Lecture 18 — Voice

Voice is the sound of an ensouled thing. No non-souled being voices anything, although, by analogy, the flute and the lyre are said to voice; and so, too, other non-souled objects which sound with duration, harmony, and speech. The resemblance arises from voice also having these qualities.

Many animals have no voice, such as the bloodless, and, among those with blood, fish. And this is reasonable if, in fact, sound is a movement. But the fish that are said to have voice, such as those in the Achelous, make a sound through their gills or in some other such way.

Voice is a sound made by an animal, but not from any part of its frame. Since all things sound by something striking another in a medium, which is air, it is reasonable that those only will have voice which inhale air.

For nature employs air inhaled for two activities; as it employs the tongue for both taste and speech, of which one, taste, is a necessity (whence it exists in more species), while the other, expression of meaning, is for well-being. So with breath: it regulates interior heat—and this is necessary to existence (the reason for this will be stated elsewhere); and it also serves voice, which is for well-being.

Now, the organ of respiration is the windpipe, and the purpose of this organ is to serve the lungs. Quadrupeds have more heat in this part than in others, so respiration is needed, and first of all around the heart. Hence it is necessary that air enter when an animal draws breath.

Hence, a striking by the soul (in these parts) upon air inhaled through the windpipe is voice.

For not every animal sound is a voice, as we have said; for there is clicking the tongue and the noise made by coughing. There is needed an ensouled being to utter the sound and some accompanying imagination. For voice is a significant sound, not merely that of air respired, as coughing is; rather, with it the air in the windpipe is struck against the windpipe.

A sign of this is that we cannot produce voice while inhaling air nor while exhaling it, but only while retaining it. For what holds the air also sets it in motion. It is thus clear why fish have no voice; for they have no windpipe. They lack this member because they do not inhale air or breathe. Those who say otherwise are mistaken. The cause of this, however, is another question.

466. Voice is the sound of a living thing (420b5). After discussing sound, the Philosopher deals with voice, which is a kind of sound. His treatment divides into two parts.

First, he gives certain facts preliminary to a definition of voice.

Second, he defines voice, at hence, a striking (420b27; [476]).

In the former part, he does two things.

First, he points out what things have voice;

and second, what is the particular organ of voice, at voice is a sound (420b13; [472]).

The former division subdivides:

first, he shows that only ensouled beings have voice;

second, he states which of these have it, at many animals (420b9; [470]).

First, then, he observes that voice is a kind of sound—the sound made by an ensouled being; and not of any, but of certain ones, as will be explained later.

467. No non-souled thing has a voice. And if sometimes such are said to have voice, this is by analogy, as when we speak of the voice of flutes and lyres and such instruments. There are three respects in which the sounds made by these resemble voice.

The first is duration; for while the sound of non-souled bodies is produced by a simple percussion, which is no sooner ended than the sound quickly passes away without continuing, voice, on the contrary, is produced by a percussion of air in the windpipe (as will be explained later), which can be maintained by the soul according to its desire, and so be prolonged and continued. The instruments mentioned above have, then, some likeness to voice in the relatively prolonged character of their sounds.

468. The second respect in which they resemble voice is harmony. The sound of an inanimate body, since it arises from simple percussion, is uniform, with no variations of high and low pitch, and therefore, without harmony, which is caused by their proportion. But voice is diversified according to the high and the low insofar as the percussion that causes the voice arises in different ways according to the appetite of the animal emitting it. And something like this distinction of high and low occurs in the melodies produced by the said instruments, according to a likeness with voice.

469. The third resemblance their sounds bear to voice consists in a certain likeness to speech, that is, there is a conveyance of meaning in the sounds, by likeness to speech.

For it is clear that human speech is not a continuous sound; hence, in the Categories, it is counted as a species of discrete quantity. (Aristotle, Categories 4, 4b22–23.) Speech is divided into words, and words into syllables—and this, by the separate percussions made of air due to the soul. In a similar way, the said instruments, by means of different strokes or breathings, etc., produce different chords or different blowings or things of this sort.

470. Next, at many animals (420b9), he points out which ensouled beings have voice. Even many animals, he says, have none. These are the bloodless animals, of which there are the four genera enumerated in History of Animals, namely: the soft-bodied, having soft flesh externally, such as cuttlefish and mollusks; those with a soft shell, like crabs; those with a hard shell, like oysters; and those with ring-like bodies, like bees, ants, and so forth. (Aristotle, History of Animals 1.5, 490a9–14; 4.1, 523b1–13.) None of these have either blood or voice.

