_Special Inflections._


Among the special inflections we may reckon:--

1. _Exclamations._--Abrupt, loud, impassioned sounds, and
improvisations.

2. _Cries._--These are prolonged exclamations called forth by a lively
sentiment of some duration, as acute suffering, joy or terror. They are
formed by the sound _a_. In violent pain arising from a physical cause,
the cries assume three different tones: one grave, another acute, the
last being the lowest, and we pass from one to the other in a chromatic
order.

There are appealing cries which ask aid in peril. These cries are formed
by the sounds ē and ŏ. They are slower than the preceding, but more
acute and of greater intensity.

3. _Groans._--Here the voice is plaintive, pitiful, and formed by two
successive tones, the one sharp, the final one deep. Its monotony, the
constant recurrence of the same inflection, give it a remarkable
expression.

4. _Lamentation_ is produced by a voice loud, plaintive, despairing and
obstinate, indicating a heart which can neither contain nor restrain
itself.