,Oa:RA t>V'W-^y^ ON.ES Cornell University Library The original of tliis bool< is in tine Cornell University Library. There are no known copyright restrictions in the United States on the use of the text. http://www.archive.org/details/cu31924027198484 Cornell University Library PN 4162.J77 Technique of , speech: 3 1924 027 198 484 THE TECHNIQUE OF SPEECH Fig. I Hard palate, Soft palate Tongue' Septum. Root" of tongue Base of tongue Hyoid bone Frontal cavity Sphenoidal c Nasal cavitie •Vowel chaml Uvula ■Throat cham Median section of the head and neck, giving general side view of the org peech and the resonators above, the larynx. Lips open, and tongue in i: osition for speech. THE TECHNIQUE OF SPEECH A GUIDE TO THE STUDY OF DICTION ACCORDING TO THE PRINCIPLES OF RESONANCE BY DORA DUTY JONES HARPER &- BROTHERS NEW YORK AND LONDON M C M 1 X H. Tt- /.vikr ^,21.3 9^ s\ Copyright} 1909, by Harper & Brothbrs. Aii rig-fits rtserved. Published October, 1909. DEDICATION The greatest Teacher the world has ever had once told Hia students- that they could understand the principles He taught only by doing the work He en- joined upon them. His words (John vii., 16, 17) con- tain a universal truth, as applicable to the study of speech, of mathematics, or of any other science as to the study of religion. Those who do the work indi- cated in this book shall know if it be indeed of the truth. TO SUCH STUDENTS AMONG HER OWN PUPILS THIS VOLUME IS DEDICATED BY THE AUTHOR Beklin, Ocloter, 1909 '^The same natural law which commands each of us to defend the place of his birth obliges us also to guard the dignity of our tongue." — Du Bellay. "Whoever hesitates to utter that which he thinks the highest truth . . . may reassure himself by looking at his acts from an imper- sonal point of view. . . . He must remember that, while he is a descendant of the past, he is a parent of the future; and that his thoughts are as children born to him., which he may not carelessly let die." — Herbert Spencer. CONTENTS PAGE Foreword xiii PART I I. Introductory . . 3 II. Vowel Resonance in Speech and Song 22 III. The Structure of Speech ... 43 IV. The Tongue . . . . .... 61 V. The Vowel . yg VI. The Consonant py VII. Syllabication. no WORDS AND the WORD 123 VIII. English as a Medium for Song . . . 127 How TO Use the Book 148 PART II Vowel Tables {Folder) 156 I. the front vowels II. the MIDDLE VOWELS ■III. THE BACK VOWELS CONTENTS CHAP. TAGE I. The Vowel Forms and Resonances . iS7 II. Classification of the English Vowel Resonances i86 vowel combinations 212 III. Studies in Articulation 223 vagaries of English articulation . . 250 IV. Studies in Enunciation . . . . 258 exercises for the organs of speech. . 261 exercises in resonance . . . . 269 sentences' for practice . . ... 279 V. Illustrative Exceptions to English Vowel Resonances . 293 WORDS spelled ALIKE, BUT PRONOUNCED differently . 308 WORDS PR0N»UNCED ALIKE, BUT SPELLED DIFFERENTLY. . . . . . . 310 WORDS spelled ALIKE, BUT ACCENTED differently. 313 Notes and References . . . 315 Index 321 Facing page 66 ILLUSTRATIONS FIG, I. SIDE VIEW OF THE ORGANS OF SPEECH AND THE RESONATORS ABOVE THE ). Frontispiece LARYNX .... . . II. SIDE VIEW OF THE EXTRINSIC MUSCLES ■" OP THE TONGUE . ... III. SIDE VIEW OF THE INTRINSIC MUSCLES OF THE TONGUE . IV. CORONAL SECTION OF THE TONGUE, SHOWING THE TRANSVERSE AND VERTICAL FIBRES . . . . _ Painted by Otto lilies. Figs. I, II, III, IV from designs based on wood-cuts in Quain's Anatomy. By permission of Messrs. Longmanns, Green & Co., 39 Paternoster Road, London, E. C. DIAGRAM PAGE I. POSITION OF THE TONGUE FOR THE LOW MIDDLE VOWEL . 1 63 II. POSITION OP THE TONGUE FOR THE HIGH MIDDLE VOWEL . 1 69 III. POSITION OF THE TONGUE FOR THE HIGH FRONT VOWEL . . . . 173 IV. POSITION OP THE TONGUE FOR THE HIGH BACK VOWEL 181 FOREWORD Of the degree in which a society is civilized the vocal form, the vocal tone, the personal, social accent and sound of its intercourse, have always been held to give a direct reflection. That sound, that vocal form, the touchstone of manners, is the note, the representative note — ^representative of its 'having (in our poor, im- perfect, human degree) achieved civilization. Judged in this light, it must frankly be said, our civilization remains strikingly Mwachieved: ... no civilized body of men and women has ever left so vital an interest to run wild, to shift, as we say, all for itself, to stumble and flounder, through mere adventure and accident, in the common dust of life, to pick up a living, in fine, by the wayside and in the ditch. — The Qiiestion of Our Speech. Henry James. ALL fair-minded Americans, especially ix those whose national pride aspires to something more than mere recognition in the political arena and the commercial marts of the world, must recognize gratefully the true patriotism of the eminent "expatriate" xiii FOREWORD who, on revisiting America after an absence of twenty-five years, which enables him to see and hear us as other nations do, has had the courage thus to voice pubHcly, succinctly, and definitively the exact grounds of our dis- qualification for representation in the "in- ternational concert of culture." The time was ripe for the utterance. The question of our speech has long been hover- ing in the atmosphere, has indeed distinctly hummed in our collective consciousness, even voicing itself at times, albeit in discreet and tentative whispers, in the more or less stable centres of our nascent social life. More than one pedagogic free-lance has already attempted to scale the apparently impregnable barrier of common usage, be- hind which — to borrow the apt simile dis- claimed by Mr. James — the Andromeda of our transplanted speech has been entrenched by ' ' the American common school, the Ameri- can newspaper, and the American Dutch- man and Dago." Even in the more sequestered educational centres of our provincial life, ' ' solemn troops xiv FOREWORD and sweet societies" of women already are preoccupied with the rehabilitation of this "distracted and dishevelled" captive, in "beautiful and becoming draperies" which, if not patterned in all details after the fash- ions now in vogue in the mother- country, shall at least evince equal care and "due tenderness of interest" in her behalf. The writer is but one of another consider- able company, which, from the slight coign of vantage offered by the American mania to shine in the lyric and dramatic arts, has been patiently, if more or less timorously, prodding the "great, blatant, blowing drag- on" of our national self-complacency in re- gard to the American vernacular. That no one has been bold enough to sound a more general call to arms is because the boldest must hesitate to assume what might be considered an attitude of unwar- ranted authority on a subject concerning which the Anglo-Saxon race has no ultimate court of appeal, such as a national Academy or the traditions of a classic stage. In America especially, where even the shadowy XV FOREWORD authority of a king's English is lacking, the question of speech has so long been loosely regarded as a mere matter of local habit and taste that any challenge of its fitness seems to impinge upon the sacredly guarded indi- vidual liberty of the People. Happily for all concerned, the moment of need has produced the needed man. Now that the eminent American citizen of Eng- land, who combines in his own ideals the best traditions of both his native and his adopted country, has thro^vn himself into the breach, we are without excuse if we fail to follow his gallant lead, especially as the point of attack which he indicates bristles least with the sensitive pride of our youthful self-consciousness as an independent nation. In his trumpet-call for the elevation of a national tone-standard in speech, Mr. James has exhibited not merely a fine high courage and patriotism, but wisdom and tact as well, and, above all, a sound discrimination in re- gard to the essentials of cultured speech. The "free -bom American citizen" will courteously strive to call Mr. St. John, Mr. xvi FOREWORD Sinjen; and Mr. Cholmondeley, Mr. Chumley, since those gentlemen so prefer, but you shall hardly convince him that he should pronounce duty, "juty"; figure, "figger"; tune, "chune"; clerk, "dark," etc., simply because Mr. Sinjen and Mr. Chumley do so. The question of our speech is not, indeed, a mere question of pronunciation, in the general acceptation of that word — ^the fash- ions in which, having no established au- thority, are subject to constant change — but of the far more important and elementary processes of articulation and enunciation, the pose and modulation of the voice, etc. It matters little, for example, whether we pronounce clerk with an e or an a, the ques- tion is, do we give the vowel, whichever it may be, its full resonance and the consonants their true value and no more. What shall it profit us, indeed, in qualifying for the "in- ternational concert," to pronounce the word with the wrong vowel as the English do, if we say clarrk with a (Middle West) "burr" of the r, which shivers the vowel into atoms and gives a positive physical shock to the xvii FOREWORD sensitive European tympanum, attuned to the most delicate and subtle articulations of that difficult and dominant consonant; or, if we permit it to elude us entirely, as it does on the more musical but too languid South- em tongue ? On the other hand, even though England permit us to pass on the vowel with which the word is spelled, what shall it avail us in our international duet if we enunciate the same through the nose, after the (provincial) New England fashion; or add to it a superfluous secondary resonance, as in the two-syllabled "cle-ik" of the Ameri- can metropolis? In short, what our speech needs is not, alas! mere polish. It is chiefly a question of rudimentary defects. The most approved pronunciation, the most finished elocution, or the most artistic dramatic interpretation, combined with faulty diction, is like a high "shine" on a shabby boot; and, as regards our diction, we are in exactly the sad plight, so pertinently depicted by Mr. James, of having learned how to converse before we knew how to talk, and to talk before we knew xviii FOREWORD how to speak. Only by frankly facing this fact and patiently reconstructing our diction according to a definite tone-standard, can we hope to maintain our linguistic position among nations possessing more established traditions and a more mature culture. Nor is the undertaking so hopeless as it evidently appeared to our honored expatriate, who, after pointing out the dishevelled condition of our transplanted speech, disclaimed the r61e of Perseus, and retired under his insular ear-mufflers, with vague and dark forebodings of how English will be spoken in the United States a few years hence, after the millions of our foreign citizens, "wooed and weaned" from all the nations of the earth, have been aEowed to work their will on the vernacular and "to dump their mountain of promis- cuous material into the foundations of America." Happily for our poor captive, that mon- strous tidal wave of immigration is on the ebb, and her deliverer, though long delayed, and still moving discreetly, is at last at hand. Although provided neither with the xix FOREWORD sword of Perseus, nor the winged sandals of Mercury, science is no less a messenger of the gods. Her message is ever the word of truth which alone sets free, and her mission, in the present instance, is to reveal the prin- ciples and laws that govern the formation and regulate the development of human speech. These put a solid working-basis under the dangling feet of the excellent pre- cepts left hanging in mid-air by our retiring Mentor. Certainly we can hope to attain the tone-standard, which he admits to be "an art to be acquired and cultivated," only in the way that any other art is attained, by means of a perfected technique. PART I THE TECHNIQUE OF SPEECH INTRODUCTORY IT has been well said that the only new thing left to be discovered at this ad- vanced stage of scientific knowledge is a new point of view. Such, certainly, is the only originality claimed for this work. The principle of resonance has been fully demonstrated by Helmholtz, Bonders, Willis, Hermann, and other scientists, and the bene- fits to be derived from its application to the problems of language have been more or less clearly indicated by many later writers on the subject. The development and demon- stration of these various theories is not the 3 THE TECHNIQUE OF SPEECH least interesting of the modem fairy-tales of science, and seems to have reached its denouement, at last, in the marvellous results obtained by Dr. E. W. Scripture in recording and photographing the vibrations of the speaking- voice, and reproducing these com- plete "speech curves" by means of the gramophone. It must indeed give Americans patise to see with the naked eye these vacillating, slipshod curves of our national speech, and to pre-figure the moment when these erratic records shaU be contrasted with the delicate- ly firm and finished speech ctxr\-es of our English cousins, in this unmistakable hand- writing on the wall of science. Unfortunately, the mission of this modem Daniel seems merely to emphasize by his cabalistic warning the judgment already voiced by our prophet in England — that our speech has been weighed in the balance and found wanting. For, alas! what can it avail us in our efforts to reform our curves, since we are not shown the cause of our drawling, diphthongal — or triphthongal — vowels, our INTRODUCTORY mumbled or grinding consonants, and our equal barbarities of intonation? In this tdtimate, visible analysis of the use and abuse of our noble mother -speech we have a startling object-lesson for the eye, more convincing, perhaps, than the less re- liable testimony of the ear, which is so quickly dulled by its habitual milieu; but it can aid us as little in the actual work of perfecting our diction as the Caruso and Sembrich phonograph records can aid the singer in correcting a faulty tone-production or "placing" the voice. As the Caruso or Sembrich standard can be attained only to the degree that the student uses his vocal apparatus as Caruso and Sembrich use theirs, so otir speech curves can be perfected only in proportion as the action of the organs of speech is controlled and perfected. At most, this tritunph of modem science can merely provide us approximately perfect models of "speech curves." It still remains for us to find the cause of our lapses from the standard thus created, and the means of correcting the same. If the American of 5 THE TECHNIQUE OF SPEECH the Middle West, for example, whose maimer of articulating the consonant r Mr. James so felicitously, if inaccurately, describes as "a sort of morose grinding of the back teeth," will slowly and carefully enunciate the words har and ham while holding the tip of his tongue firmly down behind the lower front teeth, instead of allowing that Uvdy and strenuous member to trill (as it may with imptmity when followed by a vowel, in such words as barrel and brown), he will find both the catxse of his violation of one of the canons of English speech and its remedy where Shakespeare long ago told his players that all faults of speech are to be found and corrected — on the tongue. (See page 6i.) The present volume, issued at the urgent request and for the special use of the writer's pupils, oflEers to the pubhc a definite, prac- tical method of applying the theory of res- onance to the study of diction and foreign languages, according to this principle, laid down for all time by Shakespeare; the dis- coveries and demonstrations of modem sci- entific research being found to illustrate or 6 INTRODUCTORY illuminate the subject in proportion as they adhere to the dictum of the eternal poet. Since, as we shall see later, it can be de- monstrated that the character of the vowel resonances depends entirely upon the shape of the vowel chamber, and that this resonator is regulated chiefly by the position of the tongue, it follows inevitably that perfect control of the tongue should give perfect control of these resonances. "A ruly tongue makes a simple, natural pronunciation," says Mr. Ffrangcon Da vies, in his eloquent and convincing contention for the importance of the word in The Singing of the Future. But when he adds that " an im- rigid larynx makes a ruly tongue," he simply reverses the actual relation of the two or- gans. The motor power of the tongue, so to speak, is in no way derived from or dependent upon the action of the larynx; on the con- trary, the larynx, being attached to the base of the tongue, is affected by every move- ment of the extrinsic muscles of the latter connecting these two organs; hence it is the unruly tongue that causes a rigid larynx. If it 7 THE TECHNIQUE OF SPEECH were the other way round, all singers would acquire perfect diction as a natural result of correct tone-production, the very opposite of which is indeed Mr. Davies' own war-cry. " The sheet-anchor of vocalists" he says, " ought to he a pure pronunciation." . . . "Pure pro- nunciation {musical, sustained, fitting, once achieved, ensures right tone-production, and con- sequently right tone" ; and again, "the quickest cLay to fine tone is via a fine pronunciation." The writer is fully aware that llr. Davies is only one of many vocal artists who are violently opposed to any conscious effort to control the action of the tongue while singing, and she wishes to emphasize the feet that she is in perfect accord with them on this point. The alpha and om^a of her own contention is, indeed, that the tongue should be so trained in the study of diction, as a separate and independent art, that sub- conscious control of that organ, in singing and public speaking, shall be as natural and involimtarj^ as that of the feet in walking or running. The professional singer is, indeed, in the same case with the professional run- 8 INTRODUCTORY ner, and can no more enunciate acceptably, in singing, by means of the slight muscular strength and flexibility of the tongue suffi- cient for ordinary conversation, than he could win the Marathon race by the strength and agility demanded for ordinary walking. To claim, as certain psychologists do, that no knowledge of the action of the tongue can be gained by paying attention to its posi- tions and motions in speech, is about as logical as to claim that the danseuse can gain no knowledge of the art of dancing by pay- ing attention to the position and movements of her feet ; and to contend that diction and foreign languages must be learned "by ear" alone is about as reasonable as to demand that the pianist should acquire his technique by ear without any training of the muscles of his hands. It would be interesting to know upon just what grounds those who advocate training of the ear alone, in the study of languages and singing, base their theory that knowledge gained through the sense of hearing is more "mental" or "artistic" than that acquired 9 THE TECHNIQUE OF SPEECH through the other senses. Miss Helen Kellar's mental impressions have been gained almost exclusively through the sense of touch, and one would scarcely maintain, after reading her books, that her mental operations are less clear, profound, or "artistic," for that reason! The mind, not the ear, is the hearer, and the writer has often been amazed at the rapidity with which the critical faculty is developed in regard to questions of pro- nunciation, intonation or by proper training of the organs of speech. Students have frequently assured her that they could hear absolutely no difference in the resonances of certain similar but clearly distinguishable vowels, such as the Italian e in bene and the French i in b^h6, until they learned to pro- duce the two sounds themselves by correct positions of the tongue. Until proper control of the tongue is at- tained, Mr. Davies' high, true, and beautiful ideal of singing, as given in the lines quoted at the head of the following chapter, must remain merely an ideal : a lovely but elusive Fata Morgana hovering ever just beyond lO INTRODUCTORY the singer's reach, over the mysterious gulf that separates speech and song. This gulf is bridged only by the resonances created by the vibrations of the breath in the vowel chamber, or mouth, and this chain of fairy-like reso- nances which are inaudible to the grosser outer ear, but may be heard distinctly by the inner ear in the whispered vowels (see page 29), is regulated, primarily, by the move- ments of the tongue. In short, resonance, being the only quality characteristic of the voice in both speaking and singing, is the only natural link between speech and song. It furnishes a continuous line of vibrations running alike through the speech tone and the vocal note, by means of which alone the singer may pass easily and artisti- cally from the "concrete" pitch of the former to the "discrete" pitch of the latter; and only by gaining complete mastery of this sustaining line THROUGH the processes op speech can the full value of the spoken word be given to the word in singing} ' As this book goes to press, a discovery in regard to wireless telegraphy is announced which proves, by de- ll THE TECHNIQUE OF SPEECH By the same token, the control of reso- nance so improves the quality and character of the speaking-voice as to render the work indicated in this book quite worth the while of any one whose speech fails to please the ear of cultured and critical acquaintances. The most beautiful speaking-voice the writ- er has ever had the pleasure of hearing is that of an English lady of Italian parent- age, the daughter of the two great singers, Mario and Grisi. The fact of this high heri- tage was not known, however, when the lady monstration in a different field, the scientific principle upon which the writer bases her theory of the line of resonance uniting the two processes of word-produc- tion and tone-production. An instrument has been invented in Berlin that produces electrical vibrations in the form of sustained musical tones, by means of which wireless messages can be transmitted many times as far as by the Morse code of long and short waves, and the softest tones distinctly heard even during the most unfavorable atmospheric conditions. As these continuous electrical sound-waves correspond exactly to the continuous vibrations created by the human voice in "intoning" correctly (see page 134), the reader will at once recognize the corresponding advantage to be gained from the use of this sustaining line of resonance in the study of diction for singing, public speaking, or even reading aloud. 