The Speech of Monkeys Part 7

Held in check by the strong reins of theology and tradition, he has not dared to controvert those dogmas which bear the stamp of error on their face; he dares not turn away from the idols of his own conceit and read the rubrics written in the fossil rocks; he dares not take those proofs which none can counterfeit, and whose authority is not gainsaid; he dares not lay aside the yoke which galls the neck of patience, or breathe the air unblest by some mysterious rite performed in fear. By such restraints his ears are closed against those voices which appeal to him from without the temple gates of his belief. In what respect would man be less G.o.d-like if it be shown that monkeys talk? To elevate the humbler ranks could not degrade mankind. Whether man is the work of Deity or was evolved by laws of change from primal matter; whether he was made in one specific act or is the last amendment to a million prior types; whether he is the creature of design or accident, the authorship of his being and that of all the forms which roam the broad empire of life must be the same. We are all the effects of one Great Cause, whatever that may be, and that which gave to man the power of speech imparted it to apes; and I can see no reason why Nature should have drawn a line about this faculty, and made the rest a common heritage.

CHAPTER XXI.

Certain Marks which Characterise the Sounds of Monkeys as Speech--Sounds accompanied by Gestures--Certain Acts follow certain Sounds--They acquire new Sounds--Their Speech addressed to certain Individuals--Deliberation and Premeditation--They remember and antic.i.p.ate Results--Thought and Reason.

As a result of my experience with monkeys, I shall here sum up the chief points in which their speech is found to coincide with that of man, and note those features which distinctly characterise the sounds as a form of speech.

[Sidenote: SOUNDS OF MONKEYS AS SPEECH]

The sounds which monkeys make are voluntary, deliberate, and articulate.

They are always addressed to some certain individual with the evident purpose of having them understood. The monkey indicates by his own acts and the manner of delivery that he is conscious of the meaning which he desires to convey through the medium of the sounds. They wait for and expect an answer, and if they do not receive one they frequently repeat the sounds. They usually look at the person addressed, and do not utter these sounds when alone or as a mere pastime, but only at such times as some one is present to hear them, either some person or another monkey.

They understand the sounds made by other monkeys of their own kind, and usually respond to them with a like sound. They understand these sounds when imitated by a human being, by a whistle, a phonograph, or other mechanical devices, and this indicates that they are guided by the sounds alone, and not by any signs, gestures, or psychic influence. The same sound is interpreted to mean the same thing, and obeyed in the same manner by different monkeys of the same species. Different sounds are accompanied by different gestures, and produce different results under the same conditions. They make their sounds with the vocal organs, and modulate them with the teeth, tongue and lips, in the same manner that man controls his vocal sounds. The fundamental sounds appear to be pure vowels, but faint traces of consonants are found in many words, especially those of low pitch; and since I have been able to develop certain consonant sounds from a vowel basis, the conclusion forces itself upon me that the consonant elements of human speech are developed from a vowel basis. This opinion is further confirmed by the fact that the sounds produced by the types of the animal kingdom lower than the monkey, appear to be more like the sounds of pipe instruments; and as we rise in the scale, the vocal organs appear to become somewhat more complex, and capable of varying these sounds so as to give the effect of consonants, which very much extends the vocal scope. The present state of the speech of monkeys appears to have been reached by development from a lower form. [Sidenote: EACH RACE HAS ITS PECULIAR TONGUE] Each race or kind of monkey has its own peculiar tongue, slightly shaded into dialects, and the radical sounds do not appear to have the same meaning in different tongues. The phonetic character of their speech is equally as high as that of children in a like state of mental development; and seems to obey the same laws of phonetic growth, change, and decay as human speech. It appears to me that their speech is capable of communicating the ideas that they are capable of conceiving, and, measured by their mental, moral, and social status, is as well developed as the speech of man, measured by the same units. Strange monkeys of the same species seem to understand each other at sight, whereas two monkeys of different species do not understand each other until they have been together for some time. Each one learns to understand the speech of the other; but, as a rule, he does not try to speak it. When he deigns an answer, it is usually in his own tongue. The more fixed and p.r.o.nounced the social and gregarious instincts are in any species, the higher the type of its speech. They often utter certain sounds under certain conditions in a whisper, which indicates they are conscious of the effect which will result from the use of speech. Monkeys reason from cause to effect, communicate to others the conclusion deduced therefrom, and act in accordance therewith. If their sounds convey a fixed idea on a given subject from one mind to another, what more does human speech accomplish? If one sound communicates that idea clearly, what more could volumes do? If their sounds discharge all the functions of speech, in what respect are they not speech?

