The Speech of Monkeys

VOWEL SOUNDS

Among the sounds of the Simian voice I have not found the English vowels "a," "i," or "o," except, perhaps, "i" short as sounded in the word "it." The vowel "u," as sounded like "oo" in "shoot," seems to be the chief sound of their speech. One important point which I discovered from the phonograph is, that sounds or tones which are purely musical are reproduced alike with the cylinder turning either way, while all speech sounds are slightly changed when the cylinder is reversed, which shows the sounds to be compound. I find that "w" may be developed from any consonant by manipulating the cylinder of the phonograph, and it is a fact also that the initial consonant imparted to any vowel does not continue through the vowel. This I have shown by making a vowel sound which I prolong for some seconds with the cylinder revolving at a given rate of speed. While reproducing this at a normal speed I intercepted at any point, and developed the sound "w" as heard in "woe." The instant I have blended this into the vowel, I lift the diaphragm until the normal speed is restored, when I replace the reproducing tooth showing the sound without the consonant. In like manner I dictate to the phonograph any vowel sound preceded by a consonant. The consonant I utter in a natural way, the vowel I prolong for some seconds, and in the act of reproducing this I cut the sound in two and find the vowel element is not modified by the consonant which preceded it, hence, I observe that the consonant merely suggests to the mind a certain form of sound which does not change the fundamental vowel. In fact, it aids the voice somewhat in uttering the vowel.

If human speech were composed of none but vowel sounds the human voice could scarcely utter them in a continued conversation; their monotony would not so much offend the ear as it would try the vocal powers, and man would soon acquire consonants to aid the voice if for no other use.

DOUBLE AND TREBLE CONSONANTS

Among the Simians the better types of speech show this tendency, and in the lower types of human speech we find all the vowel elements, while consonants are not by any means so numerous. Another fact is this, among the lower races of mankind double consonants are rare, and treble more so. Of course their tongues consist of fewer words, as has been shown before, which paucity arises from their few wants and simple modes of life, and hence the scope of vocal growth is much contracted. Beginning with the lowest tribes of men, we find the consonants increase in number and complexity as we ascend the scale of speech. To this, perhaps, is due the fact that the Negroes now found in the United States after a sojourn of two hundred years with the white race on this continent are unable to utter the sounds of "th" "thr," and other double consonants. The former of these they pronounce "d" if breathing, and "t" if aspirate. The latter they pronounce like "trw" or "tww." The sound of "v" they usually pronounce "b," while "r" resembles "w" or "rw" when initial, but as a final sound is usually suppressed. They have a marked tendency to omit auxiliary and final sounds, and in all departures from the higher types of speech tend back to ancestral forms.

I believe if we could apply the rule of perspectives and throw our vanishing point far back beyond the chasm that separates man from his Simian prototype, that we would find one unbroken outline tangent to every circle of life from man to protozoa in language, mind, and matter.

CHAPTER XXIII

The Human Voice – Human Bagpipe – Human Piccolo, Flute, and Fife – The Voice as a Whistle – Music and Noise – Dr. Bell and his "Visible Speech."

One of the very curious feats which I have performed with the phonograph is the conversion of the human voice into the sounds of various instruments. I had my wife sing the familiar Scotch ballad, "Comin' through the Rye," to the phonograph while the cylinder was rotating at the rate of about forty revolutions per minute. Each word in the song was distinctly pronounced and the music rendered in a plain, smooth tone. I then increased the speed of the machine to about one hundred and twenty per minute, at which rate I reproduced the song. It was a very perfect imitation of the bagpipe with no sign whatever of articulation. The melody was preserved with only a change of time. The speech character was so completely destroyed that I repeated this record to a large audience in which were several eminent musicians, not one of whom suspected that it was not a real bagpipe solo. In like manner I have converted the sounds of the voice into a very perfect piccolo, flute, fife, and into a fairly good imitation of a whistle sound. To produce the whistling effect and the fife sound the rate of speed must be necessarily very high, and some notes will not be perfectly converted for some reason which I have not yet fully understood. Some voices are much more easily converted into the flute effect than others. To get the best flute sounds, a full, smooth, mezzo-soprano gives the best effect. In reversing the operation, the sounds of these instruments can be made to imitate the human voice somewhat, but not exactly, not only in the fact that the modulation is wanting and there is no semblance to consonant sounds, but the tone itself differs in quality from that of the voice.

CONTOUR OF SOUNDS

Among other respects in which the vocal sounds of man and Simian resemble is in the contour of the sounds, which I have defined elsewhere. I have called attention to the fact that by reversing the cylinder of the phonograph and repeating the sound recorded thereon that a musical note or sound would repeat alike each way. Most of the sounds made by other animals do this, but those made by man and Simian alike show modulation, not, however, equally distinct. The notes of birds repeat alike both ways except their order is reversed. Again, to magnify the sounds as I have shown it can be done, allows you to inspect them, as it were, under the microscope, and this examination shows the contour of the sounds of these two genera to resemble.

