This portion of the resonator passage
can be enlarged to a slight degree by traction upon the larynx below
(sterno-thyroid muscle), by looseness of the pharyngeal muscles, and still
more by the forward placement of the tongue; the converse is true as
regards diminution in size. The horizontal portion of the resonator tube
(the mouth) has for its roof the soft palate and the hard palate, the
tongue for its floor, and cheeks, lips, jaw, and teeth for its walls. The
interior dimensions of this portion of the resonator can be greatly
modified by movements of the jaw, the soft palate, and the tongue, while
the shape and form of its orifice is modified by the lips.
There are accessory resonator cavities, and the most important of these is
the nose; its cavity is entirely enclosed in bone and cartilage,
consequently it is immovable; this cavity may or may not be closed to the
sonorous waves by the elevation of the soft palate. When the mouth is
closed, as in the production of the consonant m, e.g. in singing _me_, a
nasal quality is imparted to the voice, and if a mirror be placed under the
nostrils it will be seen by the vapour on it that the sound waves have
issued from the nose; consequently the nasal portion of the resonator has
imparted its characteristic quality to the sound.
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