13 INTRODUCTORY was first heard in Florence, speaking in- formally to a small company of English and American people, in English of the most exquisite purity. The chief charm of the voice was in its resonance; so perfect indeed, and so perfectly sustained was this line, that it suggested the tones made by the muted strings of a violin, or by a 'cello, and one felt that at any moment by a slight increase of breath pressure the speech tone might become a perfect vocal note. Such mastery of the line of resonance demands not only perfect control of the two streams of the breath, but proper adjustment of all the resonators above the larynx, which in turn depends to no small degree, as will be shown later, upon the positions and movements of the tongue. The writer's work along this line follows as closely as possible the general principles of vowel production formulated by Dr. A. M. Bell in Visible Speech, but by a different method, based upon the discovery, in her experiments with public speakers and sing- ers, of a definite point of control in the mus- » 13 THE TECHNIQUE OF SPEECH cular action of the tongue (see page 72), from which the movements of that organ may be directed easily and naturally, through the sense of touch, and the processes of speech thus carried on without interfering with the poise or action of the larynx. If, in case of singer and public speaker, the intrinsic muscles — those composing the body of the tongue — be strengthened by proper exercise, thus preventing any strain upon the voqal cords through the extrinsic muscles connect- ing the tongue with the larynx, perfect ad^- justment of the vowel resonances to the speech tone or vocal note may be secured without the sacrifice of either word or tone. By means of the increased gtrength and flexibility thus gained, the student may also acquire foreign resonances with accuracy and facility, and eliminate from his speech all so-called c^ccent, whether foreign, provin^ cial, or local; all such accent being chiefly the result of wrong positions and motions of the tongue or other organs of speech,' as the '"The utter inability of the ear to distinguish the loudness, pitch, and duration factors in accent has 14 INTRODUCTORY writer has demonstrated in scores of cases. She will cite but two, both of which can be verified if the reader desires. One, a gifted public reader and otherwise well-trained elo* eutionist, in ten weeks' study of the princi- ples given in this book, corrected a marked "Western" (American) accent, to the wonder and mystification of her English and European friends. The other, a singer, also an Ameri- can, after two months' training according to the same principles, in the French and German voWel resonances, learned, without any pre- vious knawUdge -whatever of thoie languages, a repertoire of French and German songs, which she sang in various cities of Europe, with a purity of diction especially remarked by numerous linguists and vocal artists. Nor were these songs less intelligently or artisti- cally rendered than those sung in her na- been strikingly illustrated in discussion of the Lithuaa- lati accent," says Dr. E. W. Scrlfiture (Experimental Phonetics, page 513). If not to be relied upon in re- gard to the qualities of tone, which is governed by the sense of hearing, hoW rhuch leSs Can the ear be trustfed to guide the motions and regulate the positions of the tongue and other organs of speech, which are, pri- marily, under the control of the sense of touch ' — D.D.J, IS THE TECHNIQUE OF SPEECH tive language,"or in Italian, already acquired "by ear" and corrected by training of the tongue; as the text was translated for her as comprehensively and vividly as possi- ble, so that, while singing, she carried a perfect concept of the content of the words — emotional, intellectual, pictorial, or what not — in her own mind, whence the singer's words are transferred to the hearer, informed, "colored" if you will, but made alive, elo- quent and convincing only by the intelli- gent conception and individual interpretation of the singer (see pages 124-126). This case is cited here as the only possible way in which to indicate clearly the general principles and lines followed out in this work, which may be summed up briefly as follows: Language, whether spoken or sung, con- sists of two separate and distinct processes, carried on simultaneously: word-production and tone-production. While the vocal organs (controlled by the ear) are producing tone, the organs of speech (controlled, subcon- sciously, by the sense of touch) are producing vowels and consonants; these two processes 16 INTRODUCTORY are unified into syllables by the voice impulse (produced by involuntary contraction of the glottis), the syllables being combined into phrases by the action of the breath, and each phrase emitted on a sustained line of resonance, by means of which, in case of the singer, the rhythmic measure of the poet's verse is adapted to the melodic form chosen by the composer. The singer may also set it down as an axiom that "voice placing" depends, in no small measure, on correct vowel placing; and a careful study of the technique of speech according to the principle of vowel resonance will prove to any unprejudiced vocal in- structor that the greatest obstacles against which he has to contend in the delicate, intangible, psychological art of tone produc- tion are due to habitual improper adjustment of the resonators for the processes of speech. In short, as the breathing of the singer, actor or public speaker, while apparently natural and effortless, is an acquired habit of breathing, so their diction, while it must appear equally natural and effortless, is an acquired diction ; and the transition from the 17 THE TECHNIQUE OF SPEECH speech of ordinary conversation to this lyric diction (if one niay be allowed so to designate the swig worc[), or even to the sustained diction of the public speaker or reader, is rnade niost easily, naturally, and artistically by the study and practice of vowel resonance. The fact that no definite practical appli- cation of this principle to the study of die-' tion has been made by teachers of phonetics has created a wide-spread and stubborn prej- udice, among singers especially, against the study of that science, which is, as Doctor Sweet of Oxford puts it none too strongly, "the indispensable foundation of all study of language"; and again, "if our present wretched systems of studying modem lan- guages are ever to be reformed, it must be on the basis of a preliminary training in phonetics, which would at the same time lay the best foundation for the pronunciation and elocution of our own language." This blind and unreasoning prejudice on the part of singers has been further aggra- vated by the exploitation of various methods which sacrifice the organic to the acoustic i8 INTRODUCTORY work, or neglect the training of the tongue for exaggerated Up-shaping and "mouthing " of the vowels, to the detriment of the reso- nant tone. When, upon the overworked vocal student, floundering amid the confused alphabets of several modem languages, is imposed the added labor and confusion of acquiring a separate phonetic alphabet (consisting of the same letters gone mad and presenting themselves upside down and wrong side out), it is small wonder that he should develop a sort of phono-phobia which puts him beyond the aid of even the other- wise rational method of the International Phonetic Association. If these hard-work- ing students and brave young artists alone are spared useless toil and waste of valuable tiihe by the line thrown out to thetti in the second part of this book, the writer will find therein her best reward for the years of re- search and experiment devoted to the work. Diction, like tone^production, is of course a Subject that cannot be tatlght "by the book" alone. Hence, while the writer holds back nothing of her method that may be of 19 THE TECHNIQUE OF SPEECH service to the student, giving even her sys- tem of exercises for increasing the flexibility of the organs of speech and the control of the resonators, she does not guarantee re- sults, except under her own instruction or that of her authorized pupils. The exer- cises are based on a definite principle of ten- sion and relaxation, and must be varied to suit the needs of each individual, according to the muscular development of the organs of speech and the habits of articulation, enunciation, breathing, etc., already estab- lished. In no case where this has been done, however (the principle being faithfully ad- hered to and patiently applied), has she known the exercises to fail in securing the conditions and results they are intended to accomplish — relaxation of the muscles of the jaw and throat, strength and flexibility of the organs of speech, especially of the tongue, and the development of tactile sensibility in the latter, for control of the processes of articulation through the sense of touch, while the ear directs the processes of tone-produc- tion and emission, phrasing, expression, etc. INTRODUCTORY For a nuftiber of years past the writer has given out freely to her classes in New York, London, Paris, Florence, and Berlin, the principles and method of her work; but she holds neither herself nor the method re- sponsible for any failures made by singers and teachers among her pupils who have (attempted to modify these principles or "adapt" them to other methods of work. A classification of the English vowels alone has been attempted; but for the benefit of the many singers and students of foreign languages among her pupils, the writer has included in the Vowel Tables the Italian, French, and German vowel resonances, in the arrangement of which, according to their rapprochement to the English sounds in the gamut of resonances, she has had the benefit of the criticism and approval of eminent lin- guists and vocal instructors of each of these nationalities. So numerous are the scientific authorities consulted that it would be impos- sible to mention even the names of those to whose work she feels herself most deeply indebted. II VOWEL RESONANCE IN SPEECH AJfD SONG The voice of the future must prove that it grows out of language, and singers must begin their studentship with the singing of thoughts; for thought is the fount of language and language the fount of tone. — Ffrang- CON Davies. DURING the half-century or more that has elapsed since the discovery and demonstration of the principles of resonance, our knowledge of the art of speech has been entirely revolutionized. The study of diction is no longer limited to parrot-like imitations of teachers, orators, and actors. Correct and even cultured pro- nunciation is no longer the exclusive prerog- ative of those to the manor— or the manner — bom; nor can it now be considered, as cer- tain writers on the subject once maintained, a mere "trick" of polite education. ?2 VOWEL RESONANCE While finished and beautiful speech must ever be regarded as an art rather than an exact science, it is now known to be based upon principles so scientific that no one need despair of speaking his own and other lan- guages correctly, even with distinction, pro- vided he has the patience to apply to his speech the laws deduced from the principle of vowel resonance. In this universal principle of language ^for- mation we have not only the simplest and most effectual means of perfecting articula- tion and enunciation, but an infallible guide in ascertaining the proper pose of the speak- ing-voice and in cultivating refined and mu- sical speech tones and inflections. Above all, now that the functions of the resonators are fully understood and can be readily con- trolled by the application of these laws, it is no longer necessary for the singer to sacrifice to the exigencies of tone-production the po- etic thought embodied in. the words of his song, by which it is distinguished from all other forms of music, and which makes of the singer something nobler than a reed or 23 THE TECHNIQUE OF SPEECH string instrument. Mere vocalization is not song. Tones however pure in quality, how- ever perfect in emission, can only express, and but vaguely at best, the elementary emotions of the human heart; thought de- mands for its expression "The spirit's shaping light, mysterious speech," that clearly "sculptured sound " which George Eliot so happily characterizes, in the poem from which we quote, as "the thought-begot- ten daughter of the voice." In certain Italian operas, where the music is merely "emotional speech" supplemented by dramatic action, imperfect diction may still pass muster; but no singer who mum- bles or garbles his words in real music drama, such as Wagner's operas, or in oratorio, church music, or concert singing, can be ranked as an artist, however faultless his tone or finished his vocal technique. Since the time of Schubert and Schumann the poetic thought has become more and more dominant in the art of the song com- poser. In the modem lyric "art song," the 24 VOWEL RESONANCE word, if not indeed paramount, is of equal importance with the music. This demands a perfection of diction at least equal to that of the tone-production. The most artistic vocalization is inadequate to interpret such a song as Mandoline, for example, in which the delicate, elusive cadences of Verlaine's verse are intertwined and interpenetrated with the refined and exquisite harmonies of Debussy, unless the singer has also perfect mastery of those subtleties of vowel reso- nance which the French have evolved from the musical but monotonous Latin gamut of open and closed vowels — the delicate sonori- ty of the (so-called) nasal resonances; the veiled brilliancy of the covered vowels; the spirit-like vanish of the elusive final e — to- gether with the fairy-like precision and purity of consonant, by means of which the whole should be woven into one unbroken, flowing arabesque of iridescent tone and vowel color. Fortunately for the singer who has to meet the demands of the modem song- writers, the discovery of the principle of vowel resonance has furnished a key to the 2S THE TECHNIQUE OF SPEECH ever-increasing diffictilties of speech in sing- ing. This scientific principle may be briefly outlined as follows: In the production of the human voice, when the vibrations or sounds created by the passage of the breath between the vocal cords are directed into the hoUow cavities of the head and face, the character of the vi- brations is altered by the shape of these "re-sounding" cavities or resonators, adding to the tones of the voice the quality known as resonance. Those vibrations which pass through the resonating cavity, called in com^ mon parlance the mouth, are there segregated into groups varying in number and length with every change made in the shape of this resonator or vowel chamber, each group producing a different and distinct resonance called a voweL (See "Notes and References," page 315,1.) Thus we see that a vowel is not merely a sound, but a harmony composed of all the sounds made by the breath in the larynx and the resonators above it. The scientific experiments made by Monsieur Rousselot, Doctor Scripture, and others, in 26 VOWEL RESONANCE recording the complete vibrations of the speaking - voice, have revealed the exact relation of these vowel resonances, or "cavity tones," to the fundamental tone made by the vocal cords in the marvellous duo per- formed by the organs of speech and the vocal organs in the production of the human voice. Unfortunately for the student of English diction, however. Doctor Scripture practical- ly ignores the important part played by the tongue in the processes of speech, the theory of word production deduced from his experi- ments being based upon the untenable and (for singers and public speakers) dangerous hypothesis that vowejs originate in the larynx. (See "Notes and References," page 316,11.) That it is a physical impossibility to produce any distinguishable vowel in the larynx will be fully demonstrated in the following chapter. Suffice it to say here that Doctor Scripture has stated the ultimate proof of this fact himself in admitting that the removal of that organ does not destroy the ability to speak clea^rly and distinctly. Certainly we are not informed that the silver larynx supplied 27 THE TECHNIQUE OF SPEECH by science, in such cases, is so marvellously constructed as to "contract in a different manner" for, let us say, each of the forty different vowel sounds included in the four languages considered in this work! In her experiments with singers, the writer has found that the real vowel impulse — the segregation of the vibrations of the voice into groups varying in number, each pro- ducing a different vowel sound or resonance — is given by the tongue at the point at which the intrinsic muscles are slightly tensed to maintain the shape of the vowel chamber against the impact of the fundamental tone waves. (See page 74.) This fact may be readily demonstrated by the reader for him- self in the following manner: While holding the mouth weU open, with the lower jaw relaxed and a distance of about one inch between the upper and lower teeth, let him whisper distinctly the five cardinal vowels a, e, i, o, u (see Vowel Tables Nos. 25, 15, i, 33, 30), and he will note: first, that the position of the tongue changes with every vowel sound; 28 VOWEL RESONANCE second, that while any number of vowels may be whispered (or spoken and sung) on a single voice impulse, no two of these resonances can be produced with the tongue in the same position. Again, if, while whispering the cardinal vowels on a single sustained breath, the ears be stopped with the fingers, so that the vibrations made in the mouth or vowel chamber may be con- veyed directly to the auditory nerve without mingling with the sounds outside the body, he will find that not only has each vowel a resonance peculiar to itself, but ' that each of these resonances has a distinctive pitch, independent of the pitch of the tone with which it may be spoken or sung; the pitch of the resonances rising as the tongue moves forward and falling as the tongue moves backward.' ' See The Voice, by Dr. W. A. Aiken (Macmillan & Co., London and New York), for an interesting study of the whispered vowels. The writer does not, how- ever, commend regular practice of these whispered resonances, except under the personal supervision of a competent and careful teacher ; and even thus they may easily be overdone by the pupil out of class. A pure whisper is difficult to produce, extremely difficult 3 29 THE TECHNIQUE OF SPEECH The fact that the pitch of a vowel (as of any sound made in the vowel chamber) varies with the size, as its character varies with the shape, of that resonator, and the importance of the office of the tongue in regulating the same, is also demonstrated in whistling. Every whistler knows that his tongue moves forward, thus decreasing the size of the vowel chamber for high notes ; and backward, thus increasing the size for low notes. Furthermore, if he will whistle slowly and softly the highest note in his "gamut" and then the lowest, he will find that the former has something even of the character of the High Front vowel — that is, the sound of e as in we; while the latter equally sug- gest the resonance of the High Back vowel, to sustain, and if used to excess the result is apt to affect the action of the vocal cords. A few experi- ments in class should be sufficient to test and regulate the position of the tongue and the adjustment of the other organs of speech so as to secure the clearest and fullest vowel resonances. Indeed, since both the char- acter and pitch of the resonances depend upon the shape and size of the vowel chamber, which is chiefly regulated by the position of the tongue, it follows that if the tongue be properly controlled, both the character and pitch of the resonances will take care of themsehtes. 