CHAPTER XI.

Articulation and Vocal Culture.

101. ARTICULATION is vocality, or whispering voice, modified by the organs of enunciation. A good articulation may be defined to be the precise, forcible, and sufficiently prolonged utterance of the syllables of language, according to an approved standard of pronunciation. It involves not only the perfect formation of the component elements of the syllable, but the perfect coalescence of these elements in the concrete impulse.

For the purposes of artistic speech, the study of articulation and vocal culture, or the development of the voice for the highest expressive effects in speech, may be regarded as inseparable, since the process of elementary training necessary to discipline the organs for the perfect mechanical formation of elements, either singly or in their union in the syllabic impulse, will develop force or energy of utterance, together with a clear, brilliant vocality. While, on the other hand, all exercise of the organs on the constituent elements of the voice comprehended under the various vocal properties of Pitch, Force, Time, Quality, etc., as they variously affect the syllabic impulse or concrete of speech, will not only develop a command over the elementary constituents of thought and expression, but confer a skillful mechanism of articulation which is, in a sense, subordinate, though indispensable to these higher vocal effects.

102. The symbolical form of the alphabet is not less the foundation of written speech, than the sounds which these symbols typify are the basis of all the expressive utterances of spoken language.

103. We have spoken thus far of the single syllabic impulse only. Elements make syllables; syllables, words; and words, discourse.

A word may be monosyllabic, consisting of one syllable only; dissyllabic, of two; and polysyllabic, of more than two. In the latter case, the syllables are linked together or articulated into one group; i. e., uttered in immediate succession, with no pause or hiatus between. Thus, the syllables all and ways become, when combined into one word, always, and not all ways.

By most writers, articulation is confounded with, or rather confined to, distinctness; but it means, in its broadest sense, the combining or linking together of elements, which, by their inherent qualities, are susceptible of coalescence, so as to form them into syllables, as well as the uniting or linking together of the latter into words, and these again into phrases. In the same way, the bones of the body, and the joints of plants, are said to be articulated, or tied together. The articulation of elements into syllables is performed, as has been shown, by one vocal impulse.

"If the term articulation were synonymous with distinctness, there could have been no occasion to borrow such terms from the Greek language or the science of anatomy. Two terms are not necessary or admissible in science for one idea. Articulation is the smooth and intimate combination of perfect elements into a syllable." Thelwall.

104. In words of more than one syllable, there is always one that is brought more forcibly upon the car, and is called the accented syllable. The accentuation of our lan

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guage is determined by established usage, and the accented syllable becomes the seat of life in the word.

On the unaccented syllables, the voice passes through the concrete impulse with comparatively faint force and rapid flight; it is, therefore, much less perceptible than on those under the accent, and is called the rapid concrete. This term is also applied to immutable syllables in contradistinction to the term slow concrete, applied to that of accented syllables capable of extension.

105. In our classification of the vowel sounds or tonic elements, they are considered as under the accent only. The following will show the occasional modification of these sounds in the light or rapid utterance of unaccented syllables.

"Nothing more distinguishes a person of a good, from one of a mean, education than the pronunciation of the unaccented vowels. "Sometimes the vowel so circumstanced is indefinite and ob scure, and the effort to make it distinct would be vulgar pedantry; in other cases, the vowel so circumstanced is pronounced neatly and distinctly by the polite, although, in some instances, with decided irregularity of sound; as, for instance, the i, in docile, which is sounded as if the word were written without the final e mute. "As to the following sounds, the pupil will observe that by ah obscure is meant the natural vowel; that e, i, o, u distinct are in no respect different from the corresponding alphabetic vowels under the accent, but in having less force and prolongation; ět, It, distinct, are precisely the same, except the want of equal force, with the correspondent syllables when accented; but that ăt, õt, út, obscure, have a corruption of their vowels, which makes them all three to sound nearly alike, as if, in each instance, it was the natural vowel essentially short; and, lastly, that u, in up, is the natural vowel without force.

“Ah, obscure: a-base, a-bound, com-ma, vil-la, chi-na, etc.

E, distinct: de-vout, e-ject, be-come, appetite, bene-fice, catastrophe, prophe-cy, epito-me, etc.

• Į, distinct: i-dea, pri-meval, i-rascible, i-tinerant, di-ameter, etc. 0, distinct: mot-te, he-re, so-le, win-dow, fel-low, pro-fane, absolute, opp-site, o-pinion, original, etc.

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U, distinct: hưu-mane, u-surp, a-gue, stat-ue, emu-late, monument, aven-ue, etc.

“A-t, obscure : husb-and, verb-al, ab-jure, bap-tize, ad-mit, temper-ance, noble-man, etc.

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E-t, distinct: good-ness, an-them, si-lent, mod-el, provi-dence, en-lighten, etc.

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"I-t, distinct: pen-cil, coun-cil, Lat-in, wo-men, bod-ice, box.es, mus-es, bene-fice, novel-ties, ser-vile, etc.

"O-t, obscure: com-mand, con-duce, com-plete, pos-tillion, etc. “U-1, distinct: cher-ab, sur-plus, ser-mon, deco-rum, skele-ton, decis-ion, ambi-tious, uni-son, pi-ous, etc.

"U-r, obscure: gram-mar, rob-ber, mar-tyr, au-thor, etc."

-Smart.

WORDS.

106. Having made a study of the elemental material of syllables, the next step is to trace their vocalizing power in certain words, and show their agency in giving expression to the thoughts of the mind and the feelings of the heart.

Much depends upon the treatment of words. Our ideas concerning different subjects become familiar to us, while words enable us to explain these ideas. Therefore, we are. compelled to choose the proper kind of words, and to give them the vocality best suited to their capacity for expressive purposes. While some words are more fitted than others for vocal effects, nearly all possess available qualities in that direction.

The degrees of vocality applied to words must depend altogether upon the position they assume in the formation of sentences, the same word being at different times of differing degrees of importance, sometimes powerful, sometimes subordinate, etc. Therefore, the kind of vocal treatment a word receives must depend on its relative position as an expressive adjunct, and not upon its vocal capacity and attributes alone. We know that "the various sounds which, united, form a word, have difference of force within

them; some will travel, others drop, while others again will melt into their neighbors. Intrinsic force and relative force have to be considered in teaching public speakers and singers.*

Nor must we here undervalue the fact that this individual character of each element employed in the construction of the syllables, not less than its connection with other elements, goes to make the action either abrupt or level, harsh or smooth. (See "A Plea for Spoken Language," “A page 154.) Thus, crackling, crashing, and breaking owe their harshness and abruptness to the sharp and quick ictus of the organic formation of the aspirate hard ‹, and the combinations of br, sh, cr. These clattering, banging, and clashing sounds are the materials which produce short syllabic time and abruptness. In such words as flowing, blowing, streaming, moving, musing, sailing, flying, pruning, and this class of words, we find the coalescing of the liquids with vowels, and the implication of other elements in the unobstructed flow of sounds, which produce the pleasing vocal continuity which gives grace and beauty to tone. Hence, the power to be gained over words by elementary practices.

The indefinite syllables give slow and solemn effect to awe, sublimity, and grandeur, by a full and forcible vocality commensurate with the emotion and sentiment which naturally belongs to such literal signs; as, awful, grandeur, wondrous, splendor, rolling, mountainous, bold, broad, billowy, stars, oceanic. multitude, million, tremendous, thundering, towering, eternity, glorious, stupendous, immortal, and for

In expressive utterance, the indefinite syllables receive their time from median stress and the waves of the voice, with the addition of the tremulous movement. The muta

Lunn.