471. And even some animals with blood lack voice, namely fish. This is reasonable if, in fact, sound is a movement of the air, as we have seen, for animals of this sort do not breathe air and therefore produce no sound which could be their voice. (Lect. 16, n. 443.) But some fish are said to have a voice, like those in the Achelous (the name of a river), but this is not true properly speaking; they merely make a sound with the gills, by which they expel and draw in water, or in some other moving instrument.

472. Then, at voice is a sound made by an animal (420b13), he points out the organ of voice. And regarding this, he does three things.

First, he shows that the organ of voice is the same as that of respiration.

Second, he explains the use of respiration, at for nature employs (420b16; [473]).

Third, he shows what is the organ of respiration, at now, the organ (420b22; [474]).

He observes first, then, that, while voice is an animal sound, not any sound of any part of the animal is voice. And since the production of sound requires the striking of something by something in something (that is, in the air), it is reasonable why only those animals have a voice that inhale air by respiration and that they have voice in the part through which they breathe.

473. Then, at for nature employs air (420b16), he says that nature employs air inhaled for two activities, as it uses the tongue for both tasting and speech. Of which two last activities, tasting is a necessity, since by it the animal discerns the food that maintains it in mere existence (which is why taste is found in more animals). But the expression of meaning by means of speech is for the sake of well-being. In a similar way, nature uses inhaled air both for the mitigation of natural heat, which is simply necessary (the reason for this is given in the book, On Respiration and Expiration (Aristotle, On Respiration and Expiration, ch. 8, 474a25–b24; ch. 16, 478a28–30.)) and also for the production of voice, which is for well-being.

474. Next, at now, the organ of respiration (420b22), he says that this organ is the windpipe, the function of which is to serve the lungs by enabling them to draw in air. It is necessary that air be taken into the lungs because animals that can move about have more heat in this part than in others. The lungs are connected with the heart, wherein lies the principle of the natural warmth of the body; consequently, the parts around the heart need to be cooled, and this is done by respiration.

475. These parts, he says, need to be cooled first, either because the lungs come first after the heart as being next to it or because the heart comes first among the animal’s parts, both in origin and in the process of causing movement, which is why it is necessary that air enter the lungs to cool the heart’s natural heat.

Or, indeed, the comparison may be between this part in animals that move upon feet, and the same parts in other animals. For it is clear that animals with blood have more natural heat than those without blood; and among those with blood, fishes have the least, which is why neither bloodless animals nor fishes breathe, as has been said.

476. Then, at hence, a striking (420b27), he draws from the foregoing observations a definition of voice:

first, stating the definition;

and second, at for not every animal (420b29; [477]), explaining it.

First, then, he says that, since voice is the sound of the ensouled being proceeding from the part through which it breathes air (for every sound implies some striking on air), it follows that voice is a striking upon air inhaled through the windpipe; which striking is caused by the soul in these parts, but especially the heart. For while the soul exists everywhere in the body of an animal (as its form), yet its motive power is principally in the heart. Note that he is defining through the cause of the thing defined, for voice is not in fact the striking itself but a sound made by striking.

477. Next, at for not every animal sound (420b29), he explains the definition with regard to his assertions.

And first, that the vocal impact comes from the soul;

second, that its material is breath, at a sign of this (421a1; [478]).

Three factors have entered into his definition of voice: that which strikes, that is, the soul; that which is struck, that is, the air respired; and that in which the striking occurs, that is, the windpipe. The third of these he has explained above; so there remain the first two.

He observes, then, first, that, as he has said, not every animal sound is a voice. Sometimes the tongue makes sounds that are not voice. And, coughing is not voice. For voice to be produced is needed a living being to utter the sound, and also, accompanying this, imagination must be present, which is meant to signify something. For voice is a significant sound—significant either by nature or conventionally. Hence the statement that the striking proceeds from the soul; for activities proceeding from imagination can be said to be from the soul. It is clear, then, that voice is not merely that of air respired, such as occurs in coughing, and that the principal cause of the production of voice is the soul, using this air, that is, air inhaled, to force against the windpipe the air within it. It is not air, then, that is the principal factor in the formation of voice, but the soul, which uses air as its instrument.

478. Then, at a sign of this (421a1), he explains the other element in his definition, namely, that voice is the striking of the air that is breathed, saying that there are two signs of this. One sign is that no animal can produce voice either while inhaling air or while expelling it, but only while it retains air; because while it retains air, this air, being retained, causes a movement that results in voice. Another sign is that fishes have no voice; for they have no windpipe or vocal passage, and this because they do not inhale air or breathe. Those who say that fishes breathe are mistaken; but why they do not breathe is another question, belonging to the science which deals with the particular attributes of animals.