30 VOWEL RESONANCE 00 as in woo. For this reason, also, all the Front vowels have a brilliant resonance, while that of the Back vowels is more som- bre in quality. (See Vowel Tables I and III, p. 156.) Again, although the pitch of a vowel res- onance is independent of the pitch of the fundamental sound made by the vocal cords, it does play no inconsiderable r61e both in speech and song by reinforcing or dimin- ishing the tones of the voice and modifying the quality or timbre of the same. For this reason one may speak as well as sing "off the key." Many Americans "sharp" their speech tones by decreasing the size of the vowel chamber to a mere slit, thus raising the pitch of their vowel resonances and pro- ducing the high, penetrating timbre known abroad as "the American voice." The Eng- lish, on the contrary, rarely shrill thus, and although they do sometimes "flat" or deaden the timbre of the tones by lowering the pitch of their vowel resonances, it is a fault so much less noticeable, as well as less disagree- able in conversation, that it does not per- 31 THE TECHNIQUE OF SPEECH ceptibly mar the great beauty of their speak- ing-voices, especially as they never force the vibrations of the vowel into the resonators of the face mask with the vibrations of the tone, as their transatlantic cousins are apt to do, thus giving a nasal quality to the voice, which, together with the high pitch and penetrating timbre above referred to, has made the American speaking - voice a national reproach. (Although this faulty production of the speech tone and vowel resonance is common chiefly to the inhabi- tants of provincial New England, the Middle West beginning at Philadelphia, and certain Northwestern and Southwestern States, the minority in the East, like the softer-voiced people of the South and certain parts of the Pacific "slope," hardly makes itself heard in the general clamor of the "Vox Americana.") There is, of course, no fixed standard of pitch for the vowel resonances (see "Notes and References," page 317, III), hence there can be none for the speaking- voice. In fact, since the resonances vary according to the size and shape of the vowel chamber, which in turn 32 VOWEL RESONANCE depends, to a certain extent, upon the con- formation as well as the adjustment of the organs of speech, and as the conformation is never exactly the same in any two persons, it is inevitable that each individual should have an individual gamut of vowel resonances. The key-note to this natural gamut of reso- nances is found, however, in the whispered resonance of the Natural Vowel, or the reso- nance of the vowel chamber with the tongue in its normal position, and without any re- adjustment of the other organs of speech, except the dropping of the lower jaw neces- sary to open the chamber properly. The speaking - voice may be made exquisitely musical, beautiful, and expressive by thus securing its normal pose and regulating its inflections and modulations according to the natural intervals furnished by the speaker's normal gamut of vowel resonance. Indeed, with proper training based on the control of vowel resonance through proper control of the tongue, any voice, unless marred by a positive deformity of some organ of speech, may be made harmonious and agreeable if THE TECHNIQUE OF SPEECH not actually beautiful. Miss Ellen Terry's delightful voice, for example, has not a beautiful natural quality. It is slightly husky, just the sort of voice indeed which, if carelessly used, tends to grow coarse and unfeminine with age; but so perfect is the adjustment of her speech tones and vowel resonances, so skilfully does she play upon the natural pitch and intervals of the latter, that the peculiar quality has become a pe- culiar fascination, adding a distinct and in- dividual charm to her speech. It is the perfect and perfectly sustained line of resonance in the voice of Signora Duse that gives to her speech its rare charm, its marvellous power to hold the attention and play upon the emotions of all her hearers, even those to whom she speaks in an un- known tongue. Along this vital, vibfant line her every thought and emotion seems trans- ■ mitted straight to the mind of the listener, independent of the words she utters. At a recent performance of La Gioconda, in Berlin, the writer heard her sustain this line of res- onance, sotto voce, throughout a long speech 34 VOWEL RESONANCE made by the lover, thus conveying to the audience a whole gamut of varying emo- tions—joyous, tender, proud, protesting — without the articulation of a single syllable until, with the ceasing of the man's voice, the resonant murmur culminated in the sono- rous Italian ' ' No, no, non dir'pi'k !" One may even dare to predict that as long as this great artist can speak at all she will speak beautifully. The volume and strength of the speech tones may diminish with her bodily forces, but the beauty of the voice, being due rather to the vowel harmonies obtained from the resonators above the larynx than to the quality of the tone pro- duced by the vocal cords, will retain its peculiar power and charm until her tongue is forever silent. The writer is convinced that many prom- ising male singing-voices of angelic purity and beauty have been lost to the world for mere lack of proper readjustment of the vowel resonances to the speech tones, at the time when a change in the vocal cords pro- duces an inevitable change in these funda- 35 THE TECHNIQUE OF SPEECH mental or "cord" tones. Indeed, proper development and use of the natural gamut of vowel resonances in speaking is not less important for the. singer than for the speak- er. The laws of resonance render it inevi- table that an incorrect pose of the voice and habitual use of faulty speech tones and vowel resonances shall have a corresponding effect upon the voice in singing. The singer who habitually pitches his speaking-voice below the natural pitch of his gamut of vowel res- onances, for example, is sure to find himself " out of voice" often, and nearly always has to "key himself up," so to speak, to his vocal work, for correct use of the speaking- voice alone can keep the resonators above the larynx always "in tune." Thus we see that aside from all considera- . tion of the importance of the word, as the vehicle of expression for poetic thought, diction can never be treated as a negligible quantity in the singer's art. Since it is a demonstrable fact that the resonance of the vowel either augments or diminishes ■ the resonance of the tone, it follows that if the 36 VOWEL RESONANCE diction does not distinctly enhance, it must distinctly mar the beauty of the tone-pro- duction. The singer may, indeed, set it down as an axiom that perfect beauty of tone can only be attained by perfect adjustment of these two resonances; and since the reso- nance of the vowel depends upon the size and shape of the vowel-chamber, it follows that this perfect adjustment depends chiefly upon the position and motions of the organs of speech, especially the tongue. The special aim of the writer during' years of study and experiment with singers and speakers of four nationalities — English, Frenph, German, and Italian — has been to ascertain the correct position of the organs of speech, particularly of the tongue, for each of the independent vowel sounds in these four languages. By the correct posi- tion is meant that which will give the purest and fullest vowel resonance, when subjected to the final test of vocalization, with satis- factory results as regards both word and tone. It is possible, of course, to produce something resembling each of the vowel 37 THE TECHNIQUE OF SPEECH sounds by various adjustments of the differ- ent organs of speech, but if the position of the tongue be wrong, the result will be either a bad tone or a blurred and indistinguishable vowel. For example, in singing what is gen- erally known as the ' ' long ' ' sound of the Eng- lish vowel e, as in the word be, the sides of the tongue should be at the highest possible point in the front part of the mouth, thus dividing the vowel-chamber in two compart- ments of unequal size, the back division being sufficiently ample to give depth and fulness to the resonance, to which the vibrations in the smaller front chamber add clearness and brilliancy (see Diagram III, page 173). This vowel may be produced, however, with a lower and less forward position of the tongue by narrowing the aperture between the lips, but the result will be a thin, shrill, colorless sound, because the back resonance has been destroyed by the alteration in the shape of the vowel- chamber, leaving the tone without depth or sonority. The first step for both singers and speakers in the study of diction is to gain perfect con- 38 VOWEL RESONANCE trol of the organs of speech through the sense of touch. The student must learn to feel the vowel forms and consonant motions while the ear is occupied in directing the tone. This is, in fact, just what all singers who ac- quire good diction eventually learn to do, though usually in the way that "Monsieur Jourdain" spoke prose: without being aware of the process, and only after long and pain- ful groping with an untrained sense and in- flexible organs. For this reason good diction is usually the last thing acquired by the singer, though not necessarily so, for there is no reason why it should not — on the con- trary, every reason why it should — be ac- quired at the very beginning of the vocal studies. The work of singer and speaker along this line is identical up to the point where the voice work of the former merges into tone production proper, while the latter continues the study of speech-tbnes with the variations of pitch, inflection, rhythm, em- phasis, etc., which constitute the music of speech. To both, the preliminary work in vowel resonance is of far greater importance 39 THE TECHNIQUE OF SPEECH than is generally realized. The chief faults and difficulties of our public speakers and ac- tors are not, as a usual thing, in elocution or dramatic expression proper, but in the very rudiments of speech — articulation, enuncia- tion, syllabication, etc. To cite a single ex- ample, the artistic, dramatic work of one of the most gifted American actresses of the present day is so sadly blurred by a defective articulation, due to inflexibility of the organs of speech, that one misses many of her best lines entirely unless seated quite near the stage. Some attribute this to her tendency to speak too rapidly, but all who have heard Madame Bernhardt know how effectively the speed of speech may be increased in order to create a climax of emotional excitement without the loss of a single syllable, provided the artist has perfected her articulation, as every aspirant for the French stage is com- pelled to do before beginning the study of dramatic expression proper. In fact, the control of tempo in speech, the artistic value of which has been demon- strated so vividly to the American public in 40 VOWEL RESONANCE the dramatic work of Madame Nazimova, de- pends, au fond, upon correct syllabication, which, in turn, demands perfect control of the organs of speech, uniform development and flexibility of which is extremely rare and found, in the highest degree yet attained, among the Russians and the French. For this reason the Russians speak all foreign languages with more ease and fluency and with less "accent" than any other nation; while the French, as a race, speak their own language with more finish and distinction than any other people. Foreigners of all nations may safely intrust the accent of their children to the simple French bonne, but woe to those who accept with equal con- fidence the vernacular of the English serving class, whose accent, whether "cockney" or provincial, seems never to be mitigated by a lifetime of service with the most cultured employers. The marked inflexibility of the organs of speech characteristic of English- speaking people of every class, on both sides of the Atlantic, is of itself sufficient to ac- count f^r the monotony in the tempo of the 41 THE TECHNIQUE OF SPEECH speech of our actors, in contrast with the brilliant tours de force of the great Russian actress. This necessary preliminary training is even more neglected by singers than by public speakers, owing to the fact that so many vocal teachers regard diction as merely a part — and too often as an unimportant part — of tone -production; whereas diction or word-production is an entirely separate and distinct process, which must he perfected apart from the tone-production before the two can he satisfactorily combined into song. Ill THE STRUCTURE OP SPEECH THE chief faults and difficulties of speech, especially such as beset public speakers, ^ngers, and adults who endeavor to acquire a foreign language, or perfect the so-called accent of their own, are due either to igno- rance of the phonetic structure of language, or to inflexibility of the organs of speech. Having learned to speak in infancy — as all children learn language^by ear, in imitating tiie sound of the speech of others, most peo- ple really know even their own language by its sound alone, whereas sound is but one of the three constituents of speech. This is demonstrated beyond all cavil by the fact that speech is perfectly intelligible to an educated deaf-mute, who does not hear its soun4 at all. To hiit; speech becomes 43 THE TECHNIQUE OF SPEECH visible — he reads language by the positions and movements of the organs of speech; whereas it is quite impossible to make speech intelligible by imitating its sound alone, as those singers who have not gained control of the mechanism of their speech demon- strate to us daily by their inarticulate vocalization. Those who have read Mrs. Andrews' story The Bishop will perhaps remember the amus- ing version of the hymn Am I a Soldier of the Cross? rendered by the child heroine as she heard it sung in church: "Am I a shoulder of the hoss, A quarter of the lamb." If the reader will listen carefully to the words of any selection new to him, as ren- dered by the average church, concert, or ora- torio singer, and write them down exactly as he hears them, the result will probably be equally as unintelligible, if not so amusing, as the interpretation of Mrs. Andrews* clever little heroine. It is, indeed, only when we attempt to sing, 44 THE STRUCTURE OF SPEECH and thus adjust the positions and motions of the organs of speech to sustained vocal tones instead of ordinary speech-tones, or to acquire a foreign language, in which these motions and positions are different from those of our native "tongue," that we begin to realize our ignorance of the scientific principles of speech and the importance of gaining perfect control of its mechanism. The fact that children learn to speak foreign languages with ease and facility "by ear" has led to the erroneous assump- tion that this is the normal and proper method of acquiring a good accent, and upon this assumption have been based various so- called "natural" methods, which are en- tirely unnatural for the adult student. Even in the case of children, according to Doctor Bell, "this faculty of imitation becomes almost inoperative after the earliest years." Among the many instances corroborative of this fact which have come under the writer's observation she will cite but one — that of two American children from one of the North- western States who had been placed en * 45 THE TECHNIQUE OF SPEECH pension with a French family in Paris. The younger child, a girl of nine, was acquiring the language with a perfectly pure accent, while the other child, a boy only a few years her senior, had learned to speak it with even greater facility but with exactly the same "Western" accent that characterized his English, burring the r and even adding the burr where there was no r; pronouncing both le and leur as he pronounced the English word "slur"; feu"iv,r" deux "dur," etc., just as he had been in the habit of trans- forming Mama, Papa, and Hannah into "Hammer," "Popper," and "Hanner." A few linguistic experiments proved to his mystified French governess that the dif- ficulty was not due, as she fancied, to the boy's "dull ear" — which was indeed a far more musical and accurate one than that of his sister — and that he heard well enough the difference in her accent and his own, but was unable to repeat accurately what he heard because of the greater inflexibility of his organs of speech. Certain simple exercises in articulation based on the action of the 46 THE STRUCTURE OF SPEECH tongue, which greatly amused the boy, soon extracted the burr from his French and mit- igated the same in his English sufficiently to prove that only patient exercise of the correct action of the tongue was necessary to eliminate his Western accent entirely. A little careful attention of this kind, given in time to the mechanism of the speech of children who exhibit a tendency to lisp, stutter, or stammer, is sufiEicient to prevent the development of those painful defects of speech, unless due to some definite physical deformity. Lisping is merely the confirmed habit of advancing the tip of the tongue too far in articulating the sibilant consonants. Children who are allowed to hesitate upon or repeat the initial consonant of a syllable or word are sure to stutter, while those who acquire the habit of enunciating on the inhalation of the breath, instead of during its exhalation, inevitably develop the more serious and stubborn defect of stammering. In the same way, both the cause of and the remedy for all so-called "accent, " whether local, provincial, national, or foreign, are to 47 THE TECHNIQUE OF SPEECH be found in the mechanism of the speech — that is, in the action of the organs used in the production of language, especially the tongue. Therefore, the preliminary work of the stu- dent of diction consists in gaining perfect control of this mechanism. In order to do this he must understand the organic struct- ure of speech, and that knowledge he should gain by careful observation and analysis of his own. Standing before a mirror, let him entmciate naturally but slowly and distinctly a brief, simple sentence in his native language; af- terward let him sing or intone a phrase. He will thus find that he not only hears, but sees anA. feels his speech. In other words, he has demonstrated for himself the basic principle of the science of speech — that lan- guage when spoken or sung consists of three distinct elements: form, motion, and sound. Taking these elements in the order of the structure of speech, we have, first, sound, which originates in the larynx, the delicate musical instrument attached to the base of the tongue, at the back, containing the vocal 48 THE STRUCTURE OF SPEECH cords, by means of which the breath is set into vibration or vocalized, the sound thus produced becoming a speech-tone or a vocal note according to the approximation of the cords. When this fundamental tone issues from the larynx, it is divided into two streams or currents by the pendent veil of the soft palate. One of these streams of vocalized breath passes over the palate into the hol- low chambers of the head and face, where, be- fore issuing from the nostrils, it is reinforced by additional vibrations, producing what is known among singers as "head resonance"; while the other stream flows directly into the mouth, where the vibrations of the tone under the arch of the palatal vault are com- municated, through the soft palate, to those in the face mask above, producing full pala- tal resonance. :At the same time, another and entirely separate process is taking place in this lower chamber, where, as we have already seen in the preceding chapter, the vibrations of the Jjreath produce an additional series of resonances varying in character according to 49 THE TECHNIQUE OF SPEECH the shape of the chamber, and called the vowel sounds. When, during the emission of the tone, the adjustment of the organs of speech changes so as to bring one in contact with another, the result is a consonant (con sonare) — the motion "with the sound" — ^which, to- gether with the vowel and the fundamental tone, completes the organic structure of speech ,^i With the first process, the production of tone as it is used in singing, the student, even though a singer, should not concern himself in the study of diction. Complete control of all the resonators above the larynx — which is quite as necessary for beauty of tone in speech as in song — can be obtained by simply intoning on a stream of pure reso- nance (see page 271), and perfect adjustment of the vowel resonances to the speech-tone or vocal note thus secured without any strain upon the vocal cords. Indeed, it is by thus separating the two processes of word-production and tone-pro- duction, and gaining complete conscious con- So THE STRUCTURE OF SPEECH trol of the two streams of the breath, that one can most readily and perfectly mas- ter the single continuous line of resonance upon which the voice is projected and sus- tained in public speaking and singing, and by means of which perfect adjustment of the vowel resonances to the speech-tone or vocal note may be secured without the sacrifice of either word or tone, provided always that the organs of speech are properly trained for the mechanical process of providing a reso- nator of the correct size and shape. The erroneous idea that vowels are pro- duced in the larynx has been the source of incalculable injury to that delicate organ in the case of both singers and speakers. Sound — inarticulate, fundamental tone — alone originates in the larynj^ (see " Notes and Ref- erences," page 316, II). Absolute proof of this is found in the fact that it is impossible to hum a vowel. Although, when the lips are closed, the entire column of vocalized toeath passes directly from the larynx through the nostrils, no sound even remotely resembling a vowel can be produced on this upper stream SI THE TECHNIQUE OF SPEECH of resonance. If the reader is not con- vinced by this test, he has only to make an effort to enunciate the different vowels while holding his tongue down firmly in the mouth by means of a broad, fiat paper-knife or the handle of a large spoon, and he will find that it is a physical impossibility to pro- duce thus the sound of any vowel except a hollow, "broad" a — the natural position of the tongue for that vowel being low in the middle, as he is holding it. There should never be any conscious action of the larynx or muscles of the throat in speaking. The moment a speaker thinks of his throat the speech-tones lose their natural focus, the tongue stiffens at the back, throw- ing an unnatural strain upon the larynx, contracting the pharynx, and producing a hollow tone of a specious mellowness but without resonance or carrying-power, which sooner or later develops a husky quality, and, in the case of speakers who use the voice con- stantly, is apt to result in chronic laryngitis, pharyngitis, or "clergjTuan's sore throat." In the case of singers the results are even 52 THE STRUCTURE OF SPEECH more disastrous. With the production of the singer's tones, however, we have abso- lutely no concern in the study of speech. Experiments with the whispered vowels, and the scientific reproduction of the com- plete "curves" of the speaking- voice, already referred to (see pages 4, 26, 49), have proved beyond all doubt that the tones made in the mouth are free vibrations, added to the fun- damental tone made by the vocal cords. As these resonant tones cannot be distinguished by the ear in normal speech or in song, they cannot be controlled through ttie sense of hearing. The office of the ear is, in fact, that of critic of the complete vowel harmonies, and, like any other critic, it can only judge and compare finished performances; or, at most, like the director of an orchestra, regulate the ensemble of the sounds produced by the dif- ferent instruments. In short, as we have already said in a previous chapter — but cannot