[Sidenote: CANNOT THINK WITHOUT WORDS]

It is as reasonable to attribute meaning to their sounds as to attribute motives to their actions; and the fact that they ascribe a meaning to the sounds of human speech, would show that they are aware that ideas can be conveyed by sounds. If they can interpret certain sounds of human speech, they can ascribe a meaning to their own. They think, and speech is but the natural exponent of thought; it is the audible expression of thought, and signs are the visible expression of the same; born of the same cause, acts to the same end, and discharges the same functions in the economy of life. To reason is to think methodically; and if it be true that man cannot think without words, the same must be true of monkeys. I do not mean, however, to claim that such is a fact with regard to man thinking; but if such can be shown to be a fact, it will decide the question as to the invention of human speech, as it was necessary for man to think in order to invent; and, by the same rule, he could not think a word which did not exist, and therefore could not have invented it. But I beg to be allowed to stand aside and let Prof. Max Muller and Prof. Whitney, the great giants of comparative philology, settle this question between themselves; and I shall abide by the verdict which may be finally reached.

But theories are useless things when the facts are known; and since I have actually learned from a monkey a certain sound having a certain value and meaning a certain thing, and by repeating that sound to a monkey of the same species have met with uniform results, have understood him, and been understood by him, no argument could be so potent as to cause me to believe that this was accident. I am aware that coincidents occur; but when they become the rule instead of the exception, they are no longer mere coincidents, but are the normal state of things.

[Sidenote: THOUGHT AND REASON]

In conclusion, I would say that since the sounds uttered by monkeys perform all that speech performs, is made of the same material, produced by the same means, acts to the same ends, and through the same media, it is as near an approach to speech as the mental operations by which it is produced are an approach to thought. If it can be shown that these mental feats are not thought, the same process of reasoning could show that these sounds are not speech. If man derived his other faculties from such an ancestry, may not his speech have been acquired from such a source? If the prototype of man has survived through all the vicissitudes of time, may not his speech likewise have survived? If the races of mankind are the progeny of the Simian stock, may not their languages be the progeny of the Simian tongue?

CHAPTER XXII.

The Phonograph as an aid to Science--Vowels the basis of Phonation--Consonants developed from a Vowel basis--Vowels are Compound--The a.n.a.lysis of Vowels by the Phonograph--Current Theories of Sound--Augmentation of Sounds--Sound Waves and Sound Units--Consonants among the Lower Races.

The application of the phonograph to my special work is really the discovery of a new field of usefulness for that wonderful instrument, which, up to this time, has held the place of a toy more than that of a scientific apparatus of the very highest importance in the study of acoustics and philology. In many ways the use of this machine is so hampered by the avarice of men as to lessen its value as an aid to scientific research, and the Letters Patent under which it is protected preclude all compet.i.tion and prevent improvements. However, I have been able, even with the poor machines in general use, to discover some of the most important facts upon which are based the laws of phonation. I shall here attempt to give in detail but a few of these experiments, as they are yet crude, and in some cases the deductions therefrom not positively certain. [Sidenote: VOICES OF MEN AND MONKEYS] From the various records that I have made of the voices of men and monkeys, I am prepared to say that the difference is not so great as is commonly supposed, and that I have converted each one into the other. I would not be understood to say that I have done this with all their sounds, nor that the monkey's sounds were converted into human speech, but the fundamental sounds of each were changed into those of the other. I find that human laughter coincides in nearly every point with that of monkeys. They differ in volume and pitch. By the aid of the phonograph I have been able to a.n.a.lyse the vowel sounds of human speech, which I find to be compound, and some of them contain as many as three distinct syllables of unlike sounds. From the vowel basis I have succeeded in developing certain consonant elements, both initial and final, from which I have deduced the belief that the most complex sounds of consonants are developed from the simple vowel basis, somewhat like chemical compounds result from the union of simple elements. Without describing in detail the results, I shall mention some simple experiments which have given me some very strange phenomena. I dictate to the phonograph a vowel in different keys while the cylinder rotates at a given rate of speed. I then adjust the speed to a certain higher or lower rate and follow the results. By reversing the motion of the cylinder the sounds are reduced to their fundamental state. By this means we eliminate all familiar intonation, and disa.s.sociate it from any meaning which will sway the mind, and in this way it can be studied to advantage. [Sidenote: THE SOUND WAVES] At a given rate of speed I have taken the record of certain sounds made by a monkey, and by reducing the rate of speed from two hundred revolutions per minute to forty, it can be seen that I increased the intervals between what is called the sound waves and magnified the wave itself fivefold, at the same time reducing the pitch in like degree, and by this means I could detect the slightest shades of modulation. I may remind you here that in this process all parts of the sound are magnified alike in all directions, so that instead of obtaining five times the length, as it were, of the sound unit or interval, we obtain the cube of five times the normal length of every unit of the sound. The slightest variation of tension in the vocal chords may be detected, and every part of the sound compared to every other part.

