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ing effort, and the chest almost collapsed, that the sound ungovernably rushes

out.

The means of cure of this painful impediment must be founded on the clear conviction that the lips cannot produce the sound-that they only modify it, and that gently and instantaneously; and that, consequently, any effort thrown into them is unnatural, and must be the cause of difficulty. Let the Stammerer but observe the mechanism of W from the vowel oo in the way above described, and the hold of the impediment will be at once greatly loosened. Guarded practice and careful application of the right principles of its articulation will soon perfectly obviate the difficulty which this element presents.

The 7th vowel is never heard after W in English. The contracted labial aperture for the articulation would render its combination with so open a vowel harsh; and the more congenial formation 10 is used instead. All the other vowels occur after W; no articulation ever follows it.

W combines with the initial articulations, B, D, G, T, K Th, S, as in buoy, dwindle, guava, twice, queen, thwart, sway. Lists will be found under the initial elements.

In the French language, W follows almost all the articulations: it is heard after Rin roi, after F in fois, L in loin, M in moi, N in noir, P in poid, V in voir, &c.

EXERCISES.

Initial. We, weep, weave, weevil, weasel, weed, ween, weal, we're, weak, weird, wield, weasand, weary; women, with, wistful, wizard, wisdom, wish, wisp, witness, witch, widow, width, window, winter, will, wilt, wilder, willow, wick, wicked, wicket, widgeon, wig, wigwam, weechelm, wing, wink; way, wafer, wave, waste, wage, wait, wade, wain, wail, wake, wager; weapon, wept, web, west, weft, wedge, wet, wedding, wainscot, Wednesday, well, welt, weld, welkin, welfare, wealth, Welsh, wear, wary; waggish, waggon, wax, waft, wafture; worm, worth, worthy, worse, word, wonder, won, wont, world, worldly, work; warp, warble, warm, wars, was, wash, wasp, wast, wart, wadding, ward, wan, warn, wall, war, warlike, walk, watch; wore, worn ; woe, woes, woad, woful, wold, woke; woop, woman, womb, woo, woof, woos, woots, wood, wooed, wooer, wŏŏl; wipe, wife, wive, withe, wise, wight, wide, wine, wile, wily, wild, wire.

Between Vowels.-Away, awake, beware, bewitch, bewilder, reward, froward, pewet, prewarn, seaward.

F.

OBSERVATIONS.-F is formed by the apposition of the middle of the lowe lip to the edges of the upper teeth, and by the rapid withdrawal of the lip by a

downward and backward action to finish the articulation.

The breath must

The obstruction

not be altogether intercepted during the organic contact. offered by the lip, however, gives the breath sufficient compression in the mouth to produce a degree of explosiveness when the lip is removed. We have already spoken of the necessity of attending carefully to the labial action, so as to avoid redundancy or ungracefulness. An awkward formation of F and V is so common as to render a repetition of the caution here necessary. The lip is frequently rolled outwards, so as to bring its interior surface against the front of the teeth; and the upper lip is twitched up towards the nostrils, to avoid collision with the clumsy usurper from below. The mouth is sadly deformed by these ungainly actions, and the wriggling lips look in profile like a couple of “ uneasie worms,” tossing and twining in agony. There is nothing in this, or in any articulation, nor in any combination of sounds in speech, that requires these loose, irregular, and propulsive actions of the lips; they are purely gratuitous, and should be studiously avoided by every person of taste. The lips should, as nearly as possible, retain the form of the dental ranges in all their actions. For F the upper lip should have no motion; and the under lip should merely rise sufficiently to bring its edge against the tips of the upper teeth. A too labial formation of the vowels aw, o, oo, will create a difficulty in articulating F neatly in syllables containing these vowels in combination with it;—as in awful, wolfish, uvula, over, &c. In this case the vowel formation must first be rectified. A little practice the grand improver—will suffice.

This labial mal-action, aggravated by the heaving upward pressure of the jaw, creates a trying difficulty to the Stammerer. F, properly continuous, becomes perfectly obstructive, and acquires all the difficulty of P, with a more awkward position of the lips: for the lower lip frequently forces its ascent to the upper gum, and wedges itself in between that and the upper lip.-But Error is too various to be traced in all its vagaries ;—and the erroneous actions of Stammering are so eccentric as to present new features in almost every case. Let the true principles of articulation be investigated, and brought in contrast with any error, and, if the source of the error be not at once made apparent, the means of removing it will, at least, be so. Stammerers have been by some advisers told to study all the phases of their impediments, and to practise the opposite of their faulty tendencies, as if the reverse of every wrong must needs be right but our more rational advice is—study, and thoroughly master the simplicity of true principles, for if the practical acquisition of them do not effect a cure, no other means will be successful.