too often repeat or too clearly em- phasize — diction and tone-production are two separate processes carried on at the same time. Hence we shall confine ourselves in S.3 THE TECHNIQUE OF SPEECH this work to the study of the technique of speech alone. It is sufScient for the stu- dent of diction to know that he has in his throat a delicate musical instrument called the larynx, which contains the vocal cords and is attached to the base of the tongue at the back; that no muscular strain must be placed on this frail, sensitive organ, which is self-acting, and will, if the breath be properly controlled and the organs of speech correctly adjusted, produce the speaking-voice auto- matically and correctly. The 'subject of breath -control is one of great importance to both singers and speak- ers. In the case of the former, it is, of course, the affair of the vocal instructor. All actors and public speakers, even those who do not care to sing, should take at least a few lessons in breath - control from a compe- tent teacher who has a scientific and well- tested method of developing the diaphra^n and other muscles used in controlling the breath. For correct use of the speaking-voice, even in ordinary conversation, certain "breathing 54 THE STRUCTURE OF SPEECH exercises" are often necessary in order to secure proper vocalization of the breath and full command of the resonator, on which the beauty of the speech-tones so largely de- pends; but these should be taken only un- der the personal supervision of the teacher, as they must be varied to suit the needs of each individual, according to the develop- ment of the muscles used in respiration and the habits of breathing already established. The respiratory system is, indeed, so closely connected with many of the vital functions of the body that most disastrous results, both physiological and psychological, may result from the misunderstanding or the misapplication of even the best system of breathing exercises. The first and most important work for the student of diction — ^whether speaker or sing- er — is to gain perfect control of the mech- anism of his speech, apart from its sound or speech -tones, by which alone he has here- tofore recognized and controlled the same, through the sense of hearing. In order to do this intelligently, he must understand the SS THE TECHNIQUE OF SPEECH physical conformation and functions of the organs of speech.' Standing with the back to the light and holding a hand-mirror squarely in front of the face, let the reader drop the lower jaw without moving the tongue and carefully examine the interior of the mouth. He will see an oblong cavity — a double chamber, so to speak — the back section of which, called the throat, is partially divided from the front section by thin, elastic, membranous walls. With this section of the resonating cavity the student of diction has no concern, the process of speech formation being con- fined entirely to the front section, called the mouth or the vowel - chamber. This chamber lies well in front of an imaginary line passing through the uvula and the epi- glottis or opening of the larynx. It is floor- ed by the tongue, roofed by the arch of the palatal vault, and walled in on the sides by the teeth and the interior surface of the • See chapters on this subject in Voice Building, by Dr. H. Holbrook Curtis. D. Appleton & Co., Pub- lishers, New York. S6 THE STRUCTURE OF SPEECH cheeks, the ends being open, but partially curtained, at the front by the lips, and at the back by the velum or "veil" of the palate — a thin, movable membrane attached to the front segment of the palatal arch. The teeth, the hard palate, and the interior walls of the cheeks serve merely as resonat- ing surfaces in the process of language forma- tion, and hence are sometimes termed the passive organs of speech, in contradistinction to the active organs, which properly include only the tongue, the lips, and the soft palate. The size and shape of the vowel-chamber may be greatly altered and varied by drop- ping the lower jaw; advancing and rounding the lips; raising or lowering the soft palate; and moving the tongue up or down, forward or backward, and widening or narrowing its sur- face. The alterations are made chiefly, how- ever, by the movements of the tongue, sup- plemented, in certain instances only, by the action of the lips and the veil of the palate. The upper jaw should be held (easily) immovable, its line at an exact right angle with the spine. If this line be raised by 57 THE TECHNIQUE OF SPEECH tilting the head backward, the proper ad- justment of the resonators is interfered with; if lowered by tilting the head forward, the lower jaw is crowded back against the throat, compressing the larynx and inter- fering with the proper emission of the tone. The lower jaw cannot be properly classed either with the active or the passive organs of speech, its office being merely to open the vowel-chamber, which is accomplished not by the action, but by the relaxation of the muscles that control its movements. It is never used actively in Italian or French, and in German and English only for the articulation of the initial or consonant form of y, as in "ya," "yes," "yacht," etc. If it "^be allowed to move with the tongue in mak- ing the vowel forms, the result is the fatal habit of "mouthing," which so marred the diction of the greatest English actor of modern times. Regarding the lower jaw, then, merely as the door of the vowel-cham- ber, so to speak, the singer or speaker has only to see that its hinges are kept in good working order, an accomplishment which is S8 THE STRUCTURE OF SPEECH extremely rare, and seems strangely difficult for English-speaking people. Milton attrib- utes this fault, peculiar to English speakers and singers, to the severe climate of their native island, fear of the effect of the cold northern air upon the throat and lungs causing them to speak "too close and in- ward," as he aptly phrases it. Whatever the cause of this habit, the effect on the speech is undeniable, not only in the case of English people but of Americans as well — ^though with a difference greatly in favor of' the former as regards the speaking- voice, and equally in favor of the latter in singing. As a natural result of this close and inward speaking, the voice, instead of being properly posed in the front part of the vowel- chamber under the centre of the palatal vault, is forced backward; in case of the English the soft palate is thus brought into play as the chief resonator, greatly dimin- ishing the resonance and carrying power of the tone, but giving a peculiar sweetness and charm to the speaking- voice, "gentle, soft and low," which all the world recognizes as 59 THE TECHNIQUE OF SPEECH a most "excellent thing" in the country- women of Shakespeare — for conversational purposes. On the more "strenuous" tongue of the American, both the vowel resonance and the fundamental or cord tone are forced over the soft palate into the face mask, greatly increasing the resonance and carry- ing-power of the voice, but depressing the veil of the palate, and thus giving a nasal quality and penetrating timbre to the speech- tones which have made the American speak- ing-voice a national reproach. But whether English or American — Northern, Southern, Eastern, or Western — ^we all speak "too close and inward," and the student of diction, whether singer or speaker, whether studying to acquire foreign languages or to perfect his own, must, first of all, correct this fault by learning to open the mouth properly. This can only be done effectually by gaining co- ordinate control of all the organs of speech, beginning with the tongue, of which we shall treat at length in the succeeding chapter. IV THE TONGUE Speak the speech, I pray you, as I pronounced it to you, trippingly on the tongue; but if you mouth it, as many of your players do, I had as lief the town crier had spoken my lines. — Hamlet, Act III, Scene II. THE writer once asked a popular teacher of dramatic expression what he con- sidered the exact idea in regard to speech, which Shakespeare intended to emphasize in the above oft-quoted instruction given by Hamlet to his players. " It is embodied in the word ' trippingly,' " he replied, and proceeded to explain how this effect was to be obtained by proper use of the lips and jaw, combined with variations of speech tones, pitch, inflection, emphasis, etc. "Then you find no special significance in s 6i THE TECHNIQUE OF SPEECH Shakespeare's use of the phrase 'on the tongue'?" I continued. " Certainly not, except as the most natural expression with which to round out the sen- tence, since it goes without saying that all speech is on the tongue." The fact has, indeed, gone so long "with- out saying" that it has ceased to have any significance at all. Because the tongue is so indisputably the chief organ of speech, we have, by some strange logic, arrived at the conclusion that it needs no training what- ever for its important function. The stu- dent is taught to "trip" with his lips, his jaw, his facial muscles, his larynx, his dia- phragm — ^with everything, in fact, except the organ that nature intended him to trip withal, and as an inevitable result he minces or blurs his vowels, mouths his consonants, and "elocutes" generally to such an extent that beautiful natural speech is about the last thing one is likely to hear from an as- pirant for the stage or the rostrum. What would one think of a manager who should give all of his attention to the setting of his 62 THE TONGUE play and the training of the "supports" for their minor r61es while paying no heed what- ever to the chief actor, who, just because he is the "leading man," is supposed to need no practice for his own lines, exits and en- trances, gestures, attitudes, or "business"? Yet that is just what happens to the stu- dent's speech when the training of the tongue is slighted in the study of diction. When we consider that thirteen of the twenty-one consonant motions employed in English are made by the tongue, while all the resonances which constitute the vowel gamut of the language are regulated by the position of that organ — ^aided, in the case of the six back vowels only, by the action of the lips — we begin to realize to how great an extent the finish and beauty of speech, as well as distinct articulation and clear enunciation, depend upon the strength and flexibility of the tongue. In fact, we may be quite sure that Shake- speare meant exactly what he said to the actors of his day in the words he put into the mouth of Hamlet — that to speak well, 63 THE TECHNIQUE OF SPEECH or "trippingly" if you will, one must speak literally and carefully on the tongue; and he leaves us no doubt of the inference that if one does not so speak, the result will be the mouthing with which his hero had so little patience. This scientific fact was strikingly illustrated in the case of Sir Henry Irving. The habit of mouthing, which marred the diction of that great actor, has generally been set down to mere affectation or mannerism. But no careful student of the science of speech — even though he were not convinced, as the writer is, that so great and conscientious an artist would never deliberately stoop to such superficial means of accentuating the effect of his art — could fail to remark that the habit was due to a defect in the mechanism of Sir Henry's speech. Even from the audience it could be plainly seen, by aid of a strong opera-glass, during the slower and more deliberate passages of his speech, that the size and shape of the vowel-chamber were regulated, to a great extent, by variations of the orifice of the vowel-chamber rather than 64 THE TONGUE by the position of the tongue; while, during the more rapid passages, the action of the jaw and lips became so labored as to amount at times almost to grimacing, proving be- yond all doubt an unusual weakness in the in- trinsic muscles of the tongue, which the great artist unconsciously — or consciously, if you will — but certainly most conscientiously en- deavored to supplement by increased activity of the other organs of speech, with the in- evitable result of "mouthing" his lines. It was equally inevitable that the habit of thus changing the size and shape of the vowel- chamber during the emission of the vowel sound should cause an exaggeration of the secondaiy resonance of the English mixed vowels, and add a slight suggestion of this secondary resonance even to certain pure vowels, which habit led to such unfair criticism of his diction as the exaggerated statement, seen by the writer from the pen of a London critic, to the effect that there was not a really pure vowel in Sir Henry's entire vocabulary. Having satisfied himself, by observation 65 THE TECHNIQUE OF SPEECH and experiment, that purity of enunciation and precision of articulation depend chiefly upon the strength and flexibility of the tongue, the student may set it down as an axiom that the amount of strength and flexibility necessary to secure this purity of vowel /orm and precision of consonant motion in ordinary conversation is not sufficient to maintain the same in singing or even in pub- lic speaking. In the case of the singer es- pecially, it is a difficult and delicate task to maintain the position of the tongue neces- sary to secure a full and clear vowel reso- nance with the jaw in the position demanded for correct emission of the tone, without interfering with the poise and freedom of the larynx. ^ Sir M. McKensie has well said that the singer must be an athlete as well as an artist, and we may add that he can only gain the muscular strength and flexibility necessary for the difficult and delicate feat of singing speech in the same way that other athletes gain theirs — by systematic train- ing and development of the muscles used. 66 —Stylnid process Stvlo-pharyngeus muscle Stylo-hi'uidfus Stylo-glussus Dorsum of the tongue Focal Point Inferior lingual muscle Genio-glossus H^'o-glossus Chrondro-glossus Genio-hyoideus Longitudinal vertical section of the tongue, showing the extrinsic muscles, part of the inferior lingual muscle, and the iocal point, from which the muscular action of the tongue is controlled in the processes of speech. Dorsum Superior lingual muscle Vertical and transverse fibres (See Fig. IV) ■Genio-glossus 'fFor inferior lingual muscle, indi- cated by dotted line, see Fig. 11} Longitudinal vertical section of the tongue, showing the intrinsic muscles and fibres and the genio-glossus. Fig, IV Coronal section of the tongue, showing the transverse and vertical fibres intcr- u'oven with the fibres of the intrinsic muscles and the cortex, or border, with which ihe vowel "forms" are mailc. THE TONGUE To this end it is necessary that the student should understand something of the organic structure and the action of the tongue, which is a most complex and delicate piece of mech- anism, perfect control of which is extremely- rare, and of the greatest importance both in singing and in speech. Accepting as the basic principle of the mechanism of speech the postulate deduced from the laws of resonance, that language when spoken or sung consists of two separate processes carried on simultaneously — ^word- production and tone-production — the writer was led to the natural conclusion that these two processes must be controlled by different sets of muscles. ' Careful study of the anato- my of the organs of speech reveals the exist- ence of just such a double mechanism in the intrinsic muscles — those composing the body of the tongue (see Figs. Ill and IV) , and the extrinsic muscles connecting that organ with the larynx, the pharynx, and other surround- ing parts (see Fig. II). Actual experiment and demonstration with the writer's own pupils soon convinced her that the proc- 67 THE TECHNIQUE OF SPEECH esses of articulation, or word - production proper, are performed entirely by the in- trinsic muscles and fibres of the tongue, con- trolled subconsciously through the sense of touch; the extrinsic muscles being used only in the processes of eating and drinking, and to assist the action of the muscles of the larynx and pharynx in the production of tone, which, alone, is controlled directly through the sense of hearing.' Such is, at least, the normal, involuntary action of the tongue in ordinary speech. The slight muscular effort thus required is not, however, sufficient to maintain the shape of the vow^el - chamber against the increased ' In support of this theory, the writer offers the fol- lowing statement made by the late Sir Richard Quain, the eminent English anatomist, as full and sufficient authority for the postulate upon which her exercises for the tongue are based: "In addition to the move- ments that may be given to the tongue by the extrinsic muscles, that organ is capable of being curved upward, downward, or laterally by its cortical fibres; it is flattened by the vertical fibres, and its margins are drawn together by the transverse fibres, while the two last mentioned, acting together, would tend to lengthen the organ." — Quain's Anatomy, Vol. Ill, Part IV, p. II. 68 THE TONGUE force of the vibrations of tone necessary to project and sustain the voice in public speak- ing or singing; hence, unless the intrinsic muscles are strengthened for this super- normal effort by proper exercise, the ex- trinsic group will be brought into play in- voluntarily to aid them, stiffening the back of the tongue, causing rigidity of the larynx and pharynx, and thus preventing either a free emission of the tone or distinct enuncia- tion of the word. In order to avoid this wrong use of the muscles, the pupil must, first of all, rid his mind of the vague and erroneous idea, so strangely prevalent among vocal students, that the tongue grows out of the throat and is controlled from the back ! By referring to Fig. I, Frontispiece, he will see that the tongue springs, not from the back or throat, but from the front wall of the lower jaw, the fibres of the principal muscle spreading up- ward and outward like an open fan, to the tip at one end and the hyoid bone at the other. It is, in fact, a physical impossibility to 69 THE TECHNIQUE OF SPEECH control the movements of the tongue from the back; any effort to do so — such as the attempt to hold the tongue down at the back in singing — ^merely stiffens the ex- trinsic muscles, by which the tongue is con- nected with the larynx and pharynx, and throws a corresponding strain upon the muscles by which the vocal cords are tensed, resulting in so-called "tightness" of tone. Indeed, muscular rigidity of the back of the tongue {which forms, be it remembered, the front wall of the throat) is perhaps the great- est obstacle encountered by the vocal in- structor in obtaining a free and full emission of the voice, and is also the chief cause of a legion of throat troubles common to public speakers, actors, teachers, and all who use the voice in sustained speech. If, on the contrary, the tongue be held down at the front during the processes of speech in singing, leaving the back entirely relaxed, not only is perfect poise and free action of the larynx secured, but all tension upon the pharynx is also released, giving the open throat so necessary to secure the full res- 70 THE TONGUE onance of the voice and command of those subtle shadings of expression which, for lack of a better word, singers call tone "coloring," and which, according to Doctor Aiken, are produced by the resonance of this "chamber in the neck." If the reader will place the tips of two fin- gers well under the front of the tongue, and hold them there without pressure, while enun- ciating clearly the vowel a (as in father) , he will feel distinctly a forward and downward motion of the under side of the tongue. This moverhent is made by the inferior lingual muscle,^ and here, under the front of the tongue where the fibres of this intrinsic mus- cle are blended with the extrinsic muscles connecting the tongue with the larynx and ' The inferior lingual muscle (see Pigs. II and III) consists of a rounded muscular band extending along under the surface of the tongue from base to apex, lying outside the genio-glossus, between that and the hyo-glossus. Posteriorly, some of its fibres are lost in the substance of the tongue and others reach the hyoid bone. In front, having first been joined, at the anterior border of the hyo-glossus muscle by fibres from the stylo-glossus, it is prolonged beneath the bor- ders of the tongue as far as its point — Quain's Anatomy, Vol. Ill, Part IV. 71 THE TECHNIQUE OF SPEECH pharynx, thus uniting the two mechanisms, is the FOCAL POINT (see Fig. II) , from which the action of that complex organ is con- trolled in speaking ; the natural point d'appui in singing, from which alone the two proc- esses of word-production and tone-produc- tion can be perfectly adjusted without the sacrifice of either word or tone. In groping for this point of support with- out proper training of the tongue for the processes of speech, the singer is apt to stiffen the jaw, the back of the tongue, or, worse still, the superior lingual muscle (see Fig. Ill), with which the vowel forms are made. Some singers succeed in securing this focal pressure partially by curling the tip backward under the tongue as far as possible; an illegitimate device, which merely serves to keep the tongue forward, ^and thus produce good tone in vocalizing without words; the tip, which is in constant requisition for lingual conso- nants, being thus put "out of commission," so to speak, entirely, so that whenever one of these consonants occurs in a word, it must be sacrificed to the tone, with the 72 THE TONGUE result of blurred and unintelligible diction. When the focal pressure is properly made, however (by a forward, downward, and lat- eral pressure of the inferior lingual muscle) , the tip is readily released for lingual con- sonants without greatly altering the adjust- ment of the other muscles, so that it may return instantly for control of the next vowel position. When thus correctly ob- tained, a slight exaggeration of the normal pressure, with the lower jaw well relaxed, will create the impulse to yawn, proving that the muscles of the throat are completely relaxed. Having secured the correct focal pressure, we find that from this natural point of sup- port the tongue moves freely in every direc- tion. It can be raised or lowered; moved backward or forward ; widened or narrowed ; or it can make several of these movements simultaneously, without interfering with the action of the larynx or constricting the muscles of the pharjmx, and thus prevent- ing free and full emission of the tone. In order to secure this perfect adjustment ' 73 THE TECHNIQUE OF SPEECH of the organs of speech to the vocal organs, the vowel shapes must be made with the side muscles of the tongue, or, to speak more exactly, the fibres of the cortex or border surrounding the longitudinal muscle form- ing the top of the tongue (see Figs. Ill and IV), the centre of which must be left per- fectly relaxed and free, from the tip of the tongue to the larynx, for the full emission of the tone-waves. The character of each vowel resonance is determined by its point of resistance — that is, the point at which these side muscles are arrested and tensed to maintain the shape of the vowel-chamber during the emission of the speech-tone or vocal note, and by which the various vowel resonances will be indi- cated in this work. For example, in form- ing the vowel e as in bed, the side muscles of the tongue are raised and tensed against the upper teeth at a point midway between the front and back of the vowel-chamber, hence it is called the High Middle vowel; while for the e in be, the muscles rise and move for- ward, the point of resistance being felt just 74 THE TONGUE behind the "eye" teeth, giving the High Front vowel. We have used the expression to feel ad- visedly, for the correct vowel shapes can only be ascertained with any degree of cer- tainty by the sense of touch.' Researches in the (physiological) psychology of speech have demonstrated the fact that the nerves controlling the motor sensations of the tongue ' For example, in order to maintain the point of support in singing the vowel e as in bed, the tip of the tongue must be held down firmly behind the lower front teeth, as in all vowel shaping, so that seen thus from the front the tongue appears to have the same position as in the vowel o as in bad, because the point of resistance of the latter coincides exactly with the jocal pressure, making that downward, forward, and lateral pressure so marked that the tongue is forced to rise at the middle position. This fact misled even such an accurate phonetician as Doctor Bell, who classed them as the Low Front and Low Front Wide vowels. The reader has only to apply the test of vocalization ignored by Doctor Bell, or to intone the words bed and bad, alternately on the same note, and then the two vowels alone in the same manner, and he will soon feel distinctly that the point of resistance for e is at the top, while that for a is at the bottom of the vowel shape as seen from the front — ^that is. High Middle for e and Low Front Wide for a. For this reason the writer has given no diagrams illustrating the positions of the tongue as seen from the front. 