Various - Harvard Psychological Studies, Volume 1

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III III III I / III III III I Without rhyme.

Each dactyl (III) is, in terms of spaces between the pegs, 3 2 4;
or in seconds, .25, .17, .33.

The pause between the two verses was gradually lessened

B.
At 5 (.42 sec.) The verses are normal.
4.5 The verses are normal, but first accent of II. is fading.
4 The accent is less and less on first element of II.
3.3 The accent is almost gone on first element of II.
3 (.25 sec.) First foot of II. has quite lost accent. There is now but
one verse. 'Amalgamation.'
Mc.
7 (.58 sec.) The verses are normal.
5.3 Either first element of II. has its normal accent, or
it wavers to a secondary accent, and the verses
become one.
5 (.416 sec.) First foot of II. has quite lost accent. Amalgamation.
3 (.25 sec.) 'Last verse completely spoiled.' Last verse
' ' ' '
becomes -- /- -, -- - -, -- - -, -- --.
Unsatisfactory.
2 (.16 sec.) The II. has become mere 'medley.'
H.
6 (.5 sec.) Normal.
5 First element of II. attaches to I., and its accent is
lessened.
3 (.25 sec.) First element of II. has lost its accent; the verses
' ' ' ' ' ' '
become --- --- --- - / - --- --- ---. But one verse.
Amalgamation.
J.
5 (.42 sec.) Normal.
4.6 First element of II. is losing accent.
3 (.25 sec.) First two elements of II. 'tumble over each
' ' ' ' ' ' '
other.' --- --- --- - / ---- --- ---.
Unsatisfactory. Amalgamation.
L.
5 (.42 sec.) Normal.
4 Last element of I. losing accent.
3.3 Last element of I. and first of II. have completely
lost accent. Amalgamation.
G.
7 (.58 sec.) Normal.
' ' ' ' ' '
3 (.25 sec.) --- --- --- - / - ----- --- -. Amalgamation.

Mi.
4.3(.35 sec.) Normal.
4 First two elements of II. equal in accent.
' ' ' ' ' ' ' '
3 (.25 sec.) --- --- --- - / - -- --- --- -. Amalgamation.

As soon as the accents are within a certain distance they affect each
other. As a rule the first retains its original intensity and the
second is weakened; rarely the first yields to the second. The table
shows that the distance at which this occurs is about .42 seconds.
Under many conditions it is quite possible for two accents to occur at
that distance, _e.g._, in rapid rhythms, without any 'fusing.' The
subject has a type of rhythm very definitely in mind and the only
hypothesis which will explain the difficulty in observing the type, in
spite of the slight change in time values, is that somehow the cyclic
automatic movement has been affected and can no longer produce the
normal, limiting sensation at the accent. There is not time for the
phase of relaxation before the next, objective, limiting sensation
occurs. We may figure the movement as follows:

[Illustration: FIG. 2.]

_A_ is a curve in which _B_ is the relaxation phase. At _C_ the
tensions are rapidly increasing in anticipation of the next limiting
sensation at _A_. But if the objective factor appears too early, the
tensions will be discharged prematurely, and the second accent will be
weakened. Exactly the obverse of these phenomena is often noticed,
when a slight retardation of the second accent produces a slight
increase in its intensity. When, finally, the second accent has been
moved so near the first accent that it occurs within the phase of the
first, it disappears as an independent accent. At the same time the
objective stimuli immediately following now appear at quite irregular
intervals in the cycle, the cooerdination is broken up, and chaos
without accentuation for some distance is the result. Occasionally the
process does not right itself before the close of the verse. As this
process eliminates the verse pause, the two verses become one, as the
accents approach each other. In cases where the first accent is lost,
one may suppose that the first accent functions as an anticipatory
stimulus, while the second simply increases the effect (cf. Hofbauer
and Cleghorn), and marks the culmination. The fact that the second
accent is only lost at very close range favors this idea.

TABLE III.

Dactylic, catalectic couplet of the general form:
III III III I / III III III I (with rhyme).

Each dactyl (III) is, in terms of spaces between the pegs, 324;
or, in seconds, .25, .17, .33.

The pause between the two verses was gradually lessened.

B.

