Part 18

Upon having ascertained the correctness of these statements by actual experiment, I want to ask the reader how he expects to reconcile these facts with the universally adopted theory that the larynx is the sole instrument productive of vocal utterance. An Anglo-Saxon, when stretching out his arms horizontally, can readily speak English, while a German in the same position cannot utter a sound of his language without difficulty. If the larynx in the case of an Anglo-Saxon, under these circumstances, produces vocal utterance, why is it not so easy with a German?

My explanation is this:

By extending your limbs, in stretching out your arms, or standing on your toes, the centrifugal action is instrumental in parting the jaws and giving the tongue an upward tendency. In so doing, the œsophagus and replica obtain ascendancy over the trachea and the larynx. The abdomen (the seat of gravitation for English speech) and its tributaries thus obtain the mastery over the thorax and its tributaries. The former being the main vehicle for English speech, such speech can be produced without molestation. These facts, while favorable to the production of English vocal utterance, obstruct and hinder German vocal utterance.

In lowering the arms or standing on one's heels, thus substituting centripetal for centrifugal action, the jaws close, the tongue assumes a downward tendency. The trachea and the larynx, as well as the thorax (the seat of gravitation for German vocal utterance), obtain the preponderance, and German may be freely spoken, while English is obstructed.

In raising the tongue, a free passage to the œsophagus is obtained, while that to the trachea is obstructed. In lowering the tongue, a free passage to the trachea is obtained, while that to the œsophagus becomes obstructed. It is necessary, however, to understand that, while English speech is centrifugal and German centripetal, these are tendencies only and not permanent conditions; centrifugal and centripetal action constantly interchanging and modifying one another. An uninterrupted tendency in one and the same direction, either centripetally or centrifugally, would soon come to an end and produce stagnation, inertia, death. There is no action without a counteraction. Hence, ingoing vocal sounds are counterbalanced by outgoing; the same as ingoing thoughts or thoughts produced by external vision are counterbalanced by outgoing, or thoughts produced by internal vision, etc.

In addition to the parts mentioned, there are many other parts of the body which, subjected to centrifugal or centripetal action, will produce results of the same order as those already mentioned. In stretching out your legs (while in a sitting position), you will find speaking German to be difficult; upon drawing them up, you will have trouble with English. The same results may be obtained, in connection with the toes and fingers, in a number of different ways. From all this, it will be readily seen that all parts of the body are closely related to each other, the tendency of the muscles in one prominent part producing the same tendency in all the rest.

There is one thing which must be mentioned, however. To obtain centrifugal action, it is necessary to stretch the part under consideration; the mere extension of a part, without stretching it, will be fruitless of results in either one direction or another; so will the mere contraction of any part be fruitless of results, unless such contraction is complete. You can let your arms hang down alongside of your body and yet speak English easily; and you can hold them out horizontally, and yet speak German easily. In either case the contraction and expansion must be thorough to produce results either centripetally or centrifugally.

All persons make similar motions to those mentioned with every sound they utter, though these motions do not appear on the surface; in fact, they could not speak if they did not make them.

I have already mentioned, but want to repeat, that centrifugal action is the cause of the elongated faces, and especially of the elongation of the lower jaw of English-speaking persons. It is also the cause of their semi-parted lips while in repose, showing their teeth, and a full exhibition thereof while speaking; a fact which has caused much merriment to continental nations, and has given rise to an endless number of caricatures of "milord" and "milady" on their travels, etc. It is also the cause of the perfection of dentistry in this country and in England, where the teeth are always more or less on exhibition. In other countries, where they are hidden behind the curtains of the lips, which are usually closed, except while speaking or laughing, this necessity does not arise to nearly the same extent. To the centrifugal force there is also due much of the innate charm and beauty of English-speaking women.

From all this one great lesson may be learned: no matter by what divergent means nature may work its ends, similar results are obtained, though often arrived at by opposite means and from opposite directions. Thus life ever presents to us new forms and features, and ever infuses new interest into what otherwise might become unbearable in its monotony. A better insight into these facts ought to make us feel more lenient towards what appear to us as other people's "idiosyncrasies." It should also have a tendency to prevent us from attempting to enforce to their full extent laws made in conformity with our own desires and inclinations but in direct opposition to those of others (foreigners living among us), whose character and disposition lead them in diametrically opposite directions.

Unless otherwise mentioned, I wish the reader to remember that I am always speaking not only from the standpoint of an American, but as an American. The fact of my long residence in this country, where I have spent the best part of my life, in itself would not entitle me to do this, having shown, as I have endeavored to do, that this is not sufficient to change a person from one nationality into another. During my earnest endeavor at fathoming these differences, however, I have been led into assuming the forms which distinguish the Anglo-Saxon from the German. Unless I am with Germans and speak the German language, in my thoughts and otherwise I lead the life of an American.