Dr. Alexander Melville Bell has shown, in his work on "Visible Speech," that the organs brought into use in the production and modification of sounds must work in harmony with each other; hence it is that by a study of the external forms of the mouth the movements of all the organs used in making any sound can be determined with such certainty that deaf-mutes can be, and have been, successfully taught to distinguish these sounds by the eye alone. And it was by such a method that I set out to read the temple inscriptions from the ruins of Palenque, some years ago, at which time I had not heard of Dr. Bell's learned and excellent work. The main feature of those glyphs, by which I was guided, was the outline of the mouth, which the artist had sought to preserve and emphasise at the cost of every other feature, and by this process I found to my satisfaction some ten or twelve sounds or phonetic elements of the speech used by these people; but not knowing the meaning of the sounds in that lost tongue, I did not attempt to verify them, but when I find the time to devote to them I believe I can accomplish that.

TRIP TO AFRICA

It is a part of my purpose, in my trip to Africa, to try to secure photographs of the mouths of the great apes while they are in the act of talking, and to this end I am having constructed an electric trigger, with which to operate my photo-camera at long range, and I shall try to furnish to the eminent author of "Visible Speech" some new and novel subjects for study.

CHAPTER XXIV

Some Curious Facts in Vocal Growth – Children and Consonants – Single, Double, and Treble Consonants – Sounds of Birds – Fishes and their Language – Insects and their Language.

SOUNDS UTTERED BY CHILDREN

I shall take occasion here to mention some curious experiments, which have suggested themselves to me in my work with the phonograph. For lack of time and opportunity, I have not carried them far enough to give exact and final results; but it has occurred to me that philology may be aided by taking a record of the sounds made by a number of children daily through a period of two or three years from birth. The few experiments which I have tried in this particular line are sufficient to show that the growth of speech obeys certain laws in the development of vocal power. It is apparent to me that the first sounds uttered by children have no consonants, and that certain consonants always appear in a regular succession and always single. The double consonants develop later, and the triple consonants appear to be the last acquirement. I have not the space to go to great length on this subject, and my experiments have not been sufficient to enable me to formulate with certainty any set of rules by which the development of this faculty is uniformly governed.

It is my purpose, on my return from Africa, to set on foot a series of such experiments, with the hope of ascertaining the facts connected therewith. And while in Africa I shall aim to make such records of the natives as to ascertain whether their speech conforms to the same laws of development or not. It is my earnest hope to be able to do the same thing with the great apes which I am going chiefly to study. I think if I can record on a phonograph cylinder the sounds uttered by a young chimpanzee under certain conditions once each day for a year or so, I can determine whether there is a like growth in their speech, and to what extent the same laws control it. I have already observed that the quality of voice in a given species of monkey changes with his age very much in the same manner as the human voice; but I have not been able to follow the changes through one individual specimen by which to ascertain the exact manner of such change.

SOUNDS OF BIRDS

The sounds of birds have been studied perhaps more than any others except those of man, but they have not been studied as speech, nor to ascertain their meanings. Their musical character has attracted attention and been the subject of some discussion. My opinion is that much that has been said on that subject belongs more properly to the realm of poetry than of science. I think the sounds of birds are chiefly intended for speech, but it may supply the place of music in their æsthetic being; but, so far as I have observed, I confess that I cannot find that they obey the laws of harmony, melody, or time, and it is my opinion that most of the efforts to write the sounds of birds on a musical staff are not to be relied upon as accurate records of the sounds. There is no doubt that each sound uttered by a bird is in unison with some note in the chromatic scale of music, but the intervals between the tones of the same bird do not coincide with those of the human voice. It is quite evident that birds possess an acute sense and ready faculty for music, and many of them show great aptitude in imitating the sounds of musical instruments; some varieties of birds, such as the southern mocking-bird, the thrush, and others, imitate with great success the sounds of other birds. They often do this so perfectly as to deceive the species to which the sounds belong. The songs of birds, as they are called, appear to afford them great pleasure, and they often indulge in them, I think, as a pastime; the effect is pleasing to the ear because of its cheerfulness, and it is not discordant or wanting in richness of tone in most birds. From the little study I have given them I think it safe to say that the range of sounds possessed by any one bird is quite limited and their notes are strictly monophones. This last remark does not apply to the sounds made by parrots and birds of that kind.