At 4 (.33 sec.) Normal.
2 (.17 sec.) First accent of II. is weakening.
1.3(.21 sec.) Amalgamation. Rhyme retains the accent.
Mc.
5 (.42 sec.) Normal.
4 II. has become anapaestic.
2 (.17 sec.) Rhyme is lost. Amalgamation.
J.
3 (.25 sec.) Normal.
2 (.17 sec.) Accent of rhyme is lost. Amalgamation.
L.
4 (.33 sec.) Normal.
1.6(.18 sec.) Rhyme retains accent, first accent of II.
is lost. Amalgamation.
G.
4 (.33 sec.) Normal.
2 (.17 sec.) Accent of rhyme retained. Amalgamation.
Mi.
2 (.17 sec.) Normal.
1.6 First foot of II. amphibrachic.
.4(.03 sec.) Accent of rhyme retained. Accent of first foot
of II. lost. Amalgamation.

When the qualitatively different click representing the rhyme is
introduced, its most striking effect is decidedly to shorten the
possible distance between the two accents. This is in accord with the
notion suggested of the function of rhyme at the verse end. The rhyme
seems greatly to hasten the relaxation phase, as compared with the
time required in the ordinary foot.

There is a variety of forms possible to the unrhymed verse, but that
with the climax at the close is decidedly the most frequent. When the
rhyme is introduced the climax goes with it, and the verse flows down
as it were to the end. When the rhyme is put in the very first of the
verse, however, a secondary or even a primary accent may be developed
at the close of the verse. The natural place for the climax of the
verse movement is apparently at the close, and the fact that not only
is the earlier part of the verse more vague, but also that the end is
the natural, climactic position, makes the synthesizing and delimiting
factor, rhyme, preferable at the close.

The records of the next table were obtained by asking the subjects to
repeat the series with prescribed accents, until they decided whether
or not the rhyme could be felt under the conditions.

TABLE IV.

Rhymes under prescribed accentual conditions: iambic tetrameter.
Heavy accent marked acute ('). Slight accent marked grave (`).
Rhyme indicated by brace.

Ta ta ta ta ta ta ta do)
go)
do
do
Hu. Rhymes imperfectly.
Mc. Rhymes imperfectly.
G. Rhymes imperfectly.
Ha. Rhymes imperfectly.
Hy. Rhymes fairly well.

Ta ta ta ta ta ta ta do)
go)
do
do
Hu. Cannot get rhyme.
Mc. Rhymes imperfectly. 'Produced by some sort of tension.'
G. Rhymes imperfectly.

Ta ta ta ta ta ta ta do)
go)
do
do
Hu. Rhymes well.
Mc. Rhymes well.
G. Rhymes well.

Ta ta ta ta ta ta ta do
go)
do)
do)
Hu. Cannot get rhyme.
Hy. Cannot get rhyme. 'Accent spoils it.'
G. Cannot get rhyme. 'Accent breaks it all up.'
Mc. Rhymes imperfectly.

The table shows that rhymes of syllables which have accents of
strikingly different degrees are difficult to feel. In the last case,
of the rhyming verses separated by a verse having a heavy end accent,
it was practically impossible to hear the rhyme across the break made
by the heavy accent. Somehow the particular condition of the organism
which constitutes the expectation of a rhyme is broken up by a heavy
accent.

The material for the records of Table V. was read to the subjects, the
tones were in every case those of the speaking voice, and intervals
having a definite speech character were chosen. The fifth is the
interval of the rising inflection of the question, the fourth is the
interval of the rising inflection of indifference or negation, and the
single falling slide used is a descending interval of a third or
fourth at the close of the sentence. The fifth appears in the table as
5/, the fourth as 4/, and the single descending interval of finality
as the period (.). Each verse was read on approximately the first tone
of the interval, the rhyming syllable only had the second tone of the
interval.

TABLE V.

RHYMES UNDER GIVEN PITCH CONDITIONS.

Iambic tetrameters: two-verse stanzas.

The body of the verse is omitted; the closing intervals alone are
indicated. '1' is read 'good rhyme;' '2' is 'poor rhyme'; and '0' is 'no
rhyme.'

Couplets:
--do 5/} 5/} .} .} 5/}
--go .} 4/} 5/} .} 5/}
G. 2 2 0
S. 0 0 2 1
R. 2 2 1 2 2
Mc. 0 0 0 1 1
Hu. 0 0 ? 1
Ha. 1 2 1 2

Iambic tetrameters; four-verse stanzas.

Rhymes are indicated by 'a' and 'a,' 'b' and 'b.' Capital* letters are
read 'poor rhyme;' 'o' is read 'no rhyme.'

