QUESTIONS. -85. What is said of accent? 86. A word of one syllable is called? of two of three? of more? 87. What is said of syllabication? 88. When the same dissyllable may be used as a noun or verb, is it generally distinguished by accent? 89. Is the accent in ally' and romance' the same, whether they be nouns or verbs? 90. Name some trisyllables that vary their accent. 91. What is said of the accent in contemplate, &c.? 92. Almost? Or'thoëpy? Acceptable, &c.? 93. What is the tendency in our language in regard to accent? ARTICULATION, RULES FOR EXERCISES, ETC. 94. ARTICULATION is the distinct utterance of syllables or words by the human voice, by means of a proper opening and closing of the organs of speech. Without a clear, faithful articulation, there can be no good elocution: nay, it is often tedious to hear a person speak whose articulation is defective or confused. 95. Distinctness of articulation contributes more than mere loudness of sound to an audible, intelligible delivery. The quantity of sound necessary to fill even a large space is smaller than is commonly imagined; and, with distinct articulation, a man of weak voice will make it reach further than the strongest voice can reach without it. To this, therefore, every speaker ought to pay great attention. He must give every sound which he utters its due portion, and cause every syllable in the word which he pronounces to be heard distinctly, without slurring, whispering, or suppressing any of the proper sounds. pro 96. A sluggish, inattentive exercise of the organs of speech, is one great cause of imperfect articulation. A reader must be in earnest, and make the proper muscles do their proper work. He must not be too eager and hurried, for precipitancy in speaking is almost as bad as sluggishness in marring articulation. He must avoid a formal, precise mode of articulation. Let him begin by articulating and reading slowly, and increase his speed, as practice makes perfect, till he shall reach the right degree of quickness. 97. In order to have a full command of the voice, the reader should stand perfectly erect, with his chest well expanded, so that the lungs may have free action: he should also take care never to exhaust his lungs, but to keep a supply of breath in reserve. The standing position will be found the least fatiguing to the voice; for in sitting the muscles of the chest cannot work so freely. In standing, beware of a stooping, negligent posture, for your mode of reading will partake of the muscular inertness which your body may indulge in. 98. In the succeeding exercises on the elementary and compound sounds, let the isolated E representative sound be first distinctly enounced,EI ,EI and then the words containing it which are given as examples. For instance, the first elementary sound (a as in father) stands as a representative sound or key-note for the sound of the Italicized letter or letters in the words placed under it. Let not this sound be confounded with alphabetical a; but let it be distinctly understood and enounced before the pupil shall attempt to enounce the words in which it occurs. These words may then be articulated, and after sufficient practice has been had upon them let the pupil take up the second elementary sound (the a in fat), and proceed with it in the same way. 99. By the references to this paragraph in the text of Part II., we would direct the reader to an examination of the doubtful vowel or consonant sound in a word by consulting the exercises commencing on page 34. For instance, should the reference 99 be placed after the word truths, the reader is here directed to consider that the aspirate consonant sound th (the twenty-fifth elementary sound, according to the Table on page 18) will be found under the Exercises, numbered to correspond with its place in the above-mentioned Table. 100. In enouncing the consonant sounds, let the pure consonant sound, detached as far as possible from the vowel sound which accompanies the alphabetical name of the consonant, be given. Thus, b', p', d', t', 'm, k', &c., may be so enounced that the vowel which we hear as these letters are sounded in the alphabet, will be almost suppressed. 101. The representative sound should not be so associated in the mind with its letter or letters that the pupil cannot easily abstract the sound, and apply it to other letters or combinations of letters in an intelligent manner. Thus the combinations ey and eigh may represent precisely the same sound as alphabetical a; and we have seen that o may have the sound of short i, as in women. This consideration should be continually borne in mind in the following Exercises. 102. The importance of early drilling in the elementary and primary compound sounds should be highly esteemed. Many of the faults set down in our schcol-books as blunders in pronunciation are simply the results of a defective articulation. Let every representative sound and every word in the following Exercises be uttered aloud, distinctly and completely; particular attention being given to that sound in the word which is the especial subject of exercise, in such a manner that its character or manner of formation may then, and forever, be accurately known. As each elementary sound is, in this way, brought in turn under notice, the pupil learns, by parts, to articulate the language, as a whole, with a precision and promptitude that no other method of practice can so well or so surely confer. 