Having thus augmented the quant.i.ty of sound, by increasing alike the sound unit and interval, it can be recorded on another cylinder and multiplied again as long as the vibrations can produce sound. From the constant relation of parts and their uniform augmentations under this treatment, it has suggested to my mind the idea that all sounds have definite geometrical outlines, and as we change the magnitude without changing the form of the sound, I shall describe this constancy of form by the term contour.

In a few instances I have been able, by reducing the record of certain sounds from a high pitch to a lower one, to imitate the sound thus reduced with my own vocal organs, then by restoring this record of my voice to its normal speed have obtained almost a perfect imitation of the sound. This effect, however, does not always follow, and in many instances my best imitations have not developed the original at all. But this presents a new problem in acoustics. I must here take occasion to say that the difference of pitch, quality, &c., in sounds does not appear to me to depend alone upon the length of the sound unit, but there seems to be a difference of ultimate form and mode of propagation which have much to do with the contour of the developed sound.

[Sidenote: THE SOUND FORCE]

By _mode of propagation_ I mean the organs brought into use for the purpose of producing the sound, the apertures through which the sound force pa.s.ses, and the auxiliaries by which it is moulded into certain shapes. By _ultimate form_ I mean the geometrical shape of the sound force when first converted into sound. That there is such a thing as form has been clearly demonstrated by the phoneidoscope. Prof. John B.

De Mott has very kindly aided me in reducing certain sounds to a visible condition. I had conceived an idea before this that if the path described by the energy which produced sound could be made visible, that it would be found to have the form of a convolute spiral, that these spirals recede from the centre or point of propagation in every direction like the radii of a sphere, and that that aspect of sound which we call waves, is simply the point at which these spirals intercept each other, which of necessity would be of uniform distance from the centre, increasing at each successive point throughout the entire sound-sphere or s.p.a.ce through which the sound pa.s.ses in all directions from the centre to infinity. I shall refrain from discussing this point till such a time as I can show at greater length my reasons for this belief. I may add here that I have made records of the human voice with which I have deceived the monkeys, and I have made records of the monkey's voice with which I have deceived the very elect of linguists and musicians. Some critic once remarked to me that the sound made by a monkey was not really laughter, but only a kind of good-natured growling. This may be correct, but the same is true of human laughter, as the one may be converted into the other, and a good-natured growl expresses the emotion which is felt by man as well as monkey.

The phonograph shows that they are identical in sound and form, besides the fact that they are the outburst of the same pa.s.sion, actuated by the same cause and executed by the same muscles, so that their ident.i.ty, mentally, physically, and mechanically, is the same.

[Sidenote: 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.

[Sidenote: 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 p.r.o.nounce "d" if breathing, and "t" if aspirate. The latter they p.r.o.nounce like "trw" or "tww." The sound of "v" they usually p.r.o.nounce "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 p.r.o.nounced 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.

[Sidenote: 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.

[Sidenote: 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.

[Sidenote: 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 s.p.a.ce 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.