assume, calculate, argument, situation, credulous, pursuits, &c.* Practice the Exercises, page 43. Avoid the barbarism of perverting into nater, culter, venter, endooring, virtoo, such words as nature, venture, enduring, virtue. 150. Do not give to the ul in awful, fearful, dreadful, beautiful, &c., the sound of u in dull instead of u in put, bull, &c. Do not pervert the sound of short u in such, just, faculty, &c., by mispro nouncing the words sech, jest, fakklety, &c. 151. Give to ur its proper sound (that of er in her) in burst, curse, durst, nurseries, nurse, purse, reimburse, &c. Do not debase the sound of ur in these words by depriving the untrilled r of its due force. 6. Ck, ct, cts, d, ds, kts, lds, pts, nd, nts, mn, m, &c. 152. Heed the difference between the regular sound of d and its sound as t. Remember that in the preterites and past participles of verbs ending with an aspirate consonant sound, d takes the sound of t, as in stufft, husht, &c. Practise the Exercises in consonant combinations, page 49. Do not slur the sound of d in and. 153. The sounds of ct, cts, ds, kts, lds, nts and pts, must not be slurred. Say hands, not hans; thousands, not thousans; attacked (attakt), not attakted; acts (akts), not aks; expects (expekts), not expeks; perfectly (perfektly), not perfekly; insects, not inseks; sects, not seks; folds, not fōls; precepts, not preceps, &c. Do not say ast for asked (askt); attemps, for attempts; haunce for haunts; torrence for torrents, &c. Do not say chimbly for chimney. 154. Do not pervert the sound of m in words or syllables ending with lm, rm or sm, making those terminations sound as if preceded by short u. Do not say elum, helum, filum, chasum, alarum, prisum, spasum, realum, criticisum, harum, &c., for elm, helm, film, chasm, alarm, prism, spasm, realm, criticism, harm, &c. 7. R, rial, rian, re, shr, sph, ss, st, &c. 155. Ris properly one of the most active letters in the alphabet. It is never idle, never out of service, never a mere supernumerary in a word; and yet there is no letter more slighted or ill-used by bad *The mark of obscure u, which Worcester gives to the u in particular, deputy, calculate, voluble, argument, situation, credulous, &c., is calculated to mislead. The notation given by Walker and Webster to these words, under which the u has the long diphthongal sound of u in cube, is far pref erable. readers. It is slurred, perverted, or dropped altogether, in the most unscrupulous manner. Sometimes it is trilled when it ought not to be, and sometimes untrilled when it ought to be. See the Rule on this subject, ¶ 77. Sometimes it is erroneously sounded in a word to which it does not belong, and we hear drawlers say lawr, larf, idear, sawr, droring, instead of law, laugh, ideä, saw, drawing. 156. We have already alluded, under the faults in vowel articulation, to some of the offences against r. Do not say hashly for harshly, refaum for reform; pahticular, considubly, nothern, ala'ming, paht, stah, Caholine, haht, discovud, ahm'd, suffud, pahdon, tendully, toluble, rahly, &c., instead of particular, considerably, northern, alarm, part, star, Caroline, heart, discovered, armed, suffered, pardon, tenderly, tolerable, rarely, &c. Do not, in aiming to give distinctness to the sound of r, trill it where it ought not to be. Do not omit the r in February. 157. In words ending with rial, rian, rior, rious, &c., remember that r does not blend with the vowel succeeding it; hence do not try to make a single syllable of these terminations, but say memo-ri-al, libra-ri-an, supe-ri-or, impe-ri-ous, &c. In a class of words ending with re, such as centre, sceptre, massacre, theatre, &c., the r is sounded after the vowel that follows it. Some of these words are spelled by Webster as pronounced, thus: center, scepter, &c. 158. The thirty-third elementary sound (sh) should not be deprived of its aspirate quality before r. We hear bad readers say srug, sriek, srill, sroud, srink, srimp, &c., instead of shrug, shriek, shrill, shroud, shrink, shrimp, &c. Practise the Exercises under this sound, page 42. 159. The sph of sphere, spherical, sphinx, &c., should not be deprived of its aspirate sound. Read the Exercises under the twentythird elementary sound, page 40, and do not say spere instead of sfere. Do not convert the ss of across into the st of acrost. Do not slur the sts of mists, &c., and the str of stream, &c. Do not say beass for beasts, feass for feasts, hoce for hosts, servance for servants, tinse for tints, persiss for persists. 8. T, th, ward, ways, wh. 160. Do not drop the t in softly, perfectly, &c. We drop the in soften, but not in softly. Let the exercises on th aspirate and th vocal (page 40) be practised till the reader is in no danger of mispronouncing such words as with, beneath, paths, truths, youths, &c. Do not say munce for months; close for clothes; drawt for draught (draft). 161. The combination ward is often perverted by bad readers into wud or rud. Do not say forrud for forward, onwud for onward, &c. In these words the a should have an obscure sound of a in fall. Do not misplace the accent in towards (pronounced tō'ards). Do not say alwuz for always. Do not sink the aspirate in wh, so that such words as wheel, whist, whine, whither, white, whit, &c., cannot be distinguished, when uttered, from weal, wist, wine, wither, wight, wit, &c. The y in my and myself, when these words are not em phatic, may have the sound of short i. 9. Fusion of words, misplacing of accents, &c. 162. Some readers have a habit of running their words together so as to make two or more sound as one. They will say am-ightymaze instead of a mighty maze, &c. This habit, in the enunciation of English, should be sedulously shunned. In guarding against an indistinct and slurring habit of articulation, do not fall into the opposite error of too great precision. In giving its true sound to the vowel in unaccented syllables, do not shift the accent. Do not, for instance, say banishment', in trying to give its proper short sound to the e. 163. The wrong accenting of words is a common fault, and may best be avoided by consulting the dictionary. Read what is said on pages 29 and 30, on the subject of accent; and then practise the examples on page 51. Do not misplace the accent in the following words, which we here accentuate correctly: exquisite, superfluous, mischievous, vehement, hos'pitably, indis'putable, incom'parable, contrib'ute, sonorous, horizon, prom'ontory, perfected. In cases of disputed accent, and where authorities are equally balanced, it is a safe rule to choose that mode by which the word may be the more rapidly enounced with distinctness. QUESTIONS.