SECTION XXV.

Of the Wave of the Voice.

THE Wave of the voice, as briefly explained in the second section, signifies a continuation of the upward into the downward concrete movement. We are told by the Greeks, that this function was known to them. But if nature did favor them with the important secret, they were thriftless in the trust, and only hid their talent in the napkin. It is noticed by modern writers, particularly by Mr. Steele and Mr. Walker, under the term, Circumflex accent.

As the wave is composed of the two opposite courses of pitch, each of which may be of different intervals; and as the direction of the voice at its outset, and the number of its flexures may vary, the reader must expect to find in the history of this sign, numerous and somewhat complicated subdivisions.

The Wave is a very frequent form of expression, and performs important offices in speech. It therefore becomes him who is willing to turn from the falterings of an instinctive elocution, to the fulness, the purpose, and the precision of scientific rule, not to overlook the subject of the wave.

In order to represent this matter clearly, let the several upward and downward movements, of the wave, be called its Constituents. The constituents may then be severally octaves, fifths, thirds, seconds and semitones, either in an upward or downward direction.

Further, as the upward and downward concrete may be of varied extent, it follows that the wave may be constituted of an upward and downward movement of the same interval; or these constituents may differ from each other. Thus the wave may consist of a rising and a falling third conjoined; or of a rising second continued into a falling third. These varied constructions give occasion for a distinction of the wave into Equal, and Unequal.

It will be found on experiment, that the wave with its first constituent ascending, and its second descending, has a different expression from one, with a reverse course of its constituents. Of the variations thus produced, let the former case be called the Direct wave, and the latter the Inverted.

I have thus represented the wave as consisting of two constituents only; but it may have three or even more; for the Direct may have a subsequent rising interval, and the Inverted, a subsequent falling one. When there are but two constituents, it may be called the Single, and when three, the Double wave. Should there be more than three, as may happen in cases, to be pointed out presently, it may be called the Continued wave.

These several forms admit of various combinations with each other. Thus the equal and the unequal wave may each be direct and inverted, single and double. The double-unequal may have its three constituents dissimilar; or two of them, the first and second, or second and third, or first and third may be alike. The direct and inverted, may each be equal or unequal, single or double. And the single and double may each be equal or unequal, direct or inverted.

But perhaps these relationships will be better understood from the tabular view in the next page.

In the preceding table, only the first constituent of the unequal wave is given. I therefore subjoin a tabular scheme of the second and third constituents of this wave, in its single and its double forms. But the reader is to take the greater part of these tabular views, as the history of what may be performed by the voice, in the multiplicity of its combinations; not as the record of a point, as yet, of any practical utility.

In thus penetrating the recesses of nature, we must be allowed to describe her most minute phenomena, however presently useless it may be. Nearly all the forms of the wave here noticed, might be made designedly by a skillful effort of intonation; and perhaps are made in daily discourse, by the instinctive efforts of speech. But the expression of the unequal wave, as far as I can perceive, is limited to a few sentiments: most of the varieties here given, being only permutations of constituents, answering the same purpose. Whether these signs, not specially significant with us, have ever been used to denote ideas or feelings, or ever will be, is yet to be told. We have heard,—but belief should keep a skeptic watch on hearing,- that the Chinese vary the meaning of the same elemental or syllabic sound, eight or ten times, by changes of intonation. Do they draw upon any of the forms of the following table of the unequal wave?