Linguistics in General
better understood, the mysteries of words must remain rather thick.
The spoken word, simple as it seems, requires a great number of muscular movements with extremely complex associations. All this is difficult to understand and harder to explain. Indeed oral speech has several strong characteristics which we are wont to ignore. Some of them pertain to the individual; others are social; some are essential; others are accessories; some are invariable; others are accidental or whimsical.
Let me illustrate the simplest relations of the spoken word, although reference has been made to it in another chapter. Not fewer than two persons, of course, must be assumed. A psychic phenomenon arises with one. This phenomenon affects the center of speech which, as we have already seen, is situated in the third frontal convolution. A physiological process follows when the speech-center starts the phonetic organs in action. The sounds signify the psychic image in a series of
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