Some of them call when fighting, as the quail, others cry or
crow when challenging to combat, as the partridge, or when victorious,
as the barn-door cock. In some cases cock-birds and hens sing alike,
as is observed in the nightingale, only that the hen stops singing
when brooding or rearing her young; in other birds, the cocks sing
more than the hens; in fact, with barn-door fowls and quails, the cock
sings and the hen does not.
Viviparous quadrupeds utter vocal sounds of different kinds, but
they have no power of converse. In fact, this power, or language, is
peculiar to man. For while the capability of talking implies the
capability of uttering vocal sounds, the converse does not hold
good. Men that are born deaf are in all cases also dumb; that is, they
can make vocal sounds, but they cannot speak. Children, just as they
have no control over other parts, so have no control, at first, over
the tongue; but it is so far imperfect, and only frees and detaches
itself by degrees, so that in the interval children for the most
part lisp and stutter.
Vocal sounds and modes of language differ according to locality.
Vocal sounds are characterized chiefly by their pitch, whether high or
low, and the kinds of sound capable of being produced are identical
within the limits of one and the same species; but articulate sound,
that one might reasonably designate 'language', differs both in
various animals, and also in the same species according to diversity
of locality; as for instance, some partridges cackle, and some make
a shrill twittering noise.
Pages:
191
192
193
194
195
196
197
198
199
200
201
202
203
204
205
206
207
208
209
210
211
212
213
214
215