The fact is that no animal can give
utterance to voice except by the action of the pharynx, and
consequently such animals as are devoid of lung have no voice; and
language is the articulation of vocal sounds by the instrumentality of
the tongue. Thus, the voice and larynx can emit vocal or vowel sounds;
non-vocal or consonantal sounds are made by the tongue and the lips;
and out of these vocal and non-vocal sounds language is composed.
Consequently, animals that have no tongue at all or that have a tongue
not freely detached, have neither voice nor language; although, by the
way, they may be enabled to make noises or sounds by other organs than
the tongue.
Insects, for instance, have no voice and no language, but they can
emit sound by internal air or wind, though not by the emission of
air or wind; for no insects are capable of respiration. But some of
them make a humming noise, like the bee and the other winged
insects; and others are said to sing, as the cicada. And all these
latter insects make their special noises by means of the membrane that
is underneath the 'hypozoma'-those insects, that is to say, whose body
is thus divided; as for instance, one species of cicada, which makes
the sound by means of the friction of the air.
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