75 THE TECHNIQUE OF SPEECH are, in turn, controlled by the sensory nerves from its own and surrounding sur- faces; so that in order to gain perfect mas- tery of that organ through the sense of touch, it is only necessary to repeat a given movement, with attention, often enough to establish definite associations between these sensory and motor ' ' irritations. ' ' (See "Notes and References," p. 318 (d).) Such control once established, the movements become automatic, or at least subconscious ; but, having been gained consciously, leave the speaker or singer master of the mechanical process, and able at any moment to resume conscious control of the same, in order to modify habitual movements — ^as in adapt- ing the positions of the tongue for the various vowels to the change made in the size of the vowel-chamber in singing, or to acquire new positions and movements, as in learning a foreign language. On the other hand, the effort to control by the ear alone the vowel harmonies which are regulated by the movements of the tongue, is to ignore the cause and deal blunderingly with its 76 THE TONGUE effects only. '"^ The fact that deaf-mutes are taught to speak intelligibly, with perfect articulation, and that their enunciation is rendered slightly disagreeable by the hollow and unnatural speech-tones only, is absolute proof that the tones made by the vocal cords alone, and not the action of the organs of speech, are controlled by the ear. As we have said before, those singers who acquire the proper control of their speech in singing, unconsciously, do so only after long years of blind groping with an un- trained sense and inflexible organs. There is, however, no reason why it should not be acquired at the very begirming of the vocal studies, since it merely depends upon the strength, flexibility, and tactile sensibility of the tongue, all of which may be developed by proper training of that organ. (See "Notes and References," pages 317-319.) This is the legitimate work of the diction teacher, as it must be done with vocal organs absolutely relaxed, without any sound at first, and gradually adapted to ordinary speech -tones by means of the line of res- 6 77 THE TECHNIQUE OF SPEECH onance alone. It is, in fact, the basis of the technique of speech, and bears the same relation to the singer's art that the muscular development of the hand does to the art of the pianist. It is, however, a much more delicate process, and should, if possible, be done under the personal supervision of a competent teacher with a well-tested system of physical exercises based on the principle of perfectly balanced tension and relaxation of the muscles. The student of singing will find that such control of the speech processes and of the line of resonance (also dependent on the adjustment of the organs of speech) will lessen by one-half the time necessary to "place" and develop the voice; as well as the wear and tear on his own nerves and those of his vocal instructor through faults of tone-pro- duction, due — as so many of them are — ^to mere faults in the mechanism of speech. V THE VOWEL THERE is nothing more difficult for a teacher or more misleading to a pupil than a . definition. This is especially true in .defining a vowel, the most mysterious and subtle element of language. It has as many facets as a rose-cut gem, each of which re- flects some ray of truth concerning this vi- brant, changeful, soul of our speech. Hence it may be well to define the definition here offered as a consideration of the vowel from the standpoint of the structure or technique of speech. Thus structurally defined, a vowel is the articulate vocal form or character given to the sound produced in the larynx by the addition of the vibrations which this funda- mental tone receives in passing through the resonating cavity known as the mouth, or, in 79 THE TECHNIQUE OF SPEECH technical phraseology, the vowel-chamber. As we have already noted, these additional vi- brations create there a series of separate and distinct resonances var5ang in character and pitch according to the shape and size of the vowel-chamber, and giving to the sound of the human voice a special and individual music which differentiates it from that of all other living creatures.V In fact, every (correctly) spoken or sung vowel is a complete harmony in itself, consisting of a fundamental tone made by the vocal cords; resonant tones produced in the vowel-chamber; and those mysterious ignes fatui of the human voice obtained from the resonators of the head and face, miscalled " over "-tones (being both high- er and lower "partials" of the original tone). These vowel harmonies are the basis of both speech and song. Any vowel may be made without tone, as the whispered res- onances prove; but no tone, .no real vocal note, can be made without some vowel sound. The writer once knew a child who talked, or at least made her needs and wishes under- stood, in this vowel music alone, without the 80 THE VOWEL complete articulation of a single consonant, until her fifth year. This would, of course, be hardly possible in any language less flexible than English, with its wide gamut of vowel resonances, the numerous mixed vowels alone affording a great variety of inflections for the expression of feeling and emotion. It is, however, a striking illus- tration of the relative value of the vowel in the general texture of our speech. This case first revealed to the writer the existence of the continuous line of resonance upon which all speech and song are built, and the enormous value of 'using this sustained line as the basis of work in diction, in order to secure a musical and flowing rhjrthm in speech and a perfect legato in singing. This vowfel music varies in every language, embodying the genius of each nation, and bodying forth, in its harmonies or dissonances, its force or delicacy, its clarity or subtlety, that nation's characteristics of thought and feeling; reflecting, as it were, the very form and color of the human mind, so that it becomes no idle saying that he who learns a 8i THE TECHNIQUE OF SPEECH new language gains a new soul. The great- est difficulty which attends the effort to acquire a foreign language or even to perfect one's own, arises from the fact that we have no adequate system of notation to indicate this var5dng scheme of vowel harmonies, the present system of notation used in the alphabets of the chief modern European languages remaining practically just as it was when adopted by the Romans from the Greek alphabet, the five original signs, a, e, i, o, u, being still made to do duty for the extensive gamut of resonances evolved by the progress of Western culture out of the five cardinal vowel sounds. (See Vowel Tables, and pages 157-185.) If we attempt to count aU the vowel sounds produced by the conjunction of the vowel resonances with the resonant consonants, the number is seen to be infinite, and as im- possible to enumerate as the shades of color which an artist may produce by various com- binations of the paints on his palette. If, however, we consider as independent vowels only those that can be enunciated distinctly 82 THE VOWEL alone, without the aid of a consonant, the number of resonances becomes at once appre- ciable, and may be readily classified accord- ing to their vocal forms. Thus computed, the modern European vowel gamut includes about forty difEerent vowel sounds. No language, of course, con- tains the entire gamut of forty resonances. According to the system of classification used by the writer for the four languages chiefly employed by singers, Italian has only seven — or at most eight (see page 177); French, seventeen (see page 166); German, eighteen; and English, twenty independent vowel sounds. As the vocal forms vary according to the size and shape of the vowel-chamber, which is regulated by the adjustment of the organs of speech, the first work of the student of diction is to master this mechanical process of vowel formation. Taking it for granted, if he be a singer, an actor, or a public speaker, that he has had the physical training neces- sary to secure the strength and flexibility of the organs of speech requisite for good 83 THE TECHNIQUE OF SPEECH diction, including special training of the tongue as suggested in exercises given on page 261, he can now proceed to establish co-ordinate control of that marvellous organ with its complex double mechanism of in- trinsic and extrinsic muscles and its exquisite tactile sensibility, by means of which the vowel-chamber may be moulded into varied and beautiful shapes as firm as those that drop from the Venetian glass-blower's tube and as delicate as the curled petals of a flower, into which the fundamental tones of the human voice are poured and from which they issue in definite, articulate vocal forms or vowels. In classifying these vocal forms by the position of the tongue for each, the writer makes use of the terms Front, Middle,' and Back to indicate the three positions be- tween the lips and the pharynx, and the ' Doctor Bell employs tiie terms Front, Top, and Back; Doctor Sweet, Front, Mixed, and Back. But the writer has found it impossible to avoid confusion on the part of the pupil between the Top and High vowels of Doctor Bell and the position indicated by Doctor Sweet's Mixed vowels with the diphthongal character of thp English mixed vowel resonances. 84 THE VOWEL terms High, Mid, and Low for the three points between the top and bottom of the vowel - chamber, thus avoiding any con- fusion in the mind of the pupil in regard to the middle position in the two directions, and giving the following table of tongue positions for the primary vocal forms High Front High Middle High Back ^ Rounded Mid Front Mid Middle Mid Back >• by Low Front Low Middle Low Back ) the lips. The student should note carefully that all the Back vowels are to be rotmded by the lips. This is necessary to give the requisite length to the vowel - chamber and to keep the tones forward, but he must not make the very common mistake of trying to shape the vowel by the lips. "The lips,"' says Doctor Bell, "have no independent action in vowel formation. They only modify the effect of lingual action. ' ' WhUe, in singing, the mouth must be kept well open and slightly rounded, in what the Italians call the ore rotundo, there is nothing more fatal both to vowel resonance and volume of tone than the habit of screwing the lips up into the form in- 8s' THE TECHNIQUE OF SPEECH dicated by certain French vocalists as la petite bouche. The singer particularly must note also that the point of resistance for the Back vowels is not at the back of the chamber, but just back of the middle position only, in order to keep the tone well under the arch of the palatal vault and to secure the full resonance of the vowel. The number of vowel resonances is in- creased, as discovered by Doctor Bell in the development of his system of Visible Speech, by widening the tongue in each of the nine primary positions. In the same way, through the test of vocalization in her experiments with singers, the writer has found that an- other series of resonances are obtained by narrowing the tongue. This can be done only on the front and middle positions, how- ever, as it is impossible to make the neces- sary movement on the back positions with- out altering the poise of the larynx. In thus narrowing the tongue on certain positions — by contracting the transverse fibres of the su- perior lingual muscle (see Fig. IV) toward the centre, while holding the tip well dowTi 86 THE VOWEL behind the lower front teeth — the student will be able to produce with accuracy the subtle distinctions between the resonances of certain vowels in different languages which seem to the foreign ear so nearly identical; for example, the Italian "closed" e and the French e; the French u and the German u; the final e in German and the final er in Eng- lish, etc. The wide tongue positions abound chiefly in German and English, accounting logically for the breadth and fulness of the vowel quality characteristic of those languages, especially of the German. In French, on the contrary, the tongue is widened on two posi- tions only, while seven of the sixteen or seventeen resonances composing the vowel gamut of that language are produced by narrowing the tongue, and thus giving the delicacy and finesse, at once so brilliant and so elusive, that is peculiar to the French vowel, and the despair of the (adult) Ger- man or English student whose tongue is habituated to the wider positions. It is equally significant that with one pos- 87 THE TECHNIQUE OF SPEECH sible exception (see Vowel Table II, and page 174), the Italian resonances are all produced with the tongue at its normal width, hence the uniform beauty of the ItaUan vowel and the ease with which it is sung. Applying the table of primary vocal forms given on page 85 to the Italian language, we have the following remarkable distribu- tion of the Italian resonances, giving one vowel sound for each normal position of the tongue — except the Mid Middle, which pro- duces merely the vague unformed resonance of the " Natural" vowel, used only in English: High Front i as in si Mid Front e as in cena Low Front a as in mattina ' High Middle e as in petto Mid Middle Low Middle a as in madre High Back u as in una. Mid Back o as in croce Low Back o as in notte Since all vowel sounds are produced by some modification of these nine primary vocal forms, it would seem, according to this ' See page 177. 88 THE VOWEL distribution, that as the solar spectrum furnishes the basis for all possible shades of color, so the Italian vowel is the basis of all possible vowel resonances (except the Eng- lish Natural vowel, which scarcely deserves to be classed with the more refined resonances of civilized' speech, being merely the natural resonance of the vowel - chamber without any adjustment whatever of the organs of speech, and long ago eliminated from the speech of other refined and literary peoples). For example, the French u, a resonance peculiar to that language, is merely a modi- fication of the Italian (or French) *', the tongue position (High Front) being exactly the same, but the resonance altered during its emission by a slight forward and " cover- ing" movement of the upper lip; the great difficulty experienced by foreigners in acquir- ing this resonance being due entirely to the effort to produce the sound with the tongue in the position for the Italian or German u} • This fact may be readily demonstrated by the read- er for himself (provided he speaks French without a foreign accent) by simply delabializing the vowel; 89 THE TECHNIQUE OF SPEECH ■The French have added two, the German three of these covered or "modified" reso- nances to the modern vowel gamut, and the French have further enriched the scale of resonances with the so-called nasal vowels, produced by slightly depressing the veil of the soft palate during the emission of four of the pure French vowels, thus increasing the resonance of the tone . with which the vowel is spoken or sung by increasing the pressure on the upper stream of the breath and giving an original series of vowels, each having a double resonance, one of which has a slightly nasal quality. (See pages 92, 166, 168.) Finally, the English, by changing the position of the tongue during the emission of the vowel in seven instances, have pro- jduced a series of mixed vowels, each con- that is, while intoning the French u, let him gradually withdraw the lips from the forward or "covering" position without changing the position of the tongue, when the resonance will change to that of the Italian or French i, the High Front Vowel (i). The same test applied to any covered or modified vowel will show — is, indeed, the only reliable means of ascertaining — the exact resonance upon which these vowels are based. 90 THE VOWEL taining two resonances, of varying values, to the despair of foreigners of every civilized nation, and their own confusion in singing or in the effort to acquire the purer vowels of the modern Romance languages. However, even the English-speaking stu- dent — although he be an American with vowels tortured out of recognition by the wildest "Western" r, obscured by a New England nasal "twang," or obliterated by a Southern slur — need not despair of singing or speaking his own or other modern lan- guages with perfect purity, provided he^has the patience to apply the principles of vowel resonance. He has only to train his tongue by proper exercises until he is able to main- tain with ease the nine primary vowel positions with their wide and narrow variants, and to modify the vocal forms thus obtained by the action of the lips or the veil of the palate, as the resonance may demand ; then to apply the strength and flexibility thus gained to the refining and perfecting of his consonant motions, as suggested on page 223. But first he must obtain perfect control of 91 THE TECHNIQUE OF SPEECH the vowel resonances, which demands not only complete mastery of the tongue and other organs of speech, but equal control of the two streams of the breath. Above all, he should remember that the vowels must be kept on the lower stream, issuing directly from the mouth, even in the case of the French nasal vowels, so-called, in which the slight lowering of the veil of the palate per- mits a greater ntmiber of tone vibrations to pass through the resonators in the face mask with the upper stream of the breath, thus giving a double resonance to these four vowels, as already noted. In singing these so-called nasals, however, great care must be exercised not to divide the stream of the vowel vibrations with the divided stream of the breath or tone. If these vibrations are permitted to pass over the palate, not only is the pecuHar beauty of these French vowel resonances lost, but the purity of the tone is clouded by thus blocking up its natural channel in the face mask; a fault into which foreigners singing French are very apt to be betrayed. Indeed, few French people, even, produce these vowels 92 THE VOWEL well in singing, as any close observer may- note from comparing the exquisite and deli- cate sonority of these double resonances as sung by the DeReszkes, Gilibert, and Plangon, for example, with the pinched nasal sounds produced by the majority of French singers. A similar treatment of the English mixed vowels is the cause of the distressing nasal "twang" heard in the speech of so many Americans. In'short, the primary requisite for purity of vowel in all languages is that the vibrations producing the vowel resonances shall be kept in the vowel-chamber and emitted thence upon the lower stream of the divided breath. To this end the student should test his voyvel resonances by intoning the five cardinal vowels (see page 94) on a single note, while holding the nos- trils firmly closed between the thumb and first finger, until the resonance of each can be emitted clearly through the mouth with- out any nasality or mufHing of the sound.