The Speech of Monkeys

The fundamental sounds appear to be pure vowels, but faint traces of consonants are found in many words, especially those of low pitch; and since I have been able to develop certain consonant sounds from a vowel basis, the conclusion forces itself upon me that the consonant elements of human speech are developed from a vowel basis. This opinion is further confirmed by the fact that the sounds produced by the types of the animal kingdom lower than the monkey, appear to be more like the sounds of pipe instruments; and as we rise in the scale, the vocal organs appear to become somewhat more complex, and capable of varying these sounds so as to give the effect of consonants, which very much extends the vocal scope. The present state of the speech of monkeys appears to have been reached by development from a lower form. [Sidenote: EACH RACE HAS ITS PECULIAR TONGUE] Each race or kind of monkey has its own peculiar tongue, slightly shaded into dialects, and the radical sounds do not appear to have the same meaning in different tongues. The phonetic character of their speech is equally as high as that of children in a like state of mental development; and seems to obey the same laws of phonetic growth, change, and decay as human speech.