We learned the spoken words first. Mankind spoke long before they wrote.
Not until people wished to communicate with those at a distance, or had
thought out something worth handing down to aftertimes, did they need to
write.
But speaking was easy. The air, the lungs, and the organs of the throat and
mouth were at hand. The first cry was a suggestion. Sounds and noises were
heard on every side, provoking imitation, and the need of speech for the
purposes of communication was imperative.
Spoken words are made up of sounds. There are over forty sounds in the
English language. The different combinations of these give us all the words
of our spoken tongue. That you may clearly understand these sounds, we will
tell you something about the human voice.
In talking, the air driven out from your lungs beats against two flat
muscles, stretched, like bands, across the top of the windpipe, and causes
them to vibrate up and down. This vibration makes sound. Take a thread, put
one end between your teeth, hold the other with thumb and finger, draw it
tight and strike it, and you will understand how voice is made. The shorter
the string, or the tighter it is drawn, the faster will it vibrate, and the
higher will be the pitch of the sound.
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