The difference in the movements of the tongue for various languages is one of the most interesting observations to be made in connection with these studies. The German language being the exact opposite, the antipode, to the English, after comprehending the movements of the tongue for the latter, its own movements, that is, the movements of the tongue for German sounds, were not difficult for me to ascertain.
It is an anomaly to apply the works of German writers on the voice to the study of the English language, or to that of any other than the German language; or to apply books written from an English standpoint to the study of any language except the English—the movements of the tongue, and, in sympathy therewith, of countless other muscles, being different for every language.
Whatever the movements of the tongue are for the spoken language, they are of an inverse order for song. I anticipate in making the following statement, namely, that while speech is of an order which is rapid, direct, anterior, exterior, spontaneous, impulsive, and material, song is of an order which is slow, indirect, posterior, interior, premeditated, contemplative, and spiritual. I will also add this: that, while speech is of the oral cavity, song is of the pharynx. In making these remarks and others in anticipation, I do so intentionally and for a purpose; not so much in expectation that they will be at once and fully understood, as with a view of setting others thinking on these subjects until I can reach them in due course of time; or, if I should never be able to reach them, that the principle, at least, underlying the same, which if the opportunity had been granted me would have been fully sustained, shall not be lost. The reader will notice that I am hurrying over the ground as rapidly as I consistently can, even from my—under the best of circumstances—superficial standpoint, leaving wide gaps to be filled in by others in the course of time.
SIMPLE SOUNDS
Speaking of sounds in making experiments in connection with the movements of the tongue, it is of the first importance that these sounds should be simple and not vocal or compound. They must be sounds of the same order as we utter in whispering, or such sounds as we are apt to use when learning to speak a foreign tongue. They are the inharmonious sounds of the deaf, and those which distinguish the speech of a foreigner from that of the native-born.
The recognition of these sounds as the negative parts of speech has been one of my main accomplishments, and has been of the greatest assistance to me in my investigations.
Things complete tell no tales. We must decompose them, reduce them to their elements, if we want to arrive at the truth in matters of science. I have succeeded in doing with things spiritual—vocal sounds—what the chemist is doing with things material. In things complete, as they are shaped by the hand of nature, the elements of which they are composed are mingled in such a dexterous manner, are so happily blended, that they adjust, counterpoise, and complement one another, and thus live with and in one another.
These new forms have been created by the elements of which they are composed, abandoning their separate original forms and now appearing in a new form, as integral parts of an harmonious entity. These elements have not only abandoned their form, however, but in most instances have also changed their character; which in their original composition may have been of a discordant, violent, and even dangerous nature. Take but the atmospheric air and its elements for an example.
A similar state of affairs exists in connection with the phenomena of the material-spiritual world. While vocal sounds, when properly produced, stand for all that is harmonious and pleasing, their component parts, their positive and negative elements, by themselves, offer features of a contrary nature. They also offer us, the same as elements do to the chemist while making experiments, the opportunity for making an endless number of combinations. Unless you know what simple sounds—i. e., negative parts of vocal sounds—are, and know how to produce them, you will scarcely be able to make one class of experiments which I shall offer in great abundance to sustain my arguments.