I. II. III. IV. I. II. III. IV. I. II. III. IV. I. II. III. IV.
do, no, go, so. do, no, go, so. do, no, go, so. do, no, go, so.
5/ . 5/ . . 5/ . 5/ 5/ 5/ . . 5/ 5/ . 5/
G. a b a b a b a b a a b b a a a o
R. a b a b a a b b
Mc. a b a b a o a o
Hu. a b a b a b a b a a b b a a o a
Ha. a b a b o o o o a a B B a a o a

5/ 5/ 5/ . . . . 5/ . . . . . 5/ . .
G. a a a a a a a o a a a a o o a a
Hu. a a a o a a a o a a a a a o a a
Ha. a a a o a a A o a a a a a o a a
Mc. a a a o a a a o A A A A A o A A
R. a a a o a a a o a a a a A o A A

5/ 5/ 4/ 5/ . . 5/ 5/ 5/ . 4/ . 5/ . . 5/
G. a a o o /a a b b /o a o a o o o o
\a b a b \A A B B
R. A A A A /o o a a\ a a b b
\a a o o/
Hu. a a o a
Mc. a a o a A A B B
Ha. A A B B a a b b o a o a

4/ 4/ 4/ . 5/ 5/ 5/ 5/ 5/ 4/ 5/ 4/
G. a a a a o a o a
Mc. a a a o
R. a a a o a a b b
Ha. A A A A

*Transcriber's Note: Original used italic lower case letters.

The table shows that there is a decided tendency to prefer rhymes in
which the members of the rhyme have the same interval. The only
exception is in the case of couplets, where two contrasting slides 5/
and . rhyme, whenever the finality interval occurs last. Perhaps the
similarity of pitch of the rhyming syllables is a part of the
'Gestaltqualitaet' whose recognition brings about the release and
satisfaction of the state which we know as the 'feeling of expecting a
rhyme.' Definite pitch relations in music seem to make rhyme of little
significance. We seldom notice the rhymes in a hymn or in a song of
any musical worth. In comic operas and popular ditties rhyme does now
and then figure. In such cases the pitch of the two or more rhyming
syllables is identical; often the whole phrase is repeated for each
rhyming verse. A few experiments in singing a rhyme to simple
intervals show that when the identical interval is used the two
syllables rhyme well, but if the interval be in the opposite
direction, or in another chord, the rhyme is very uncertain. It seems
that in music we usually have 'feelings of expectation' (_i.e._,
tensions of some sort, central or peripheral), which are adequate to
unite the phrases into larger unities. These tensions are so definite
and vivid that they quite obscure and swallow up the related
condition of rhyme expectation. These experiments on the modification
of the rhyme by the various pitch and accent factors are not at all
exhaustive or conclusive. An extended series of experiments is needed.
The study of sound records for pitch is peculiarly tedious, but it
should reveal some interesting relations between rhyme and speech
melody.

III. THE SPEAKING OF A RHYTHMIC SERIES.

I. _Methods of Making Speech Records._

The study of spoken rhythm is of primary importance. Observations on
what the subject really does are always open to the objections that
subjective factors play a large part, and that the observer's
perception of a rhythm is after all _his_ perception of the rhythm,
not the subject's. The voice is an important indicator of the
activities which generate the rhythms of verse and music, and some
objective method of measuring the sounds made is essential to a study
of the rhythm production.

Methods of recording and studying the tones of the voice are as
numerous as they are unsatisfactory. In the main the work has been
done for purposes of phonetics, and but few of the methods are applied
in the psychological laboratory.

Marage[13] has an excellent summary of the methods with practical
comments on their applicability. Rousselot[14] (Histoire des
applications de phonetique experimentale, 401-417: objets et
appareils, 1-10 et 669-700) gives a careful history of the methods
from the phonetic point of view. Scripture[15] gives a convenient
English summary of the processes.

[13] Marage: _l'Annee psychologique_, 1898, V., p. 226.

[14] Rousselot: La Parole, 1899.

[15] Scripture, E.W.: _Studies from the Yale Psych. Lab._,
1899, VII., p. I.

