the cerebral hemispheres, especially of the frontal lobes, a portion of the
brain which, later on, we shall see is intimately associated with the
function of articulate speech.




THE CEREBRAL MECHANISM OF SPEECH AND SONG


Neither vocalisation nor articulation are essentially human. Many of the
lower animals, e.g. parrots, possess the power of articulate speech, and
birds can be taught to pipe tunes. The essential difference between the
articulate speech of the parrot and the human being is that the parrot
merely imitates sounds, it does not employ these articulate sounds to
express judgments; likewise there are imbecile human beings who,
parrot-like, repeat phrases which are meaningless. Articulate speech, even
when employed by a primitive savage, always expresses a judgment. Even in
the simple psychic process of recalling the name aroused by the sight of a
common object in daily use, and in affixing the verbal sign to that object,
a judgment is expressed. But that judgment is based upon innumerable
experiences primarily acquired through our special senses, whereby we have
obtained a knowledge of the properties and uses of the object. This
statement implies that the whole brain is consciously and unconsciously in
action. There is, however, a concentration of psychic action in those
portions of the brain which are essential for articulate speech;
consequently the word, as it is mentally heard, mentally seen, and mentally
felt (by the movements of the jaw, tongue, lips, and soft palate), occupies
the field of clear consciousness; but the concept is also the nucleus of an
immense constellation of subconscious psychic processes with which it has