The consonants may be classed by categories, according to the vocal organs employed for pronouncing them. In each category they are divided into strong and weak, and, as regards ventriloquism, they comprise two series. A classification of them is given in [Fig. 3].
Upon examining this table, it will be seen that, in the entire first series of these consonants, the tongue, acting upon the pharynx, bearing against the teeth, or taking different shapes, can act and articulate without the aid of the lips, and without the necessity of the facial muscles contracting. The ventriloquist, then, will be able to pronounce any word in which none but these vowels and consonants enter, without moving his facial muscles.
The same is not the case with the consonants of the second series, that is to say, with the five labials, f, v, p, b, m. The ventriloquist’s art consists in pronouncing these without moving the lips or facial muscles. With a little practice it is easy to reach such a result with f and v, which may be pronounced by causing only the interior muscles of the lips to act; p and b, and m especially, present a greater difficulty, and we may say that, in most cases, ventriloquists who wish to keep their lips perfectly motionless pronounce none of these three consonants distinctly, but usually substitute for them a sound bordering on that of the letter n.
It is partly for this reason that ventriloquists succeed much better in imitating the language of children, or that of persons of slight education.
So, upon the whole, the illusion produced by ventriloquists is the result, primarily, of an acoustic phenomenon, the uncertainty of the sound’s direction, and, secondarily, of a habit acquired of speaking without moving the facial muscles.
Those ventriloquists who, without accessories, have the power of throwing their voices almost anywhere, succeed therein by utilizing the same principle of acoustics that we have explained above. As for the exact point whence the sound proceeds, the ventriloquist usually takes care to show that by an expressive motion and by looking in that direction, and by designating it, too, with his finger, while his face expresses great fear, interest, or surprise. So the spectator easily persuades himself that the sound does really come from the exact spot that is thus pointed out to him in a seemingly unintentional manner.
The words are often pronounced very indistinctly by the mysterious voice, but the ventriloquist takes care, as a general thing, to render them intelligible by repeating them in his ordinary voice, by accenting them, and by commenting upon them. He thus persuades his auditors that these are the very words that they heard.
| FIRST SERIES.—CONSONANTS FORMED BY THE INTERNAL VOCAL ORGANS. | ||
|---|---|---|
| Strong. | Weak. | |
| Gutturals | c | g |
| Palatal linguals | l | ill |
| Dental linguals | r | |
| Dentals | t | d |
| Palatal dentals | n | gn |
| Dental sibillants | s | z |
| Guttural sibillants | ch | j |
| SECOND SERIES.—LABIAL CONSONANTS. | ||
| Strong. | Weak. | |
| Sibillant labials | f | v |
| Simple labials | p | b |
| Aspirated labials | m | |
FIG. 3.—CLASSIFICATION OF THE CONSONANTS.