F is sometimes formed by the close approximation of both lips instead of the lower lip and upper teeth: but the tension of the lips necessary for this formation is as ungraceful as it is fettering to the general maxillary action.

A loosely formed P sounds like F, by the breath not being perfectly intercepted. The following Exercises will give distinctiveness to the labial actions :— apfa, epfe, ipfi, opfo, upfoo;-afpa, efpe, &c.

pafa pafa pafa pafa pafa, &c.; fapa fapa fapa fapa fapa, &c. ;-with e, i, o, oo. pafafapa, pafafapa, &c.; fapapafa, fapapafa, &c. ;-with e, i, o, oo.

T

F and Th sound very much alike, if their respective actions are not firmly and sharply performed. They are both semi-dental articulations: F is labiodental, and Th lingua-dental;-and there is a close resemblance in the manner of their formation, which is a continuous breathing between the apposed organ and the teeth, followed by the quick removal of the articulating organ, which produces an audible percussion of breath. Contrast these articulations in the following Exercise :—

[blocks in formation]

There is a tendency to vocalize the Breath Articulations before Vocal ones, and between vowels : thus, ph=ƒ, in nephew, Stephen, &c. is sounded v: and careless speakers pronounce if like iv in such situations. Of is always pronounced with v instead of ƒ, ov or uv; but this change has perhaps been sanctioned for the purpose of distinguishing the word from off.

F initial combines with l, r, and y in English, as in flight, fright, fury. In French it combines also with w, as in fois. F unites with no initial articulation, except S, as in sphere.

EXERCISES.

Initial. Feeble, feasible, feet, feed, fiend, field, fear; fib, fifth, fifty, fissure, fidget, finical, filly, filter, film, filial, fixture, figure, fiction, fitch, finch; fable, fame, favour, faith, face, fate, fade, faint, feigned, fakir; February, feminine, feoff, feather, fender, felt, ferry, fairy, ferula, fecund, fetch; fabricate, famish, fathom, fasces, fascinate, facund, faction, fagot, fang; fast, fastness, fasten; farm, farce, farthing, fardel; ferment, firm, fervour, first, firs, fern, fir, fertile, firkin; fuss, fuzz, fund, fulminate, fulcrum, fulgid, fur, furze, furtive, furbish, fungus; faucet, fawn, fall, falding, false, falchion, falcon, form, forfeit, fortune, forward, fork, fop, fob, fond, font, follow, folly, fox; fore, fourpence, form, forth, force, fort, ford; foeman, focus; food, foot, fool, full; fife, five, fine, file, fire; found, fount, fountain; foist, foil.

Fl.-Flee, fleece, fleet, fleer; flippant, flimsy, flitch, flit, flint, flicker, fling; flame, flavour, flail, flake, flagrant; flemish, flesh, fledge, flexible; flap, flabby, flambeau, flash, flatten, flax, flag, flang, flank; flask; flaunt; flirt,; flummery, fluster, flush, flutter, flood, flurry, flung; flaw, floss, flock; floor, floral; flow,

flows, float, flowed, flown; flew, flues, fluke; flies, flight; flout, flounce, flounder, flower.

Fr.-Freeman, frieze, frequent; frippery, frith, fritter, friction, frigate; frame, phrase, frail; fresh, fret, friend, frenzy, phrenic, freckle; frantic, franchise, fractious, fragment, frank; fraternal; front, frustrate; froth, frost, fraudulent, from, frontal, frontispiece, frolic, frock, frog; frore; fro, froward, froze; fruit, frugal, frutex, fruition; fry, fried; frow, frowzy, frown.

Fy. Few, fue, fuel, fugitive, fugleman, fume, funambulist, funeral, funicle, fury, fuse, fusee, fusion, futile, future, feud. Between vowels.-Reefer; whiffle, stiffen, different, diffidence, sniffle; Sapphic, daffodil, raffle, gaffer, chaffer; xephyr, deference, heifer; wafer, safer, chafer; puffing, buffet, muffle, suffer, toughish, roughen; awful, scoffer, coffin, coffer; sofa; truffle, roofing; fifer, stifle, trifle, rifle.