That my English speech, however (though my friends in their indulgence would lead me to believe otherwise), is not as perfect as it might be, is largely due to the fact of my constantly having recourse to the German language, and that I am thus as constantly led back into these other forms of existence which cannot be indulged in without some detriment and abstraction from either the one or the other. There was a time, in fact, when the transformation I have spoken of was taking place (the disturbance being so great) that I could not speak well either the one language or the other.

I am well convinced, on the other hand, that through perseverance perfection in the utterance of both of these languages, for speech as well as for song, and possibly of some other languages besides, may be attained in the course of time; nature being so pliable that, when the required actions are once fully understood and complied with, a perfect change may be made instantly in passing from one language on to another. Such changes, in fact, are naturally made by persons who, in their infancy, have been educated in and taught to speak several languages at one and the same time; the material during infancy being so pliable that it can be readily formed into any shape and transformed into any other. All of the preceding also shows that, for every separate idiom, the entire instrument must be "tuned" for its production in a given order, and that only when so tuned can such idiom be produced in its entire purity. It also shows that, unless so tuned, the vocal cords of the larynx and replica cease to be instrumental in the production of sound.

An instrument tuned for the production of the English language, consequently, cannot produce German sounds, nor can it produce Romanic, Slavonic, or the sounds of any other language. Sounds, apparently the same, of either the singing or speaking voice of various languages are, therefore, not the same and are certainly not produced in the same manner. For a German, consequently, or an Italian to attempt to teach an English-speaking person the art of singing is an anomaly. A foreigner might, with the same show of reason, attempt to teach persons of another nationality the correct pronunciation of their own language. It would be equally false, of course, for an English-speaking person to attempt to teach a German, Italian, etc., the art of singing, unless he had first mastered his pupil's idiomatic expression, or the pupil had mastered that of his teacher.

Many persons are under the erroneous impression that song and speech are performances separate and apart from each other, while they are in reality of precisely the same, though inverse, order. They are of the same order, for instance, as the back and palm of the hand: the former representing speech, the latter song; the external and the internal, or the anterior and the posterior. As the back of the hand, such must and will be its palm; or, as its palm, such must and will be its back.

Conversing with a teacher some time since, she scorned such propositions, saying a person's language had nothing to do with his or her song; the mode of production of the latter being the same with ALL nationalities; besides, she had studied the larynx, and knew all about it. This, of course, settled it, and I had not anything further to say.

DIFFERENCE IN THEIR MODE OF BREATHING AS BETWEEN ANGLO-SAXONS AND GERMANS

Anglo-Saxons inspire first into the thorax and then into the abdomen. Germans inspire first into the abdomen and then into the thorax. The former expire first from the abdomen and then from the thorax; the latter expire first from the abdomen and then from the thorax. This, however, gives but a partial account of the process of breathing, and I must postpone a more explicit one to a later period.

To prove the correctness of the above assertion, press your hand against the left side of your thorax anteriorly, and you will find it difficult to inhale. If you press your hand against the right side of your thorax, on the other hand, you will have no difficulty in inhaling. Next, press your hand against the right side of your abdomen, and you will not be able to exhale; but if you press your hand against its left side, you will experience no trouble in exhaling. In pressing your hands one against the left side of the breast and the other against the right side of the abdomen, you will have trouble in breathing.

Pressures produced in the precisely opposite manner in every respect, on the part of a German-speaking person, will produce effects of precisely the same nature. A German, in pressing the right side of his abdomen, will not be able to inspire freely, but pressing its left side will not hinder him from doing so. Pressing the left side of his thorax will impede his expiration, while the pressing of its right side will not prevent him from doing so. These results will become more obvious when these pressures are continued for some time. All the pressures mentioned are to be applied anteriorly. Pressures of the same nature applied posteriorly produce opposite results with Anglo-Saxons as well as Germans.

Similar results may be obtained by producing pressures on the median line of either thorax or abdomen, front as well as back. Such will also be the case when pressures are produced on either side from the armpits downward or from the hips upward. More satisfactory results, however, than those obtained through mechanical pressure can be obtained by making the respective parts rigid. It will scarcely be necessary for me to mention all these various causes and consequent results in detail, as any one interested in these matters can work them out for himself from that which I have said.

RISE AND FALL, OR RHYTHM

The thorax is productive of the falling, the abdomen of the rising voice, the former being the representative of the impression for sounds, the latter of their expression.

An Anglo-Saxon's voice, inspiring, as he does, into the thorax, and expiring from the abdomen, will first fall and then rise. A German's voice, on the contrary, inspiring, as he does, into the abdomen, and expiring from the thorax, will first rise and then fall.

This is the fundamental cause of the difference between the idiomatic expression of these two peoples, and primarily also of the difference existing between their national traits physically as well as mentally.

Every original word in either of these languages will illustrate these facts:

´ ` ´ ` ´ ` ´ ` Vater, Mutter, Bruder, Schwester.

Take the same words in English, and the accent will be reversed: