observation taken of the positions of tongue, soft palate, teeth and lips; forming the pronunciation as well by the eye as by the ear.

To correct a thick and imperfect articulation, read or speak at first very slowly, only accelerating the pace when certain that you can do so and yet remain clear. In each case the correct sound must be given, and this without allowing the speech to become too formal or too precise.

Such practice should be made with good, loud and sustained voice, paying marked attention to the commenccment and the end of words.

When special difficulty in a Difficult Sentences. word or phrase occurs, as is often the case, increase the difficulty in practice by at first whispering it in a forcible, audible whisper, and by thus giving the articulating organs additional work, the required facility of utterance will soonest be attained.

Indistinctness.

Pass the tongue from time to

time over the surfaces of the lips, as by keeping them moist they will remain flexible. Indistinctness will result if the consonants are imperfectly or inadequately formed, that is to say, if the right positions of tongue and lips in relation to them are ignored,

if there is an absence of strong muscular move

ment in forming them, and if the impact of the

Ferry

Vague etc.

Ponder Yonder Tend

and carefully note with the eye what happens when speaking them correctly and forcibly.

The final consonants are equally important, and must receive due pronunciation; the T's, D's, B's, L's, etc., etc.

In all these matters the value of good example and skilled criticism must be of great assistance to the student.

Nasal Intonation.

The letters N and M frequently

lead to nasal intonation in the entire word in which they occur, and in adjacent words; for wherever nasal intonation commences, it is rarely confined to its immediate

cause.

I suppose no speaker is ever infallibly correct in his pronunciation. It is well therefore for all of us to examine, to be on the watch, to compare,-lest faults of pronunciation and errors of articulation, closely allied to voice production, creep into our speech.

It is certain that vocal tuition, study and practice tend to a better use of the voice in public, and the enhancement of what we have to speak by a better method in saying it; and it is equally true that a gentle and refined speech in private life is a possession of such value that we may well seek to attain it.

There are hundreds of men whose vocation calls for considerable and constant use of the speaking voice, who damage themselves physically, and their hearers mentally, by crude vocal efforts, indistinct articulation and blind indifference to and ignorance of the fundamentals of elocutionary science.

CHAPTER VI

THE DELIVERY OF PROSE AND OF VERSE

Phrasing.

THE necessity of frequent inspiration demands great care in In conversation, a

the phrasing of sentences. fresh breath is taken after speaking every few words, whereas in reading, too often the reverse is the case, with the result that the delivery is dull, and the voice loses both power and quality.

By a good and skilful habit of dividing up the sentence, which gains in force rather than suffers from such method, the speaker is saved much unnecessary and trying exertion, his words being always launched upon a full aerial

stream.

Necessity of sufficient breath to sup

port voice.

We have seen that a rich, even, smooth voice is impossible where the amount of inhaled air is

insufficient, or where it is supplied too impetu

THE DELIVERY OF PRÒSE AND VERSE

45

ously or too freely from the lungs, and that where there is no recognised economy in the expenditure of the breath, a personal sense of fatigue, in addition to vocal ineffectiveness, follows.

Varied rate of delivery.

The vitality of a speech is greatly enhanced by a variety in the rate of its delivery. However rapid the rate may be, the phrasing of sentences and the allowance of due time for breath must not be neglected, nor must the articulation suffer.

The speaker's thoughts may be quick and winged, and his speech proportionately impetuous, but audiences frequently lack so immediate a grasp as this rapid delivery demands.

On the other hand, a drawling, crawling, lethargic pace is equally to be avoided, as both spiritless and wearisome in the extreme.

Speak or read thereof at a rate which admits of clear enunciation, and gives your listeners time to comprehend the full meaning of one phrase before the next is upon them.

Emphasis.

Some words, sometimes entire sentences, require more force,