* ' The vowels alone can be enunciated thus, of course, as the closure for any resonant consonant demands a ' 93 THE TECHNIQUE OF SPEECH To render less perplexing the inevitable confusion arising from the fact that we have only the five original signs, a, e, i, o, u, to represent the entire gamut of forty vowel sounds considered in this work, each vowel is here indicated by the position of the tongue producing that resonance. When the stu- dent has learned, for example, to think of the five cardinal vowels (those having the same resonance in the four languages here considered), as the Low Middle, High Middle, High Front, Mid Back, and High Back vowels, not only does he thus avoid the confusion resulting from the habit of asso- flow of the upper stream of the breath. If the reader will intone the words " Come, oh come with me, the moon is beaming," with the nostrils thus closed, he will find that only the consonants suffered violence at the nose of the un- fortunate swain who, according to a familiar story, went serenading his mistress with a cold in his head, warbling forth " Cub, oh cub with be, the bood is beabig," and he will further demonstrate that what is often termed "nasalizing" the vowels is, in reality, the opposite process; or, as in this case, the de-nasalizing the consonants. 94 THE VOWEL ciating each of the five vowel signs with the special sound given to it in the alphabet of his native language, but he is, at the same time, reminded of the adjustment of the organs of speech necessary to produce the resonance correctly. The additional labor and confusion of acquiring a phonetic alpha- bet is also thus done away with entirely. Numbers being the only written symbols common to all modem languages, the writer has made use of the same in formulating the Vowel Tables, as first suggested by Doctor Bell in one of his early works on phonetics. But these are only given for the convenience of the pupil in distinguishing the resonances peculiar to any one of the four languages from those common to two or more. He must, from the first lesson on the vowel, endeavor to feel the position and adjustment of the tongue and the other organs of speech as described, in the chapter on the vocal forms. When this tactile sensibility has been fully developed the singer will feel his vowels in his mouth as bubbles of vocalized breath of distinct forms, varying in size and shape 95 THE TECHNIQUE OF SPEECH according to the position of the organs of speech. They are, indeed, fashioned in the same manner as are the soap-bubbles that a child blows through a pipe, and they must be held as gently and steadily, and allowed to float out on the lower stream of resonance as lightly as those aerial shapes created by the child's breath. The slightest convulsive movement of the organs of speech or any undue breath-pressure will instantly shatter these delicate creations; but if properly moulded and breathed forth, the distance to which they carry intact will be limited only by the amount of resonance with which the fundamental tone on which they are borne is reinforced. VI THE CONSONANT "HPHE name consonant," writes Doctor i Bell, ' ' if held to imply an element that cannot be pronounced without a sonant, or vowel, would be a misnomer ..." This fallacy, so prevalent among students of speech, is due to the fact that while the consonant is an element, or factor, of language as individual in character as the vowel, it is not so independent of the other two ele- ments of speech, so that there is in reality no contradiction in the apparent paradox with which Doctor Bell concludes his definition of the consonants as "the articulations, or •joints, on which vowels and syllables turn." It is, indeed, as a process only that we can arrive at an intelligible working definition of this vague and elusive element of speech 97 THE TECHNIQUE OF SPEECH which, together "with sound" or tone, and vowel resonance, constitutes articulate lan- guage. This process has been variously defined as the manner of opening and closing the vowel- chamber; as the conjunction and separation of two of the organs of speech; as a motion by which one of the organs of speech is brought in contact with another, etc. But neither of these definitions can be said to define w or h, while the last excludes also the initial y. We shall, perhaps, come as near a complete definition as is possible by con- sidering the consonant as a motion of one or more of the organs of speech for propelling or checking the sound of the vowel. Even thus we do not include the aspirate {h) unless we consider the diaphragm and glottis among the organs of speech, as we conceivably may — ^must, indeed, in this instance. In any case, whatever else it may or may not be, the consonant is undeniably a motion, and as such, primarily, it must be studied, in order to be properly refined and perfected. The finish and beauty of speech and song de- 98 THE CONSONANT pend, to no small extent, upon the precision and delicacy with which these movements are made. If they are lacking in precision, the result is a slurring of the enunciation, which is the chief defect of the otherwise refined and agreeable speech of educated southerners of all climes; such as the omis- sion of r before another consonant by the dwellers below the old "Mason and Dixon line " in the United States, and their dropping of final consonants — a habit they indulge in common with their cousins of southern England; the blurring of many consonants on the tongue of the natives of South Ger- many; the sh sound given to c in Tuscany; the complete aspiration of the same conso- nant by the illiterate or careless Florentine; and the general soft slurring of nearly all the consonants in the mellifluous Venetian dialect. If, on the contrary, the motions are made with precision, but without delicacy, the re- sult is a coarseness and crudity of accent such as one hears in Ireland, Scotland, or Northern England, especially in the York- 99 THE TECHNIQUE OF SPEECH shire burr, and in the equally strenuous treat- ment of the r on the tongue of Americans in certain Western and Northern sections of the United States, who, in common with the Scandinavian and North German races which have contributed largely to the population of those States, articulate all consonants with a grinding movement of the organs exceed- ingly harsh and disagreeable to an ear at- tuned to the finer shades of speech. To secure delicacy of articulation, without loss of precision, the motions must be made with extreme rapidity. The slightest hesi- tation in articulating a consonant is fatal, especially in EngHsh, as the many nasal con- sonant combinations peculiar to that lan- guage tend, if prolonged, to produce a nasal twang or drawl. This rapidity of motion, of course, demands great flexibility of the organs of speech, uniform development of which is extremely rare, and sadly lacking among English-speaking people on both sides of the Atlantic. From this, the consonant suffers even more than the vowel, the labored and heavy movements of the organs of THE CONSONANT speech producing a roughness of articulation which renders our language crude and dis- agreeable to the ear of the Latin races. In fact, our harsh consonant combinations are the result of those labored and heavy mo- tions, especially -of the effort to articulate without properly opening the mouth. For example, contrast the beautiful Italian word ostacolo with its consonant-clogged English equivalent, obstacle. The Italians open the vowel - chamber freely and generously four times, with a rhythmic march of the organs from closed to open, and a rhythmic flow of the tone from vowel to vowel, producing four suave, musical, open syllables — o-sta-co-lo. The English, on the contrary, open the mouth partially and grudgingly once for the initial vowel, and then accomplish the rest of the articulation by grinding the tongue against the hard palate, with a series of hissing, clicking, sputtering sounds, in the midst of which may be detected, by the ear accus- tomed to the vagaries of our language, the re- mains of an "obscure" a and a "muted" e. To the same degree that the Italians sur- lOI THE TECHNIQUE OF SPEECH pass all other nations in the production of vowel harmonies, are they also past-masters of the consonant processes, and those singers especially are to be congratulated who have had their first efforts to sing the consonants directed and formed according to the Italian manner. This manner affords the only per- fect balance of precision and delicacy in the mechanism of speech. While the French have equally guarded their processes from the excessive sibilation characteristic of the English and the exag- gerated aspiration of the German manner, as well as the rude treatment of the non- resonant consonants common to both, they have sadly weakened the structure of their language by allowing the bell-like resonance of /, for example, to degenerate into the sound of i or y, through the effeminate proc- ess of mouillure, which is not indeed a mere "liquifying" of the consonant (as in the case of g when followed by n in Seigneur, Mignon, etc., but an absolute obliteration of it, as in feuille) . Similar structural weakness is found in their sacrifice of the closing m \ THE CONSONANT and n to the effort to increase the sonority of the preceding vowel by forcing the upper stream of resonance, thus creating the hybrid sounds known as "nasal" vowels; and again, as a secondary result of this constantly re- curring depression of the velum, corrupting the integrity of the r with a palatal vibration, producing a veiled, throaty trill which is the despair of all artists who strive for purity of diction in singing. The consonant motions are sometimes made on the stream of resonance and some- times accompanied by no sound except the hiss of the breath, or the "cHck" made by the contact of two organs of' speech. As both these forms of the consonant are heard, however, it leads to endless confusion in the study of the character of certain consonants which vary in different languages, to classify them as sounded and unsounded or "surd" and ''sonant." Nor is the resonance always of the same character. For example, b and m are both resonant consonants, and both are made by the same motion of the lips; but in the case of b the obscure sound made 103 THE TECHNIQUE OF SPEECH by the vocal cords is "re-sounded" only in the vowel - chamber, and there checked by the closure of the lips; while for m, the veil of the palate being depressed, part of the vibrations of the voice pass over it into the face mask, making a full, musical, humming sound and adding a slightly nasal quality to the consonant, which can be prolonged in- definitely through the nostrils by the breath pressure. First of all, then, the student must analyze and group the consonants into two classes, resonant and non-resonant, and learn to distinguish clearly the exact character of the resonances of the former. This is of the greatest importance, to singers especially, as the carr3dng-power of the tone may be greatly reinforced by the resonance of these sub- vocal consonants, while any effort to "sing through" a non-resonant consonant can only result in a disagreeable click or hiss, if it be a closing consonant; and, in the case of an initial consonant, a bad, "attack" may shatter the resonance of the following vowel, if not of the tone itself. 104 THE CONSONANT One of the most important phases of the consonant process, especially for singers and students of foreign languages, is the point of coincidence between the vowel and a lingual consonant. In the case of the initial or opening consonants, the impact of the mo- tion for the latter upon the vibrations of the breath is so slight that it may be con- sidered a negligible quantity, but the move- ment of the tongue from the point of resist- ance of the vowel to the point of contact for a closing consonant is apt to produce a per- ceptible alteration in the sound of the vowel. Hence, certain languages possess a number of distinguishable vowel resonances which can- not be pronounced distinctly alone, as con- crete vowel sounds. Such resonances abound chiefly in English, on account of the character- istic inflexibility of the Anglo-Saxon tongue. Again, in certain closed syllables contain- ing a single vowel, such as not, the period of constancy of the vowel vibrations is so brief that it is extremely difificult to ascertain by the ear alone the exact resonance of the yowel. A striking example of this is found 105 THE TECHNIQUE OF SPEECH in the efforts of lexicographers to indicate the exact sound of the vowel o in the English word wholly, which has, in fact, the same primary resonance as the mixed o in the orig- inal word whole, modified by the impact of a single closing consonant into a pure closed o (see 33 and 36, Vowel Table III, page 156), this departure from the English rule of giv- ing the open or "short" sound of the vowel before a closing consonant being due to our adoption, in this instance, of the Italian man- ner of pronouncing both I's (ivhol-ly) , in order to distinguish the word from holly (which we pronounce holl-y) on the one hand, and ho-ly on the other. In case of a closing r, a whole series of English vowel resonances depends upon the proper adjustment of this point of co- incidence. If the movement of the tongue is made with sufficient deftness — the juste milieu of precision and delicacy — the elusive resonances of those beautiful shade vowels will take care of themselves. (See pages 219-222.) If, however, the consonant process be labored or slovenly the effect will be utterly disastrous 106 THE CONSONANT to the vowel. This is true of any vowel reso- nance followed by r in the body of a word, whether it be a shade vowel or an indepen- dent concrete sound, as in the word America, which, on the strenuous but inflexible tongue of certain Americans, is apt to be trans- formed into something which can only be partially indicated as "Amurrica." The same effect is produced in the case of English words ending in I, stich as bridal, final, travel, civil, etc., in which, if the tongue is not kept delicately pointed at the tip and the motion made well forward, the resonance of the vowel, whether a, e, or i, will degen- erate into the unrefined sound of the Natural vowel (see page 1 58) , or be entirely obliterated into fin'l, trav'l, civ'l. In order to regulate the point of coincidence correctly, the stu- dent has only to bear in mind that the move- ment of the tongue for any closing lingual consonant must be made, as nearly as pos- sible, exactly at the point of resistance for the preceding vowel; that is, at the front of the vowel - chamber with Front vowels; at the middle, with Middle vowels; and at the 107 THE TECHNIQUE OF SPEECH back with Back vowels. This is perhaps most readily illustrated, for those who have studied German, by the German manner of "aspirat- ing" the ch, which is merely a slightly sibilant aspirate made with the tongue in the High Front position when preceded by a Front vowel, as in ich; in the High Middle position with a Middle vowel, as in ach; and in the High Back position with a Back vowel, as in dock. These aspirated sibilants — indeed, all forms of the sibilant consonants which abound in both German and English — offer, perhaps, the greatest difiSculty to be over- come in the singing of these two languages. It is not, however, an insuperable diflSculty, as both German and English singers have often proved; but it is a point to be most carefully and constantly guarded, and to which the student of diction must give close attention and painstaking work. When he has done that — ^when he has learned to make his consonant attack with delicacy as well as precision, and to release the point of contact for a final sibilant exactly on the release of the breath; when the strength, flexibility, io8 THE CONSONANT and tactile sensibility of the tongue are such that he can regulate, to a hair's - breadth, the close aperture through which the hiss of the non-resonant s is made, he may sing even "Hark! hark! the lark at heaven's gate sings," as Shakespeare wrote it, without call- ing the attention of his audience to the fact that there are twenty-three sibilants in the nine brief lines of that immortal lyric. VII SYLLABICATION HAVING analyzed and classified the vowel forms and resonances, having gained control of the consonant motions by means of which these mysterious vocal forms are "articulated" or put together, the student is ready for the final process in the mechan- ism of speech — syllabication. This is accomplished by means of the third element of spoken language, sound; syllabi- cation being the art of grouping the vowels and consonants by the pulsations of the tone, or the voice impulse. The sound may be either a speech-tone or vocal note, and the syllable may consist of one or more vowels, or of vowels and consonants combined; but each group must be enunciated on a single voice impulse. The student must not con- IIO SYLLABICATION fuse this voice impulse with the breath im- pulse, by means of which phrases are regu- lated, and which is controlled by the action of the diaphragm. If he will intone a phrase such as "do you hear me" on a. single note, he will find that the iour syllables can be pro- nounced on a single breath impulse, while the tone thus produced is divided into four distinct pulsations of sound, the length of these sound waves varying with the number and length of their resonant elements (vowels and resonant consonants). This voice im- pulse is controlled by the action of the glottis, or "lips" of the larynx. With this part of the speech process, however, the student of diction need not concern himself, since, like all action of the larynx in speech, it is au- tomatic, and will, if the breath be properly controlled, produce the voice impulse in- voluntarily and correctly. In speech, con- sonants alone, or even a single consonant, if resonant, may constitute a syllable, as in the word bat-tie, in which the I only is heard in the second syllable. In singing, however, every syllable must contain at least one distinct III THE TECHNIQUE OF SPEECH vowel resonance, as even a resonant conso- nant cannot be completely vocalized. The natural, and therefore the most har- monious, form of syllabication is from con- sonant to vowel. In an absolutely perfect language each syllable would begin with a consonant and end with a vowel, whatever sequence or combination of the two might intervene. French approaches more nearly this ideal form than any living language. Never, on the suave tongue of that race, is a syllable allowed to begin with a vowel or end with a consonant if it can possibly be avoided. In order to preserve this rhythmic march of the organs of speech from closed to open, they have evolved a system of liaison in speaking, by means of which, when a word ending in a consonant is followed by another beginning with a vowel, the final con- sonant and the opening vowel are "linked" together to form a separate syllable. In singing, of course, the syllables are al- ways marshalled according to this natural process of articulation in all languages. But the suave mediation of the liaison, although 112 SYLLABICATION heard occasionally on the Italian tongue, does not obtain in the other languages under consideration when spoken. Nothing could be more un-English, for example, or more slovenly to the cultured English ear, than to hear the sentence it is an orange enun- ' dated i ti za no range, as a French person I would say c'es tu n{e)o range. On the con- trary, a clean, distinct attack of the initial vowel is a point of prime importance in both English and German diction, and scrupu- lously observed by all cultured speakers. It is, however, one of the finer distinctions sadly ignored by the average English-speak- ing person on both sides of the Atlantic. How rare it is to hear such expressions as not at all, for example, with a clean, crisp enunciation of the two initial vowels at the beginning of the voice impulse; and how familiar such locutions as "wouldjew" and "can'tchew" for would you and can't you. The writer has heard in more than one London drawing-room the sacrifice of the aspirate, even, to a similar liaison of the words at home. 113 THE TECHNIQUE OF SPEECH On the other hand, a too vigorous impact of the voice impulse upon initial vowels should be equally guarded against, especially by singers. This is a marked characteristic of German speech, especially in singing, the initial vowel having almost an aspirate quality in consequence. In tr5dng to acquire this German vowel attack, the foreign singer is apt to make an effort to produce the vowel in the larynx, with the inevitable result of eventual injury to the vocal cords. The office of the larynx, as we have shown before, but cannot too often remind the student, is to produce tone — fundamental, inarticu- late tone — ^alone; and to expel the same, in a continuous series of "puffs" or pulsations. Not until these puffs of vocalized breath reach the vowel-chamber are they transformed, by the addition of the resonant tones produced in that cavity, into distinct vowel sounds or resonances. The irregular, staccato rhythm produced in English and German speech by the lack of the liaison in syllabication may be greatly modified, however, by a more natural and harmonious division of the syllables com- 114 SYLLABICATION posing the body of the word, so that the closing consonant of one syllable may be articulated as the opening consonant of the syllable following whenever the latter begins with a vowel. For example, in the sentence "the leader is making strenuous endeavors to estabUsh regular quarantine," the words should be divided by the voice impulse so as to read thus — the lea-der is ma-king stre-nu- ous en-dea-vors to e-sta-blish re-gu-lar qua- ran-tine. This difference in the form of spoken and written language is a source of infinite con- fusion to public speakers and readers, and to students of foreign tongues. Written lan- guages must, of course, be divided into words and sentences — although both, or at least their written forms, seem at times to have been perversely invented to confound the speaker; but when once the meaning of the text has been seized, both must be disre- garded entirely and the text read, as it is spoken, by syllables and phrases only. The student's first work being the perfec- tion of the technique of his speech through THE TECHNIQUE OF SPEECH the study of its mechanism, he must note carefully the method of syllabication pe- culiar to each of the four languages under consideration here. This is especially im- portant for correct articulation of the double consonant, which is in reality a misnomer as far as spoken language is concerned. The lengthened, or, better still, the divided con- sonant would be a more accurate definition of its character, since it is never two com- plete consonants, even when both are heard, as in Italian and German, as two sounds. A complete consonant requires, as we have already seen, two motions — a conjunction and a separation of two of the organs of speech. For example, in the word after there is both the conjunction and the separa- tion of the lower lip and upper teeth for/, followed by a conjunction and separation of the tongue and hard palate for t; but in the word affect the conjunction is made on the first / and the separation on the second, the mechanism of a single consonant being thus made to do duty for both. When the double consonant occurs in the ii6 SYLLABICATION body of a word in English or French, it is articulated as a single consonant, according to the method of syllabication peculiar to the language to which the word belongs. For example, in the English word alley both I's are articulated as a single closing con- sonant of the first syllable al(l)-ey; in the French word aller, as the opening consonant of the second syllable, a-(l)ler; in the Ger- man word alle and the Italian word alia, however, the conjunction of the tongue and palate is made at the close of the first syllable and the separation on the opening of the second, thus dividing the mechanism of a single complete consonant so as to produce two sounds. Were both consonants com- pleted, the words would be al-e-le and al-e-la, as two consonants of the same class cannot be completely articulated in succession with- out the intervention of the resonance of the vowel-chamber, producing the sound of the Natural vowel. This is a fault not uncom- mon among singers and speakers striving for distinct enunciation without a clear under- standing of the mechanism of speech. 