103. While the pupil is thus employed in acquiring accuracy and strength of articulation, he must not be inattentive to tone and rhythm. The series of select words presented as exercises are divided, here and there, by semicolons and periods, showing where the voice may be modulated and where dropped. These points are placed without regard to any rule, and merely to guard against a monotonous manner of delivery. There should be a slight pause at the semicolon, but the upward inflection of the voice should be the same as after the comma. 104. The succeeding exercises occur in the order of the Elementary Sounds, and the Compound Vowel and Consonant Sounds, &c., given on page 18, and are numbered to correspond with that order. Bear always in mind, in these exercises, that only the letter or letters in Italic have the distinct representative sound placed at the commencement of the paragraph. 105. Words uttered without attention to their meaning, may be said to be uttered mechanically: and when the sole immediate object is to improve the act itself of articulation, it will be well to confine the attention as much as possible to the mere act. A course of prac tice in elocution ought to begin with exercises thus limited in purpose; otherwise the speaker - his pronunciation and articulation being the result of casual habit only will never be secure that in these fundamental points his practice is what it ought to be, or is fit for the superstructure he would raise upon it. QUESTIONS.-94. What is understood by articulation? 95. What are some of the advantages of distinctness? 96. To what is imperfect articulation attributed 97. In what posture may a person use his voice best? 98. What mode of articulating the sub joined exercises is recommended? 99. What is suggested in the references to this paragraph, attached to certain words in Part II.? 100. In enouncing the simple consonant sound, what is recommended? 101. What should be borne in mind in regard to sounds and letters? 102. What mode of drilling is recommended? 103. What is said of tone and rhythm? 104. In what order are the following Exercises given? EXERCISES ON THE ELEMENTARY SOUNDS. In the following Exercises, utter the representative sound first be itself; then repeat it at the letter or letters in Italic. It will be useful to precede the exercise on every sound by reading what is said of that sound in Lessons 3, 4 or 5. The Elementary Sounds, &c., are here given in the order they occupy in the Table, page 18. EXERCISE I. ELEMENTARY VOWEL SOUNDS. 1. a(the first elementary sound; being that of a in father; sometimes called Italian a). Path, bath, lath, are, barge, salve, half. Balm, calm, psalm, alms. Laugh, carpet, aunt, haunt, taunt; gauntlet, launch, draught, daunt, flaunt. Jaundice, guard,* craunch, malmsey, saunter, almond. Charge, charm, qualm, farm, heart, hearken, hearth. Bar, sergeant, star; ah, arm, barb, mart, calves, gape, wrath. 2. ǎ:. (as in fat; called short a, and marked thus, ă). Had, bad, gas; balcony, mall, callow, fallow, tassel, gamut; attitude, wrap, bade. Have, shall, hath, plaid, saturate, arid; acrid, mal'content, transom, aloe. Matin, sacrifice (pronounced suc'rifiz), patent, ample, paragraph, sample; sampler, tarry, baron. Sacrament, banian, amber, abrogate, pacify; alphabet, tapestry, amaranth. Natural, shanty, transit, gaseous, har'ass, adze, album ; capillary, abandon, decanter, companion, farrier. Imagine, inhabit, enamel, cam'eö, carry, parry, larum, galaxy, fantastic; gather, rather, translate, almoner, salic, canon, canoness, clamber, raillery, catch. 3. ā: (as in fate; called long or alphabetical a, and marked thus, a). Bathe, grange, paste; aërial, blazon, chaste; gauge, bait. Pay, prey, great, steak, blatant; range, veins, deign. Nation, angel, danger, vacate, ranger; hasten, plaintive, neighbor. Abase, arraign, phaëton, chasten, complacent, convey, inveigh. Fatalist, placable, gala, hey-day, feignedly; dictator, occasion, umbrageous, capon, cambric. Straight, complaint, day, datum, stay, obey; obeisance (so according to Walker; obesance, according to Webster), gaol (usually spelled jail). Weigh, There should be a slight sound of e after the g in guard. 4. a skein, mun ́dane, virago, octavo; verbatim, lapidation, data, heinous, prey; sleigh, aye, flagrant, zany, inveigh ing, or'nate. :- (as in fall, sometimes marked â; called broad а, and the same in sound as broad o in ought, nor, form, &c.). Ball, all, fall, pall, balk, calk, waltz, sward, walk, normal, salt. Bawl, pause, sauce, caught, caustic, halt, broad, groat, aught, naught, false, auction. Thraldom, also, sausage, saurian, saucy, always, falcon (see T 73), squall, squaw, paltry, water, august, swart, nauseate. Warm, balsam, caudle, scald, alder, alter, swarthy, lawyer, north, falchion, abroad, brought, thought, snort, forlorn, halter. Malt, awl, awful, wampum, author, caucus, plaudit, orb, bauble, cough, trough. (In the two last words, Walker gives to the ou the sound of short o in not. Webster's pronunciation, which we have here followed, is more consistent with usage and the nature of the words.) 5. ē: (as in be, called long, or alphabetical e, and marked thus, e). Me, e'en, routine, lief; brief, leaf, glebe, feet; mean, key, mien, grieve; seize, weasand, sphere, quay (see T48), pique, relief, torpedo, precept. Cæsar, freeman, treaty, tea, bohea, negro, unique; either, people, concede, demon, redeem, eagle, prescience, demesne. Crime'a, conceit, critique; colosseum, aure'ola; deify, decency, breviary; adhesion, theist, agis, receiver, premature; receipt, ennuż (pronounced aunwe'), irremediable. Seizure, breve, antip'o-des, field; fiend, siege, ravine; fatigue, serial, extem'po-re, epit'o-me, serene, pier, dear, caprice, senile, bary'tes, machine. Ambergris, antique; sys'tole, syn'cope; deceit, trustee, marine, phenix; chimera, quarantine; verdigris, tamborine, vice-ge'rent. 6. ĕ 7. Ĭ : :- (as in met; called short e, and marked thus: ě). Pet, |