Before an articulation.-Caftan, abaft, waft, weft, theft, bereft, thrift, sifter, shift, softly, doffed, puffed, rebuffed, muffed, reefed, chafed, laughed, roofed; skiffs, chiefs, safes, laughs, serfs, ruffs, coughs, oafs, roofs; fifth, twelfth; baffling, stifling, trifler; roughness, toughness, stiffnecked.

Ffinal.-Beef, thief, sheaf, leaf, chief, reef; if, stiff, whiff, tiff, skiff; safe, chafe; feoff, deaf; gaff; chaff, laugh, calf, half; serf; puff, buff, muff, snuff, tough, enough, luff, rough, cuff, huff, chough, surf, turf; wharf, off, cough; oaf, loaf; woof, roof, hoof; wife, knife, life, rife; coif.

V.

OBSERVATIONS.-This articulation adds to the action of F a vocal sound. The breath which flows between the lip and teeth sets the glottal membranes in vibration in its course for V: with this difference of sonorous quality, F and V are in every respect the same formation. Our remarks on the articulation of F will therefore equally apply to V. V is liable, however, to another kind of mispronunciation in the absence or but partial presence of voice. It is a source of much beauty in speech to give clear vocality to the articulations of this class; the vocal vibration must not subside until the disjunctive action which completes the articulation is made. All vocal articulations are more or less capable of Inflexion,-the continuous formations especially so,-and much of the power of an expressive voice lies in the distinct vocality and skilful inflexion of these elements. V should be practised to develop or improve this power with as much prolongation as possible, and with varying inflexions;

care being taken that the sound does not come out in jerks, but in an unbroken current, and that the organs remain perfectly steady in the articulating position, until they are thrown apart by one effort at the end. When satisfactory vocal power has been thus obtained, the articulative action should be practised with natural rapidity and in its various combinations.

Londoners often pronounce w instead of v, and, with strange perversity, v instead of w. Thus we hear wessel for vessel, vater for water, werry vell for very well; but this, of course, is only or mainly among the uneducated.

Combinations of W and V are so difficult as in most cases to require a special exercise. The following will be effective.

vawavawavawavawa, &c.—wavawavawavawava, &c.—with e, i, o, 00.

vawava, vawava, &c.-wavawa, wavawa, &c.—with e, i, o, 00. Pronounce each group of syllables as a word, changing the seat of accent. vawawavayawawava, &c.—wavavawayavavawa, &c.—with e, i, o, oo.

As a general exercise on the Labial Articulations, the following arrangement of the Three Modes of action will be useful.

Read the whole line as three words, changing the seat of accent as marked.

wá ba va, va bá wa, ba va wá,—with e, i, o, oo.

V initial combines only with y as in view. Vr is a peculiar French combination as in Vraie.

EXERCISES.

Initial.-Veal, veer, vehement, venous, venial, vivid, vivify, visible, viscous, vitiate, vigilant, vitriol, vidual, vineyard, vindicate, vilify, vicar, vigour, veil, vein, vacant, vapour, vase, vague, vagrant, vessel, vegetable, veterinary, vetch, vend, venerable, vellum, velvet, very, vection, vapid, vamp, vascular, vaticide, vanity, vanguard, value, vagabond, vastly, varlet, varnish, verb, verberate, verdant, verjuice, vermin, vulgar, vulnerable, vulpine, vulture, vault, vaunt, voluble, volume, voluntary, vomit, votary, vocal, vogue, viper, vibrate, vine, vile, vowel, vouch, voyage, voice, void.

Between Vowels.-Beaver, weaver, liver, river, quiver, favour, wavy, lava, knavish, laving, raven, ever, endeavour, bevel, seven, never, leveret, heaven, eleven, cadaverous, tavern, cavern, covet, shovel, lover, poverty, sovereign, impoverish, over, woven, oval, rover, mover, immovable, stiver, driver, ivy.

Before an Articulation.-Halved, delved, saved, served, curved, loved, roved, moved, rived, wives, leaves, graves, curves, coves, knives, lovely, lively, livelong, javelin, loveknot, evening, move

ment.

Vy.-Vielle, view, viewless.

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