-121-128. What are some of the common faults in the enunciation of a 129. What of the sound of long a before r? 130. Of short a? 131. Pronounce s-t-a-r Epistolary. 132. Law. 133-136. What are some of the faults in pronouncing e? er? 137. i? il? ing? ire? ir? 142. What cautions are given in regard to o? oa? oi ? 00 ? or? ow? 149. U after r? Pronounce t-v-n-e; enduring, &c. 151. How is the sound of ur perverted? 152. When does d take the sound of t? 153, 154. What faults are common in enouncing terminations in ds, kts, lds, pts, m, &c. ! 155. What of r? 156. In what class of words is it perverted or dropped? 158. What of sh? 159. sph ? 160. t? th? ward? wh? 162, 163. What of the fusion of words? misplacing of accent? LESSON XI. PITCH, MONOTONE, THE PARENTHESIS. 164. By the pitch of the voice we mean the governing tone, sometimes called the key, selected for the utterance of a sentence or exclamation. For the sake of illustration, we will suppose that a boy is lying asleep upon the sofa, when his father says to him, in a moderate tone of voice, 66 Thomas, go to bed." A moment afterwards, the father looks round, and finding the boy not gone, says, with a somewhat higher pitch of the voice," Thomas, go to bed." The father then resumes the reading of his newspaper, but soon look ing round again, he finds Thomas still on the sofa, and now exclaims impatiently, pitching his voice still higher, “Thomas, go to bed!" Thomas does not stir, and the father now exclaims at the highest pitch of his voice, "Thomas! go to bed!" whereupon Thomas is at length aroused. 165. By modulation we simply mean the regulation of the voice as to its pitch, pauses, &c. The pitch of the voice may be low, middle or high. The range of the voice from extreme low to extreme high we call its compass. The degree in which the pitch is changed, and often even the direction of the change, whether higher or lower, must depend on the reader's judgment, taste, temperament, &c. A low key is naturally adapted to the expression of solemnity, awe, fear, humility and sadness; and a high key to the expression of levity, boldness, pride and joy. Nearly all violent passions are expressed in the high key. 166. In simple narrative, the reader should use the middle pitch chiefly; varying the intensity of the voice according to the distance of his furthest hearer. Any continued address in the same pitch should be avoided. The commencement of a sentence or of a paragraph will afford opportunity for changing the modulation, generally to a lower, but it may be a higher pitch. It is a more common fault to begin a sentence in too high than in too low a key. Α 167. Do not confound force or loudness with a high pitch. person may speak in a very high pitch in a whisper, and in a low pitch with the full strength of his voice. A low-toned bell struck violently will produce a loud sound in a low key; whereas a hightoned bell struck slightly will produce a soft sound in a high key. Force is an entirely different quality from Pitch; and the most vio lent efforts of the voice must often be associated with the lowest modulation. 168. Some readers have a disagreeable habit of changing from a low to a high pitch in a harsh, abrupt manner, producing a start ling effect where the language and sentiment do not warrant it. We have heard a good sermon spoiled in the delivery by this fault. Do not commence a sentence vehemently, and then let the voice taper down to an almost inaudible pitch, causing it to mount at the next sentence, with a see-saw mode of utterance, now up and now down; the modulation" running mountains high, then ducking low again.' 169. To acquire the power of changing at pleasure the key in which you speak, accustom yourself to pitch your voice in different keys, from the lowest to the highest notes on which you can articulate distinctly. Many of these would be neither proper nor agreeable in reading; but the exercise will give you such a command of voice as is scarcely to be acquired by any other method. See the Exercises on Pitch, page 69. Reading aloud and recitation," says Dr. Combe, are more useful and invigorating muscular exercises than is generally imagined.” 66 170. By monotone we understand a continuation of one tone through many words. This, though generally to be guarded against, is sometimes appropriate and effective in sublime and solemn passages: as, in the following, from Job: "In thoughts from the visions of the night, when deep sleep falleth upon men, fear came upon me and trembling, which made all my bones to shake.” 171. A parenthesis, as it is a sentence within a sentence, must be kept as clear as possible from the principal sentence, by a lower tone of voice, and generally by a quicker rate of utterance. The power of lowering the voice, and commencing a sentence or clause of a sentence in a different pitch from what preceded, is a qualification indispensable to a good reader; and the parenthesis affords the best opportunity for acquiring it, because the rule is constant. 172. Let the reader imagine that in pronouncing the principal sentence he is to make himself heard at a distance; — when he reaches the parenthesis, let him utter it as to some one near at hand, and at its conclusion again address himself as to a distant hearer, The power of changing the key being thus acquired, it may be employed with propriety not only at the Parenthesis, but wherever there is a manifest transition of thought. See Exercises, page 72. Remember that a Parenthesis is sometimes indicated by other marks than these (). See ¶3 |