117 THE TECHNIQUE OF SPEECH In singing, however, the Italian and Ger- man manner of pronouncing the double con- sonant can be used only with the resonant consonants; the non-resonant double con- sonants, such as tt, pp, ff, etc., must be sung in every language in the French manner — as a single consonant opening the follow- ing vowel. The English double consonant, whether resonant or non-resonant, is also sung in the French manner, but where the same consonant ends one word and begins the next, as in the phrase, "still and dark," the two d's are combined as one complete consonant in the Italian manner, the closure being made on the final d in and, the opening on the initial d in dark; the result being mere- ly to prolong the resonance of the first con- sonant through the time required for both without repeating the motion of the tongue for separation. If both are completed, the phrase is marred by the interpolation of the natural vowel still and(er)dark; if only one is completed the result is the illiterate and slovenly form still an' dark. Two different consonants are also articu- ii8 Syllabication lated in this manner when they belong to the same class; that is, two labials or two linguals and sibilants in combination with either, such as have been, have seen, and let, and so; thus avoiding, on one hand, the inter- vention of the sound of the natural vowel, as in and{er)let, or, on the other, the equally- incorrect elision: an' let. In German a peculiar variation of this method of articulation is applied to certain final consonants, as in the words Hand and hinab, in which the closure is made with and the separation without resonance, thus add- ing to the final d its corresponding non- resonant t, and to b its corresponding non- resonant p, giving the peculiarly German pronunciation Handt and hinabp, which other nations are apt to pronounce with the second and less important non-resonant consonant only, as Hant and hinap. In case of the conjunction of r with an- other consonant in the same syllable, as in the words dreams, tresses, etc., special care niust be exercised to make the point of co- incidence exact, so that the sound of the Nat- 119 THE TECHNIQUE OF SPEECH ural vowel may not intervene between the two consonants, as is apt to happen with the heav- ily moving English tongue, producing the effect of two syllables, as d{er)reams, t{er)resses, etc. Another important point in syllabication which students of foreign languages, especial- ly singers, should carefully observe is the manner of combining the different vowel resonances on the same voice impulse, pe- culiar to each language. In this, Italian alone reaches the ideal standard for perfect resonance. There are no diphthongs, in the accepted sense of that word, in Italian. Although we find two, three, sometimes even as many as four, vowels grouped in a single syllable, as in the words guarda, huio, aiuola, etc., each vowel is given its own resonance, even where the vowel quantity varies, as in the words miei, tuoi, etc., in which, although the second vowel is longer, the sound of each is distinctly heard. This rule must be scrupulously observed in singing; even when two or three syllables are grouped on a single vocal note, each vowel must be given its in- dividual resonance. 1 20 SYLLABICATION In the other languages under consideration, diphthongs are of frequent occurrence in which, taking that word in its accepted sense, two or more vowels are blended into a single sound in such a way that only one receives its full resonance, the other being a mere " glide," or vanish, heard only at the moment of articulation of the preceding or following consonant, as in the English word voice, the French word voix, and the German ,word Euch. In the English and German diph- thongal or mixed vowels, the first vowel usually receives its full resonance, while in the French the full value is given to the second resonance. In all languages, when passing from a final to an initial vowel, as in I am, or from one vowel to another in the body of the word, as in Israel, the greatest care should be taken not to move the jaw in changing the position of the tongue, as any movement of the lower jaw produces the consonant form of y, mak- ing such absurd — and not, alas! uncommon — locutions as I yam, and Isra yell, etc. Finally, the actor, public speaker, or 121 THE TECHNIQUE OF SPEECH reader must remember that his art, after its mechanism has been perfected, must be exercised, like that of the singer, according to the laws of acoustics. However perfect the articulation and finished the enunciation in ordinary conversation, the words will not reach a distant hearer unless the voice be projected with an impulse proportioned to the rate at which sound travels. For this reason he must read or speak, not by words but by syllables, and in order that these may reach the hearer with all their vowels and consonants intact, each must be uttered with a separate voice impulse, and with a delibera- tion calculated according to the distance of the last auditor in the room and the acoustic prop- erties of the latter. Again, as the distance to which an arrow flies depends upon the force with which the string of the bow is plucked, so the carrying- power of the voice depends primarily upon the muscular action of the diaphragm upon which the column of the breath carrying the voice rests, as the arrow rests upon the string. The force of this muscular action, SYLLABICATION like that of the organs of speech, must be proportionate to the distance the voice is in- tended to "carry," and varied according to the character of the utterance — effusive, ex- pulsive, or explosive. For this reason, while the student is per- fecting the action of the organs of speech, he should study the science of breathing under the personal supervision of a competent in- structor (see page 55). Only when he has gained perfect control of the breath, the organs of speech, and the resonators above the larynx — of the more mechanical proc- esses of speech, in fact — ^is he fully prepared for the study of the art of expression, either for acting, public speaking or — singing. "And what," the reader is no doubt ask- ing, "of the place of words in the study of ' The remainder of this chapter, as originally pre^- pared, has been suppressed, Mr. Pfrangcon Davies' com- plete and convincing treatment of the value of the word in singing (see The Singing of the Future: John Lane, London and New York) havmg rendered any mere multiplication of words on the subject superfluous. 123 THE TECHNIQUE OF SPEECH diction?" Simply, dear student, that for the singer, and to a degree, even for the public speaker, words as such do not exist, save in the mind. In fact, words (or groups of words, for it usually demands several to ex- press any complete idea or thought) have no individual form or character except to the eye, being mere written symbols of the thoughts to be interpreted in speech or song, by syllables and phrases. It is this psychological fact that makes it possible for a singer to render intelligibly — even to a certain degree artistically — the songs of a language of which he knows only the phonetic structure, provided he knows that thoroughly, and has obtained, through a correct translation, the poetic thoughts which the songs embody; whereas, to speak the same language intelligently, or even intelli- gibly, demands equal knowledge of the rhythm, stress, emphasis, modes of inflec- tion, variations of pitch and other modula- tions of the speech. -tones peculiar to that language, all of which in singing are included in the melodic structure, the pitch and modu- 124 SYLLABICATION lation of the vocal note, the rhythm and tempo of the music. The subject of English speech-tones in re- lation to the principle of resonance will be treated more fully in a later volume, The Music of Speech, for the use of English speak- ers, actors, and readers, in more advanced study of the art of expression. Nor would the writer wish to be understood as encour- aging the singer to consider the mastery of the mere technique of a foreign language suf- ficient for the art of singing. While in the actual process of singing, the student must enunciate by syllables and phrases only, without regard to the mere pronunciation of the words as such, he cannot too thoroughly study or too deeply concern himself with the word — the psychic content or meaning of the text of his song. Nor will any stu- dent who has the spirit of an artist content himself longer than is absolutely necessary with the makeshift of translations to obtain this understanding. It goes without saying that the more thoroughly one knows a lan- guage, the more perfectly he is able to feel 9 I2S THE TECHNIQUE OF SPEECH and render the subtler shades of the poetic thoughts embodied in its songs. But this study is the crown not the foundation of his work in diction, which lies in the phonetic structure of language and the corresponding organic structure of speech, the comer-stone of which is the principle of vowel resonance. VIII ENGLISH AS A MEDIUM FOR SONG THERE is a tradition among singers, al- ready so ancient as to have become a fixed article of their artistic creed, that Eng- lish is an unmusical language, imbeautiful if not impossible to sing. It can readily be shown, however, that this fairly international prejudice is due rather to foreign influences, circumstance, and acci- dent, than to lack of poetic and lyric re- sources in our literature, or to intrinsic faults and characteristic defects of the lan- guage as a medium for song. In the first place, the great composers having sprung chiefly from the more musical Romanic and Germanic races, , the texts of th^ir composi- tion have naturally been, chosen from the literature of those nations. By the same token, the majority of great singers, ^being also of foreign birth and training, ^hoose for 127 THE TECHNIQUE OF SPEECH their repertoires operas and songs written in their mother-tongue or in the other continen- tal languages familiar to them. That the limited number of good English songs so rarely figure on the programmes of foreign artists does not, indeed, so much argue un- musical flaws in our language as the sing- er's practical omission in the requisite free mastery of English diction. Except in rare cases, like that of Adelina Patti, who was to the manner horn, even those foreign singers who speak the language well do so by ear alone, and having little or no knowl- edge of the phonetic structure of English speech, are unable to adapt the same to the demands of tone-production. Again, until recent years, few English artists have been able to sing acceptably those foreign languages wedded to music, so to speak ; and even they have been obliged to depend on translations in order to bring the work of foreign composers within the grasp of the average English and American audience. To judge a language by its trans- lations from other tongues is indeed a sorry 128 ENGLISH AS A MEDIUM FOR SONG test of the music of its versification merely; how much more, then, of its intrinsic merits as a vehicle for original song! It has been aptly said that the best translation is but the reverse side of a tapestry, and it were surely an act of supererogation to blame the obliging rhymesters who endeavor to meet the present enormous demands for English versions of foreign musical texts, since our poets — scorning the task? — fail to supply our need. Yet it is by just such mongrel productions that artists, foreigners especially, are apt to pass judgment upon our language as a medium for song. When we are given translations of trans- lations the case cries out for international arbitration in behalf of the poet who fur- nished the original text.^ Indeed, the crude horrors of such versions ' Witness, for example, the following English versions of the text of two of Grieg's exquisite Lieder that come to us from Scandinavia via Germany: HIDDEN LOVE "He crept all alone by the wall; She merrily danced at the ball. Her glances so sweet Drew crowds to her feet; 129 THE TECHNIQUE OF SPEECH of foreign songs as flood the musical market at present, and tax even the patient and hungry ear of the music-loving English and His heart was benumbed there to view it. But not a soul ever knew it. "He came to the house to take leave. She fled to the garden to grieve. She sobbed and she cried, And she wished she had died; She loved him, and could not subdue it. But not a soul ever knew it. "Years fled, but relieved not his pain. Then home he returned, once again. Her lot was more blest. For she had found rest; Her heart had been faithful all thro' it, But not a soul ever knew it." — From the Norwegian of B. Bjornson through the German of W. Hensen. Edition Peters. MY GOAL "Sure of road, yet from it bending; Jogging on to the journey's ending; Aye, the path we must hold and cherish. On the road lest we rest and perish. "Just a year on the mountain cragged, Rocks and reefs with their jaws all jagged! Shore and sea with waves that wallow. Roaring, rearing, like caverns hollow. So we wander on ways of danger. But, tho* bold, o'er the bounds no ranger! "I^et us, love, then together wander. Fare in fondness, the world is fonder! All that's Northern we'll truly treasure. Hear the sound of our tongue with pleasure. With us, darling, oh wilt thou wander? Fondly fare we, the world is fonderl" — From the Norwegian of A. 0. Vinger through the German of E. Lobedanz. Edition Peters. 130 ENGLISH AS A MEDIUM FOR SONG American public, might well provoke one to denounce all translation, did we not happily possess, already, certain inalienable borrowed treasiires which challenge gloriously the original text in form as well as content; such, for example, as the King James version of the Bible, and the Cbverdale Psalter. Would the most jealous scholar exchange for their Hebrew source texts, those "wells of English undefiled," which have furnished the inspiration of English oratorio, even kindling the divine flame for the supreme utterance of Handel's Germanic muse? What though, in a single instance, such as the Dies Irce, a hundred and fifty or more translators have failed to render fully into English the majestic, fateful rhythm, the solemn, unearthly sonority of the original Latin idiom, when one alone, John Mason Neale, has proved how readily the precious material of both Greek and. Latin verse may be transmuted into the simple English metres that lend themselves with such singu- lar fitness to the noblest forms of church music. Is there anything secondary, ten- 131 THE TECHNIQUE OF SPEECH tative, or tangent in Jerusalem the Golden ? — so smoothly done withal that it conveys an impression of absolute organic unison of sound and sense, as, for example, in such lines as : "The Prince is ever with them, The daylight is serene, The pastures of the blessed Are decked in glorious sheen." Again, in the Rubaiyat of Omar Kha5^am, our language surely possesses the supreme model, the very triumph of the translator's art. Call his work "mere paraphrase" who will, Fitzgerald has so adequately turned Omar's text to the gratification of English ears, axid the English understanding, wit, and intuition, that no English soul at least cares whether the original was written in Persian, Chaldee, or Stone-Age Finnish. The dry bones of philology may rattle, and case- hardened antiquarians jealously contend for the "integrity" of the Persian text, yet the very dust of the poet might stir could he hear his own thoughts start and throb and spontaneously move in such lines as : 132 ENGLISH AS A MEDIUM FOR SONG "Wake! For the sun, who scattered into flight The stars before him from the field of night, Drives night along with them from Heaven and strikes The Sultan's turret with a shaft of light." If such spontaneous and consummate work can be achieved from remote oriental sources, how much more hopeful the task should be, if competently essayed, of rendering the neigh- boring languages of Continental Europe into adequate English? Or, if our native poets will not deign to echo the notes of contem- porary lutes, let them mark the proper en- chantment of Lady Charlotte Guest's de- lightfully quaint, archaic version of the Welsh Mabinogion as a hint of the treasures of English song to be found in the obscure native sources of Celtic legend and Gaelic lore. Among American poets. Bayard Taylor has given us a translation of Goethe's Faust that for fidelity to the original text, combined with poetic grace and spontaneity, is equalled only by Schlegel's versions of Shakespeare's dramas. And what a text for a great Eng- 133 THE TECHNIQUE OF SPEECH lish music drama! How many noble and illuminating passages, such as the Prologue in Heaven, how many gracious and tender touches, missing from the French opera, such as Margaret's prayer to the Virgin: " Incline, O maiden, Thou sorrow-laden, Thy gracious countenance upon my pain." And her pathetic love song: " My peace is gone, My heart is sore, I shall find it never — Ah, nevermore!" which preserves so perfectly the rhythm of the original German as to bear even the test of Schubert's setting of that exquisite lyric. Again, in Longfellow's skilful handling of the poetic treasures of the Romance lan- guages, as well as his masterful free use of the metric forms of the Finnish Kalavala for the embodiment of the legendary lore of the North American Indian, we have further 134 ENGLISH AS A MEDIUM FOR SONG proof of the composite adaptability of Eng- lish as a unique medium for the transmission of the poetic thought of all nations into the universal language of song. Yet these are but the dim auroral display, the faint foreshadowing of the possible glories of our bounden English minstrelsy. "The English language," says Jacob Grimm, "by and through which the most eminent poet of modem times^-of course I can refer only to Shakespeare — ^was be- gotten and nourished, has a just claim to be called a language of the world, and it ap- pears to be destined, like the English race, to a higher and broader sway over all the earth." And again, Emerson compares our speech to "a sea that receives tributaries from every nation under the sun." To mention only one or two of the rare pearls cast up on this side of that inexhaust- ible sea of English poetry, what literature has ever offered the composer a more musi- cal measure than the rhythmic, pulsing, rushing, singing lines of Bayard Taylor's Bedouin Love-Song : I3S THE TECHNIQUE OF SPEECH "From the Desert I come to thee, On a stallion shod with fire; And the winds are left behind, In the speed of my desire. Under thy window I stand, And the midnight hears my cry; I love thee, I love but thee. With a love that shall not die Till the sun grows cold, And the stars are old, And the leaves of thejudgment Book unfold!" Or more ethereal vowel harmonies than are to be found in Poe's exquisite lyric Israfel: "In Heaven a spirit doth dwell Whose heartstrings are a lute. None sing so wUdly well As the angel Israfel. And the giddy stars, so legends tell, Ceasing their hymns, attend the spell Of his voice, all mute." He is a fastidious song-writer indeed, and has a lyre of few strings, who cannot fit his strains to some lyric flight of Shakespeare, Ben Jonson, Herrick, Browning, Tennyson, Poe, Howells, or Aldrich, not to mention a score of less-known writers of truly musical English verse. 