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ART OF ELOCUTION.

FIRST DIVISION.

ELEMENTS.

Articulation.-Pronunciation.

"THE end of oratory is to persuade. We cannot persuade without being first clearly understood; we cannot be clearly understood without distinct utterance, that is, a clear

ARTICULATION.

This is the first requisite in the reading both of prose and poetry. Without it, the metre and rhythm of verse are destroyed; many words are not distinguishable in sound from others of somewhat similar form, though of widely different signification; and the whole delivery is confused and inelegant. With a distinct articulation, a speaker of only moderate power of voice is heard in any place or assembly, much more easily, and with less effort to himself, than one of much greater power of organ, whose articulation is imperfect for it has been observed, that loud, confused noise, even though much greater in degree, does not travel as far as pure and musical sound.

Hence the necessity, before all other things, of a clear, pure articulation.

To acquire this perfectly, it is necessary to recur to the first principia,—that is, the ELEMENTARY SOUNDS of our language.

Speech is articulate vocal sound. That sound is represented to the eye by signs: these signs are letters,-combined into syllables, which syllables are combined into words-the perfect signs of things; and the vocal utterance of these signs is speech.

Brutes have vocal sounds, but not speech: for the sounds they utter are not articulate. It is given to Man alone to shape his voice into intelligible articulate sound, which can communicate thought, desire, passion, to his fellow-men.

Perfect articulation, then, depends on the clear enunciation of certain elementary sounds, whose combination forms words.

The signs or letters representing these sounds, and forming the alphabet of our language, have been classified by grammarians, principally as vowels and consonants; and they define a vowel as a simple sound, perfect in itself,-and a consonant, as a sound that cannot be uttered without the addition or help of a vowel.

But this nomenclature and definition is imperfect as a guide and mark of the articulate sounds, whatever may be its value as a classification of the alphabetical signs of our language. It is true, indeed, that a consonant (so called from its supposed dependence for its sound on an attendant vowel,) cannot be individually

named without the help of a vowel: that is to say, the sign or letter B is named be, C se, D de, and so on; but these consonants, in their combination with other signs, do not require for their perfect utterance the aid of a vowel at all; so that their names as signs are as distinct from their power as sounds, as the names alpha, beta, theta, of the Greek alphabet, are distinct from the value or power of the sounds of a, 8, 8, when combined into syllables and words.

For, if a consonant required, of necessity, an attendant vowel before it could be uttered, we never could enunciate at all such words as black, brandy, claim, draw, flow, grow, throw, strike, and other words commencing with two or three successive consonants without the interposition of any vowel: for it will be clear to any one who will commence the utterance of any such word, and break off before arriving at the vowel, that he can and must complete the sounds of the consonants without its assistance.

Thus, let any one begin to utter the word brandy, (br-andy,) and suddenly arrest his voice upon br, and he will perceive that he has uttered a sound and tone without the aid of a vowel; and so of cl-ose, th-row, fl-ow, cr-owd, sh-ame, p-ray, &c.; and it is really the same with words commencing with a single consonant only, as b-ad, c-old, r-ide, m-ake, &c. Each sign, whether a vowel or a consonant, has its proper elementary sound or sounds, however different in quality or degree of tone those sounds may be.

Again, the SEVEN VOWEL SIGNS in our language,

A, E, I, O, U, W, Y,

represent many more sounds, monothongal and diphthongal, as will be found in the utterance of the following common words:

A-ll, a-rm, a-t, a-le, e-ve, e-nd, i-n, i-sle,

o-ld, o-n, d-o, u-s, u-nion,

in which the sign A, alone, represents four distinct sounds.

And there are many consonant sounds which are not represented by any single sign or letter, but require the combination of several letters to represent their power as the sounds ch in church, th (soft) in truth, thin, and th (hard) in that, &c.

Yet these are elementary sounds; and this shows the necessity of clearly distinguishing between the mere alphabetical sign and the elementary sound, or sounds, which it represents.

Now, as the perfect appreciation and utterance of the elementary sounds are necessary to the attainment of a clear and distinct articulation of the language, which their combination forms, it is essential to adopt a classification and nomenclature which shall convey a clear and distinct idea of their value in speech. For that end, none can be found more definite and exact than that propounded by Dr. Rush, in his eloquent and philosophical work on the human voice.

He divides the elementary sounds of our language into

1. TONICS-2. SUB-TONICS-3. ATONICS; which may be thus briefly defined :

1. TONICS (having tone)—those elementary sounds which have a distinct and perfect tone or vocality, proper to themselves, and capable of being held or prolonged by the voice indefinitely.

Such is the sound of a in a-rm, a-ll, &c., of e in e-ve, of o in o-ld, &c.

By vocality is meant that full, or (as Dr. Rush defines it) "that raucus quality of voice which is contradistinguished from a whisper or aspiration." This distinction may be illustrated by uttering the exclamations "um !” as an expression of doubt, inquiry, &c., and "sh !" (for hush!) as enforcing silence: in the first of which (um!) there is vocality, and in the second (sh!) merely a whispered aspiration, without tone or vocal sound.

2. SUB-TONICs-whose sound has also tone or vocality, but inferior to that of the tonics in fullness and power of sustainment.

Such is the sound of b as heard in b-ad, d in d-ear, I in l-one, m in m-ode, n in n-ose, &c.

3. ATONICS-whose sound is without tone; that is, an impulsion of breath without vocality.*

Such is the sound of p heard in p-ad, t in t-ime, s in s-igh, fin f-ade; the utterance of which is in the nature of an explosive whisper.

* Mr. Knowles, in his Grammar, talks of "voice without breath," as the distinctive mark of the pure semi-vowels. Voice without breath! This is an organic impossibility. Voice cannot be produced without breath, though breath alone does not, without the assistance of the vocal organs, produce voice: as, in uttering the letter S, a mere sibilation of the breath takes place without vocality: for the hissing of a serpent is not a vocal sound; though the word hiss cannot be uttered without the B*

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