts by
certain sounds. These mixed states represent articulate speech in its
primordial state; they represent the stage of transition from pure
pantomime to articulate speech.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
Reviews
Reviews
No reviews yet
Be the first to share your thoughts on this work.
Join the Discussion
Join the discussion
Sign in to leave a comment or review.
Sign InorCreate an account