The parrot is perhaps possessed of the greatest vocal power of any other bird. He imitates almost the entire range of sounds that are uttered by all other birds combined, and can also imitate the sounds of human speech from the highest to the lowest pitch of the human voice. In addition to all this, he imitates many noises, such as the sounds of sawing wood, the slam of a door, and the whistling of the wind. The vocal range of the parrot is perhaps the most marvellous of all the vocal products of the animal kingdom. One strange thing, however, that I observe among them is, that the range of sounds that they use among themselves is very small. I have made some records of parrots, macaws, cockatoos, &c., and I find their natural vocal sounds usually wanting in quality: most of their sounds are hoarse and guttural.

Among the gallinaceous birds there does not appear to be much music. There is a great sameness of sounds in the different species, and they seem to be confined to the economic use of speech.

In my early life I devoted much time to gunning, and I observed then, and called attention to the fact, that when a covey of birds became scattered I could tell at what point they would huddle. I could tell this by the call of one bird and the reply of the others. The call-bird, which was always the leader of the covey, would sound his call from a certain point near which the other birds would usually assemble, and during this time they would answer him from various other points. The sound used by the call-bird is unlike that used by the rest of the flock, but the sounds with which they reply to him are all alike, and by observing this I could always find the covey again by allowing them time to come together, especially if it was late in the afternoon.

Mr. Wood, of Washington, D.C., has given such attention to the sounds of birds that he can interpret and imitate nearly all the sounds made by domestic birds, and many of those made by wild birds. He has twice confused and arrested the flight of an army of crows by imitating the calls of their leader. His feats have been witnessed with astonishment by many men of science.

SOUNDS OF FISHES

Among fishes I have found but few sounds, and most of these I have never heard except when the fish was taken out of the water. The carp and high-fin, however, I have frequently heard while in the water. It has occurred to me that the sound is not the medium of communication, but it is the result of an action by which they do communicate even when the sound is not audible. I have observed while holding the fish in my hand when he makes this sound that it produces a jarring sensation which is very perceptible. It is quite possible that in his natural element these powerful vibrations are imparted to the surrounding water, and through it communicated to another fish, who feels it in his sensitive body instead of hearing it as sound. It may be accompanied by the sound merely resulting from the force applied, but not in itself constituting any part of the means of communication. It is not unlike what we call sound, in the fact that it is generated in the same way, transmitted in the same way, and received in the same way as sound. When I have time and opportunity I shall carry my studies of the language of fishes much farther. Their means of communication are very contracted, but it is superfluous for me to say that they have such means.

Many observations have already been made on the language of insects, and much diversity of opinion prevails. Very little has been said about the details of their intercourse, but the consensus of opinion is that they must in some way communicate among themselves. To me they seem to live within a world of their own, as other classes of the animal kingdom do. The means of communication used by mammals could not be available among aquatic forms, any more than could their modes of locomotion. Each different class of the animal kingdom is endowed with such characters and faculties as best adapt them to the sphere in which they live; and the mode of communication best fitted to the conditions of insect life would be as little suited to mammals, perhaps, as the feathers of a bird would be for locomotion in the realm of fishes.

LANGUAGE OF INSECTS

I am aware that some high authorities have claimed that insects communicate by sounds. My own opinion is that they employ a system of grating or scratching by means of their stigmata, but that the sound created thus performs no function in the act of communicating, but is only a bi-product, so to speak, and that the jarring sensation transmitted through the air is the real means by which they understand each other, possibly somewhat like telegraphy, in which the sounds are not modulated, but are distinguished by their duration and the interval between them. I do not announce this as conclusive, but merely suggest it as a possible key to their mode of intercourse.

A COLONY OF ANTS

I have observed that signs prevail to a great extent among ants. Some years ago I had an opportunity of studying a colony of ants, and I watched them almost daily for several weeks. I had seen it stated that they found their way by the sense of smell, but these observations confirmed my doubts on that point, and I feel justified in saying that they are guided almost, if not entirely, by landmarks. On the bark of a tree from which they were gathering in their winter stores, I observed that there were certain little knots or protuberances by which they directed their course and which they always passed in a certain order. Between these landmarks they did not confine themselves to any exact path, but the concourse would sometimes widen out over the space of more than an inch, but as they approached a landmark every ant fell into line and went in the exact path of the others, which rarely exceeded in any case more than an eighth of an inch in width. Whenever an ant would lose its way it would lift its head high into the air, look around, and then turn almost at right angles from the course it was pursuing towards the path of the others. In scores of cases I observed that the outward-bound ant, when it had been lost and returned to the path, always came on the homeward side of the landmark and passed out. On the other hand, if a homeward-bound ant was lost it would approach from the outward side of the landmark and pass in. About five feet from the ground were two small, round knots, about one-eighth of an inch in height, and a space between them of about the same width. This appeared to be one of their most conspicuous and reliable landmarks, and every ant that I saw pass in or out during the lapse of weeks passed between these two points. The burdened ant always appeared to have the right of way, and when meeting another without a burden there was no question of this right. In such a case the burden was usually held aloft, and the right of way conceded without debate. A little later in the season I had the opportunity of seeing the same colony emigrate to a point about eighty feet distant from their original abode, at which time they carried large burdens and were many days in completing their work, but the same system and methods prevailed.