A few methods have been devised which avoid the difficulties incident
to the use of a diaphragm, but they are not applicable to the
measurement of rhythm material. The instruments which might be used
for recording spoken rhythms are all modifications of two well-known
forms of apparatus, the phonautograph and the phonograph. The
phonograph record is incised in wax, and presents special difficulties
for study. Boeke, however, has studied the wax record under a
microscope, with special arrangements for illumination. The work is
quite too tedious to permit of its use for material of any length,
though it is fairly satisfactory when applied to single vowels. In
order to enlarge the record, and at the same time to obtain the curves
in the plane of the record surface, Hermann devised an attachment to
the phonograph (cf. Marage, loc. citat.) by which the movements of the
stylus of the phonograph are magnified by a beam of light and recorded
on photographic paper. The measurements of entire words by this method
would be as tedious as by Boeke's.

E.W. Scripture has chosen another type of talking machine from which
to obtain transcribed records. The permanent record of the gramophone
(which makes a record in the plane of the surface, like the
phonautograph) is carefully centered, and a lever attached to a stylus
which follows the furrow of the record transcribes the curve on the
kymographic drum as the plate is slowly revolved. The method has the
advantage of using a record which may be reproduced (_i.e._ the
original gramophone record may be reproduced), and of giving fairly
large and well defined curves for study. It is too laborious to be
applied to extended research on speech rhythms, and has besides
several objections. The investigator is dependent on the manufacturer
for his material, which is necessarily limited, and cannot meet the
needs of various stages of an investigation. He knows nothing of the
conditions under which the record was produced, as to rate, on which
time relations depend, as to tone of voice, or as to muscular
accompaniments. There are also opportunities for error in the long
lever used in the transcription; small errors are necessarily
magnified in the final curve, and the reading for intensity (amplitude
of the curve) is especially open to such error.

The stylus of such a recording apparatus as is used by the gramophone
manufacturers, is subject to certain variations, which may modify the
linear measurements (which determine time relations). The recording
point is necessarily flexible; when such a flexible point is pressed
against the recording surface it is dragged back slightly from its
original position by friction with this surface. When the point is
writing a curve the conditions are changed, and it sways forward to
nearly its original position. This elongates the initial part of the
sound curve. This fact is of little importance in the study of a
single vowel, for the earlier part of the curve may be disregarded,
but if the entire record is to be measured it is a source of error.
Hensen[16] first turned the phonautograph to account for the study of
speech. He used a diaphragm of goldbeater's skin, of conical shape,
with a stylus acting over a fulcrum and writing on a thinly smoked
glass plate. The apparatus was later improved by Pipping, who used a
diamond in place of the steel point. The diamond scratched the record
directly on the glass. The Hensen-Pipping apparatus has the advantage
of taking records directly in the plane of the surface, but it does
not make a record which can be reproduced; in case of doubt as to the
exact thing represented by the curve, there is no means of referring
to the original sounds; and it involves working with a microscope.

[16] Hensen: Hermann's Handbuch d. Physiol., 1879, Bd. I., Th.
II., S. 187.

[Illustration: FIG. 3. Diagrammatic section of recording apparatus.
_a_, diaphragm; _s_, stylus; _g_, guide; _p_, section of plate.]

The apparatus which was used in the following experiments consisted
essentially of two recording devices--an ordinary phonograph, and a
recorder of the Hensen type writing on a rotary glass disc (see Fig.
5, Plate X.). Of the phonograph nothing need be said. The Hensen
recorder, seen in cross section in Fig. 3, was of the simplest type. A
diaphragm box of the sort formerly used in the phonograph was modified
for the purpose. The diaphragm was of glass, thin rubber, or
goldbeater's skin. The stylus was attached perpendicularly to the
surface of the diaphragm at its center. The stylus consisted of a
piece of light brass wire bent into a right angle; the longer arm was
perpendicular to the diaphragm; the shorter arm was tipped with a
very fine steel point, which pointed downward and wrote on the disc;
the point was inclined a trifle to the disc, in order that it might
'trail,' and write smoothly on the moving disc. The stylus had no
fulcrum or joint, but recorded directly the vibrations of the
diaphragm. In early experiments, the diaphragm and stylus were used
without any other attachment.

