This same softness again, together
with its breadth, adapts it for the articulation of letters and for
speech. For these qualities, combined with its freedom from
attachment, are those which suit it best for advancing and retiring in
every direction. That this is so is plain, if we consider the case
of those who are tongue-tied in however slight a degree. For their
speech is indistinct and lisping; that is to say there are certain
letters which they cannot pronounce. In being broad is comprised the
possibility of becoming narrow; for in the great the small is
included, but not the great in the small.
What has been said explains why, among birds, those that are most
capable of pronouncing letters are such as have the broadest
tongues; and why the viviparous and sanguineous quadrupeds, where
the tongue is hard and thick and not free in its motions, have a
very limited vocal articulation. Some birds have a considerable
variety of notes. These are the smaller kinds. But it is the birds
with talons that have the broader tongues. All birds use their tongues
to communicate with each other. But some do this in a greater degree
than the rest; so that in some cases it even seems as though actual
instruction were imparted from one to another by its agency. These,
however, are matters which have already been discussed in the
Researches concerning Animals.
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