As far as desire can be found in life the means of expression go hand in hand with it, but I do not contend that desire alone is the origin of this faculty. So far as human ears can ascertain, the lowest forms of life appeared to dwell in perpetual silence, but there may be voices yet unheard, more eloquent than we have ever dreamed of.

CHAPTER XXV

Facts and Fancies of Speech – Language in the Vegetable Kingdom – Language in the Mineral Kingdom.

In the early part of this work I have recorded the material and tangible facts with which I have dealt, and have not departed from such facts to formulate a theory beyond a working hypothesis. I have not allowed myself to be transported into the realm of fancy, nor have I claimed for my work anything which lies beyond the bounds of proof. But in the wide range through which I have sought for the first hint of speech, it is only natural that many theories have suggested themselves to me from time to time, some of which would appear almost like the dreams of hasheesh. But while they are like the fairyland of speculation, they are not more wild and incoherent than are many of the dogmas of metaphysics. And at this point I shall digress from my text so far as to say that I have followed the motives of language through the higher planes of life and thence downward to the very sunrise to the vegetable kingdom, and on through the dim twilight across the mineral world to that point where elemental matter is first delivered from the hands of force. Standing upon the elevated plane of human development, it is difficult for man to stoop to the level of those inferior forms from which he is so far removed in all his faculties; but if his senses could be made so delicate as to discern the facts, he would find perhaps that in the polity of life all horizons are equidistant from each other. But looking back from where he stands, his powers fail to reach the real point of vital force at which all life began, and his contracted senses bring the vanishing point of this perspective far into the foreground of the facts.

From the highest type of human speech to the feeblest hint of expression there is a gradual descent, and at no point between these two extremes can there be drawn a line at which it may be said "here one begins, and here another ends." The same is true of other faculties; and from the vital centre at which matter first receives the touch of life to the circumference of the vital sphere, all powers radiate alike, and there is no point that I can find between that centre and infinity at which some new endowment intercepts the line.

Descending the scale of life by long strides, from man to the lowest form of zooids, we cannot designate the point at which a faculty is first imparted to the form which has it, and this truth extends throughout the vital cosmos.

LANGUAGE IN THE VEGETABLE KINGDOM

The line of demarcation which separates the animal and vegetable is but a wavering, blended mezzotint, and the highest forms of vegetable life seem to overlap the lowest forms of animal, so far that no dividing line is positively fixed. The highest types of vegetable seem to have the faculty of expression in a degree corresponding to, and in harmony with, the rest of their organism. I do not mean to say that the impulse under which a plant acts is synonymously with that which prompts the animal, but both appear to be the effect of the same cause.

In some forms of vegetation the selection of food of certain kinds and the aversion to other certain kinds, would indicate that the organism is capable of design and purpose in a degree perhaps much higher than some of the lowest forms of the animal kingdom. The reaching out of roots in search of food in the earth, the opening and closing of leaf and bloom, seeking the moisture and carbon from the atmosphere, suggest a feeble expression of desire. The choice of food is so well defined in some plants as to indicate a power of selection far greater than some protozoans exercise. It is a known fact that a change of food and conditions often modify a plant in such degree as to make it difficult to recognise except by the technical laws of classification, and yet its identity is not lost. Such changes do not effect all plants in the same degree, as some of them will undergo a change of diet or conditions without material effect. In many instances a marked dislike to certain kinds of food has been observed, and the sensitiveness of some plants is shown in the foliage, bloom, and even in the roots.

LANGUAGE OF THE MINERAL KINGDOM

In passing from the vegetable to the mineral kingdom, we find a like diffusion of types overlapping and blending into each other. Some forms of vegetation are so low in the scale of organism as to make it difficult to say whether they are vegetable or mineral compounds. Of course we find no trace of speech, but there is that hint of expression or suggestion of desire as found in the vegetable kingdom. In the chemical world one element will select another with which it will combine, while to other elements it shows a great aversion. When one chemical element selects another and combines with it we call this chemical affinity. The ultimate force which causes this affinity is one of the unknown facts concerning matter; but it is possible that such affinities and aversions constitute the basis upon which rests the selections and aversions of plants and animals. But as we rise in the scale the combinations of matter become more complex and the functions of each part more specific. It is possible, when we become more familiar with the forces of Nature, that we shall find that affinity and repulsion are but the positive and negative poles of the forces which act on matter; that chemical, vegetable and animal activity are based upon the same fundamental causes, and that speech, which is only one form of expression, is the highest product of such an ultimate force, but in all conditions of matter, such forces, either positive or negative, are the ultimate motives of expression.