But a flexible point writing on smoked glass is a source of error.
When the disc revolves under the stylus, the flexibility of the
diaphragm and of the stylus permit it to be dragged forward slightly
by the friction of the moving surface. When the diaphragm is set
vibrating the conditions are altered, and the stylus springs back to
nearly its original position. The apparent effect is an elongation of
the earlier part of the curve written, and a corresponding compression
of the last verse written. This error is easily tested by starting the
disc, and without vibrating the diaphragm stopping the disc; the
stylus is now in its forward position; speak into the apparatus and
vibrate the diaphragm, and the stylus will run backward to its
original position, giving an effect in the line like _a_ (Fig. 4). If
the error is eliminated, the stylus will remain in position
throughout, and the trial record will give a sharp line across the
track of the stylus as in _b_.

[Illustration: FIG. 4.]

This source of error was avoided by fixing a polished steel rod or
'guide' at right angles to the vertical part of the stylus, just in
front of the stylus; the stylus trailed against this rod, and could
not spring out of position. The friction of the rod did not modify the
record, and the rod gave much greater certainty to the details of the
sound curve, by fixing the position of the vibrating point. This rod
or guide is shown in Fig. 3 (_g_).

The disc was driven directly from the phonograph by a very simple
method. A fine chain was fixed to the shaft carrying the disc, and
wrapped around a pulley on the shaft. The chain was unwound by the
forward movement of the recording apparatus of the phonograph against
the constant tension of a spring. When the phonograph apparatus was
brought back to the beginning of a record which had been made, the
spring wound up the chain, and the disc revolved back to its original
position.

A T from the speaking-tube near the diaphragm box was connected by a
rubber tube with the phonograph recorder, so that the voice of the
speaker was recorded both on the smoked glass plate and on the
phonograph cylinder. The advantages of such a double record are that
the possible error of a transcription process is eliminated, and yet
there is an original record to which it is possible to refer, and by
which the record measured may be checked.

An important feature in the method was the rate at which the disc
revolved. The disc turned so slowly that the vibrations, instead of
being spread out as a harmonic curve, were closely crowded together.
This had two great advantages; the measurements were not so laborious,
and the intensity changes were much more definitely seen than in the
elongated form of record. Each syllable had an intensity form, as a
'box,' 'spindle,' 'double spindle,' 'truncated cone,' 'cone,' etc.
(cf. p. 446).

The disc was run, as a rule, at a rate of about one revolution in two
minutes. The rate could be varied to suit the purposes of the
experimenter, and it was perfectly possible to procure the usual form
of record when desired. As a result of the low rate, the records were
exceedingly condensed. The records of the 300 stanzas measured are on
two glass discs of about 25 cm. diameter, and as much more could still
be recorded on them.

The diaphragm and the speaking tube were the great sources of error.
For measurements of time values the particular component of the tone
to which the diaphragm happens to vibrate is not important, but the
record of intensities depends on the fidelity with which the diaphragm
responds to a given component, preferably the fundamental, of the
tone. The speaking tube has a resonance of its own which can be but
partly eliminated. For the records here recorded either glass or
goldbeater's skin was used as a diaphragm. Goldbeater's skin has the
advantage of being very sensitive, and it must be used if the subject
has not a resonant voice. It has the great disadvantage of being
extremely variable. It is very sensitive to moisture, even when kept
as loose as possible, and cannot be depended on to give the same
results from day to day. The records marked Hu., Ha. and G. were
usually taken with a glass diaphragm, which has the advantage of being
invariable. As the phonograph records show, glass does not modify the
lower tones of the male voice to any extent.

[Illustration: PSYCHOLOGICAL REVIEW. MONOGRAPH SUPPLEMENT 17. PLATE X.
Opposite p. 436.
The apparatus is shown arranged for taking parallel records on the
smoked glass disc, and on the cylinder of the graphophone. On the left
is shown the microscope with which the records on the glass disc were
measured. ]

The speaking-tube used was of woven material, not of rubber, and a pad
of felt was kept in the tube near the diaphragm box. As far as
possible more damping was used at the other end of the tube, but this
had to depend on the voices of the subjects.

The best check on the performances of a diaphragm is the number per
second and character of the vibrations. The pitch may be calculated
from the rotation rate of the disc, which is very constant, as it is
driven at a low rate by the well-regulated high-speed motor of the
phonograph. But it is better to place a fork in position to write on
the disc and take a parallel record. All the records were taken with
the vowel 'a' (sound as in father). This vowel has a very
characteristic signature, which is easily seen, even in a very closely
packed curve, and the correctness of this is one of the best
guarantees that the fundamental of the tone is actuating the diaphragm
(though that does not mean that the diaphragm is actually giving the
vibration frequency of that fundamental).