136 ENGLISH AS A MEDIUM FOR SONG That this poetic wealth has bred so few native composers •■ is no proof that the. lan- guage is not adaptable to musical forms. Poetry, having its intrinsic music, is not, like song, dependent for completeness on the sister art. The Anglo-Saxon genius has rare- ly voiced itself in music, and now that McDowell has vanished from the hither shore of the vast sea of speech which unites Eng- land and America, our one great living com- poser, Elgar, stands as solitary among our rising song-writers as some lone mountain peak above surrounding foot-hills. But, as Mr. Matthews has recently pointed out, English is rapidly becoming the second ' Since this chapter was prepared, Mr. David Bisp- ham has shown that our language is already far richer in original operas than the writer, for one, had dreamed. The reader will find much interesting and inspiring in- formation in the article on "The American Idea in Music and Other Ideas" in the prospectus recently issued by the American Society of Music, of which Mr. Bispham is the president, setting forth practical plans for a theatre in New York to be devoted to the per- formance of opera in English, a plan which should have the earnest and active support of every American at home and abroad interested in the advancement of music in our country. 137 THE TECHNIQUE OF SPEECH speech of all cultivated peoples, and every Continental deep-sea diver for music-texts will find himself somewhat at home in these alien waters which, to quote again from the great German philologist, "issued from a marvellous union of the two noblest tongues of Europe, the Germanic and the Romanic." The genuine composer's art is not bounded by his native tongue, else Handel had hardly so glorified his name in England; and it is, perhaps, to more musical nations that we must still look, for the time being, for such worthy espousals of our poetic treasures. Certainly no other living language can offer to the composers of the future so rich, so varied, and so flexible a medium for the construction of opera and oratorio texts, as ours. Through its Germanic element, English has gained a breadth and fulness of form, a virility and power of expression lacking in the speech of the modem Latin races; while, together with the latter, it has inherited from a com- mon Romanic source delicacies and subtle- ties of tone and resonance which the heavier 138 ENGLISH AS A MEDIUM FOR SONd and more unwieldy structure of the German language is incapable of producing. Again, while the Italian language pos- sesses only seven, or at most eight, vowel resonances, ours contains more than twice that number; and, although French and German have almost as many independent vowel sounds (those that can be enunciated alone without the aid of a consonant), the English vowel-gamut contains, in addition to these, half as many more distinguishable "shade " vowels, produced by the conjunction of the various pure and mixed vowel reso- nances, with the sound of the (closing) con- sonant r. (See pages 2 1 9-2 22.) It is to these beautiful, elusive shade vowels that Grimm refers in the following paragraph (Ueber den Ursprung der Sprache, p. 50) , from which we have already quoted, and the significance of which the reader or student cannot too deep- ly ponder: "No one of all the modem lan- guages has gained a greater force and strength than the English through the derangement and relinquishment of its ancient laws of sound. The profusion of its unteachable 139 THE TECHNIQUE OF SPEECH (nevertheless leamable) middle tones has con- ferred upon it an intrinsic power of expres- sion such as no other human tongue ever possessed." Since science has shown that a vowel is not a mere sound, but a harmony of various tones and "overtones" differing in pitch, and as these vowel harmonies constitute the basis and body of all speech (the consonants being mere processes of articulating or weav- ing the same together), it must be conceded, upon the ground of its wealth of vowel resonances alone, that English stands with- out a peer among modem languages as a medium for the expression of poetic thought, which is the very heart of song. It cannot be denied that in the develop- ment of this richness, flexibility, and variety, this marvellous union of strength and vigor with delicacy and subtlety of expression, English has lost somewhat in purity of form, and hence must rank second to the more meagre and monotonous but more melodious Italian, in facile adaptation to certain forms of the vocal art. But to condemn a lan- 140 ENGLISH AS A MEDIUM FOR SONG guage at large because of some conspicuous flaw in some particular phase of it were as unreasonable as to exalt another unreserved- ly by virtue of some partial grace of it, which is precisely the sort of judgment that composers and singers seem to have passed on these two languages, as though all Italian sounded like the verse of Dante and Tasso, or Palestrina fugues, and all English like the words of a London "coster" song. In fact, when the English vowel-gamut is cor- rectly analyzed, it is found to be more nearly akin to the Italian than that of either French or German. In the fusion of the Germanic and Romanic elements from which it sprang, our mother-tongue has eliminated the harsh gutturals and aspirates that mar the Ger- man speech, and excluded from its vowel- gamut the unbeautiful nasal resonances which the French have evolved from our common Latin derivatives, as well as the obscure covered or "modified" sounds adapt- ed by both nations. Indeed, the peculiarly English mixed and shade vowels, by means of which the Anglo-Saxon genius has so greatly 10 141 THE TECHNIQUE OF SPEECH enriched our language, are found, when care- fully analyzed, to be composed of reso- nances as pure as those of the Italian vowels. That they are more difficult to sing than the latter cannot be denied; but when correctly vocalized, according to the relative and vary- ing values of these mixed and shade reso- nances, English is neither more difficult to sing nor more "unmusical" than either French or German. That it has been so considered and con- demned by artists is due chiefly — to our shame be it said — to the fact that English singers, as a rule, sing their own language so badly. So rare, indeed, are the exceptions to this rule that such artists as Sims Reeves, Antoinette Stirling, Ffrangcon Davies, Bisp- ham, or Susan Metcalfe are popularly sup- posed to have accomplished a sort of vocal miracle in singing artistically their own language! This deplorable state of things is, to a certain extent, excusable — or at least to be accounted for by the fact that our singers are usually taught by foreign masters, and 142 ENGLISH AS A MEDIUM FOR SONG having accepted the verdict of the latter in regard to the unmusical character of English, they devote all their energies to the study of Italian, French, and German diction, rare- ly making any serious effort to master the peculiar difficulties and beauties of their own language. To speak a language correctly, even with elegance and distinction, while it is, of course, the best basis for the study of lyric diction — if we may be permitted so to indicate the sung word— is not sufficient to enable one to sing it artistically, or even in^ telligibly, any more than the possession of a naturally good voice will enable one to sing acceptably without proper vocal training. Though we possessed the gi-eatest com- posers, as we already possess the rarest sing- ing voices of modern times, we shall never produce a native school of opera or song until we develop a proper pride in and culti- vate a finer sense for the intrinsic beauties of our language; not merely as a vehicle for communication by conversation— that, our sweet-voiced cousins across the water have long ago perfectly demonstrated to the H3 THE TECHNIQUE OF SPEECH world, without, however, convincing either composers or singers of its value as a medium for song. This, perhaps, is peculiarly the mission of the American singer. As the low -toned, beautifully modulated, English speaking-voice possesses the faults growing out of those quaHties, so by the divine law of compensation that regulates the uni- verse the vox Americana, which has made for itself such a world-wide and unenviable reputation in speech, is equally rich in the qualities of its defects, as the French say — power, depth, compass, and, above all, a brilliant and bell-like resonance in singing. This they have already demonstrated on the stage of nearly every opera in Europe, where, besides, they are hampered by the necessity of singing in a foreign language. What, then, may they not hope to do ia English opera, provided they master the peculiar difficulties of their native language as thoroughly as foreign singers do ? English being a more complex language than either Italian, French, or German, this work demands special training, but those 144 ENGLISH AS A MEDIUM FOR SONG singers who will devote even a single year to the mastery of the technique of speech according to the laws of resonance will be sur- prised and delighted to find with what ease and beauty English may be sung. Such singing the English-speaking public now de- mands, and opera managers, composers, sing- ers, vocal instructors, and, above all, teachers of diction, must fall into line with this de- mand. For it is plain that if we are to "have a native school of English song and opera, it must begin, not where Italian opera be- gan, but where German opera leaves off. The Anglo-Saxon temperament is not, like the Italian, satisfied with a mere "concord of sweet sounds"; nor have its higher artistic cravings been fully appeased by the noble harmonies and dissonances of the scarcely more articulate Wagnerian music drama. It still longs for true but intelligible singing of poetic thoughts. And this ideal is not un- attainable, now that science has revealed the principles and laws of resonance that underlie and unite the processes of speech and song. Any singer who will thoroughly I4S THE TECHNIQUE OF SPEECH master the technique of speech according to these laws will find that the full value of the spoken word may be given in singing without the sacrifice of any real beauty of tone — the true bel canto. To the observant student of the trend of contemporary music it is evident that the word is destined to play a r61e of ever in- creasing importance in the song and opera of the future. Indeed, much of the musical work of Debussy, Wolf, and other song- writers of these post -Wagnerian days, is utterly unintelligible without a full under- standing of the text. Actors who can sing and singers who possess dramatic ability have sought to meet this demand by trying to bridge the gulf that separates the speak- ing-voice from the singing- voice with "can- tilations" and other artistic hybrids which are neither speech nor song. But interesting and entertaining as these vocal acrobatics have been made by such true artists as Mr. Ffrangcon Davies, Doctor Wullner, and Herr von Possart, they have only proved that the singer still sings and speaker speaks, how- 146 ENGLISH AS A MEDIUM FOR SONG ever charmingly they may "cantilate" their poems or declaim their songs. The signifi- cant interpretations of Dr. Ludwig Wiillner especially place the coming issue squarely before the singers of to-day. Shall the opera and song of the future be true but intelligible singing" ot poetic thought or merely the de- claiming of song ? HOW TO USE THE BOOK HAVING read through Part I consecutive- ly, the student should review carefully Chapters III and IV, with the aid of Figs. I, II, III, and IV. When he has gained a fairly clear idea of the structure of the organs of speech and the resonators, let him begin the exercises under " Studies in Enunciation," according to the directions given on pages 258-261. If, as is usually the case, one or more of the muscles be found too weak to perform the exercises correctly, he should pass on to the next, returning to the previous one at the next practice, in regular order. Not more than two new exer- cises should be undertaken at a single lesson ; but all previously given should be repeated several times daily, until each can be done with perfect ease. 148 HOW TO USE THE BOOK Where the muscles are inflexible from lack of proper use or from wrong use in singing, it may take much time and patience to gain proper co-ordinate control of the organs of speech; and that no time may be lost, let the student proceed at once with the exer- cises for resonance, according to the direc- tions given on page 271, through Exercise X, skipping IV to VIII, inclusive. The object of these exercises being to gain control of the two streams of the divided breath, the student need not concern himself with the action of the organs of speech, save to note carefully that in humming with m the lips and teeth should be kept closed naturally, without any undue tension of the muscles, and the tongue down in the normal position ; while for hum- ming n both lips and teeth must be kept apart and the tip of the tongue lifted to the natural point of contact against the hard palate for that consonant. Each of the reso- nance exercises must be conquered before passing to the next; and as the ability to do them correctly depends chiefly upon the correct breath pressure, they furnish an in- 149 THE TECHNIQUE OF SPEECH fallible test of the student's ability to con- trol the breath properly for singing, public speaking, or even reading aloud. If they fail to produce the maximum amount of reso- nance, it is proof positive that the breath is not emitted properly or with sufficient economy, in which case he should turn his attention to the study of breath-control while gaining control of the organs of speech. Meanwhile, in order that no time may be thus lost, the student may gain a clearer mental grasp of the work by re-reading care- fully the chapter on "The Vowel" (V, Part I) ; then proceed with the study of Chapter I, Part II, taking one position with its variants at each reading ; but he should not attempt to maintain the tongue positions in singing until the intrinsic muscles of that organ have been strengthened by the proper exercises. When this has been accomplished, let him devote his attention to the proper adjust- ment of the resonator for the five cardinal vowels until he has gained perfect control of the focal point of support, and of the point of resistance for each, together with the amount 150 HOW TO USE THE BOOK of breath pressure necessary to secure the maximum of resonance in intoning the same according to Exercises 4 to 7, pages 272- 274. Proceed with the other resonances in the same manner, beginning, if the student be a singer, with the Italian vowels (the Writer does this with every pupil), then the reso- nances of his native language; if English or American, or a foreign student of English, the mixed vowels should be omitted until the pure resonances are perfectly acquired, the chapter on the classification of the English vowel resonances (II, Part II) being care- fully followed. In studying French or Ger- man, the "nasal" — or, more correctly, the double resonances — -and the covered or " modi- fied" vowels should not be attempted until the pure resonances peculiar to each language are acquired. In order that the work may be more com- plete and the progress even as well as rapid, the study of the consonants should be begun as soon as the five cardinal vowels are per» fected; the student first re-reading carefully 151 THE TECHNIQUE OF SPEECH Chapter VT, Part I, then practising eadi consonant motion with each of these reso- nances in the order given in the "Studies in Articulation" (III, Part 11). Only when the three English modes of articulating r have been conquered can the various r shade vowels be properly acquired; and only after all the consonant motions can be made with both precision and delicacy can the English mixed vowels be given, in singing especially, with their correct and varying values. As each consonant is perfected the student should proceed with the sentences for prac- tice of the same given at the close of the "Studies in Enunciation," page 279. For- eigners should also read carefully and con- stantly refer to Chapters III and V (Part II), pages 250 and 293, on the vagaries of English pronunciation. Finally, let the student re-read carefully Oiapter VII, Part I, on "Syllabication," and then apply what should now be a perfected technique to the study of the art of speaking or singing. In the case of singers, the adjust- ment of the word to the tone may be most 152 HOW TO USE THE BOOK easily and perfectly obtained by repeating each phrase of the song or aria to be learned four times, in the following manner : (o) Repeat the phrase, syllable by syl- lable, without any voice (either tone or whis- per), exaggerating the natural movements of the organs of speech, until the motion for each consonant and position for each vowel are distinctly felt and recognized as correct. (6) Intone the vowels alone, with a sus- tained flow of the two streams of resonance, at a continuous pitch — ^that of the singer's natural pose of the voice (see page ^■^), keeping the lower jaw relaxed, and carefully maintaining the point of support under the tip of the tongue, the sides of which, only, should be allowed to move in changing from the point of resistance for one vowel to that of the next. (c) Intone the full phrase, syllable by syllable, making precise but delicate move- ments for each consonant, without per- ceptibly interrupting the flow of the vowel resonance, and while maintaining a con- tinuous pitch, following as nearly as possible IS3 THE TECHNIQUE OF SPEECH the rhjrthm and tempo of the music. Return to the humming on m between each phrase to keep proper adjustment of the resonators. Above all, the student must be sure that he is intoning properly, with the two streams of resonance, and not merely chanting on a fundamental or cord tone, which is not only useless for the adjustment of the word to the tone, but when practised habitually in- jurious to the vocal cords. (d) Sing each phrase through on the vowels alone, without articulating the con- sonants, until each tone has its full comple- ment of vowel resonance. Not until this can be done, indeed, is one properly prepared to begin the study of songs! PART II "If tp do were as easy as to know what were good to do, chapels had been churches, and poor men's cottages princes' palaces." — The Merchant of Venice. Act I, Sc. II. 7- 8. 9- lO. 1 1. 12. 13- VOWEL TABLE I THE FRONT VOWELS TONGUE POSITION ITALIAN FRENCH High Front , I i-mni {-il \ " Narrow ( i-si i-m ( ' (Covered) n-du " Wide " " (Covered) Mixed ( 1-4) Mid Front e-sera '■ Narrow ^-b^b^ " Wide " " (Covered) Low Front a-anno * Narrow a-ann6e (Nasal) in-fm " Wide 'See p. 174. 'See p. 205. ENGLISH GERMAN e-he ie-die i-is, i-Hzmmel u-itber e-cve " e-Leben a-Mddchen a-allein a-annual ' See pp. 177, 188. VOWEL TABLE II THE MIDDLE VOWELS TONGUE POSITION ITALIAN FREXCH 15. High Middle e-stdla e-set^ne 16. " " Wide e-r^ve 17. " " Narrow e-le 18. " " " (Covered) eu-(eu 19- " " " (Nasal) un-lwMdi 20. Mixed (15-4) 21. Mid Middle 22. " " Wide 23. " " Narrow 24. " " " (Covered) 25. Low Middle a-madre a-dme 26. " " Wide 27. " " Narrow a-arm^e ^ 28. " " (Nasal) an-grand 29. Mixed (25-4) ' See p. 158. * See p. 165 ENGLISH e-send a-made ( The ' < Natural ( Vowel U-MS GERMAN e-echt a-ask a-arm i-tzme ' See p. 166. e(final)eine 6-Gotter a-y4bend a-wahr ^ VOWEL TABLE HI THE BACK VOWELS' TONGUE PnslTfOX ITALIAN FRENCH ENGLISH 30. High Back ii-tu ou-votis oo-gloom 31. " " Wide oo-good 32. Mixed (4-30) u-m«te 33. Mid Back o-croce 6-tot o-so 34. " " (Nasal) on-bon 35. " " Wide o-loge 36. Mixed (33-31) o-sole ^ 37. Low Back o-notte o-on 38. " " Wide a-awe 39. Mixed (25-31) ou-hoMse 40. Mixed (38-4) ' oi-voice ' All the back vowels are rounded by the lips. See p. 85. ' See p. 20S. u-Hut u-Hjmd o-Sohn o-von au-Hazis eu-Euch ei-san THE VOWEL FORMS AND RESONANCES HAVING studied carefully the principle of the mechanical process of vowel for- mation, the student is now ready to pro- ceed with the analysis and production of such of the resonances composing the vowel- gamut of the languages considered in this work as his own studies may demand. As the volume and brilliancy of these vowel resonances depend upon the size and shape of the vowel-chamber, the mouth must be kept v(^ell open, the organs of speech prop- erly adjusted, and especially the correct posi- tion of the tongue maintained. To the finely attuned ear the vowel resonances may be as distinctly off the key as the vocal note from one or more of these conditions being violated, and whenever this happens the " 157 THE TECHNIQUE OF SPEECH beauty of the tone as well as the vowel is marred, since, as we have already seen, the resonance of the tone is necessarily either reinforced or diminished by the resonance of the vowel with which it is sung. The study of the vowel resonances should begitt With that of TiiE Natural vowel (21) This is the nattle givefl in English to the tlatUMl teSohancie of the vdwel-chatnber Without any adjusttrient of the DrganS of speech. Although the sound is hot included in the ^OWel-gahiut of ariy other civilized people* evel^ speaker and sitiger should be able to r^cOgtli^e and produce it as a point of departtti-e for the production of all the othei- resonances. Standing with hiS back to the light, holding a SMall mirror dtreCtly itt front of the face With thfe fight hand, while the left rests gen- tly upon the diaphragm to regulate the column Of breath, let the student inhale deeply and natufally through the nOstfils, keeping the iS8 VOWPL FORMS AND RESONANCES eldest; well up, but tiiQ shoulders loose and fj-ep, the lie3.d erect, with the chin at right angle to the spine; then, dropping the jaw downward and haclfward by completely re- laxing the muscles, -without moving the tongue from iU normal pasiiiou (flat on the floor of the mouth with the edges resting lightly agp,inst; the lower teeth), let him exhale the breath slowly and steadily, in a pure whis- per, without any tension of the vocal cqrds. In the sound thus produced he will recognize the resonance of the Natural vowel given in English to the article a before a word be- ginning with a consonant, as a man, o book, etc., and to various other English vowels, a conaplete classification of which will be found in the following chapter. When the whispered resonance has been dis- tinctly heard, let the student gradually intone the sound, keeping the tongue in its normal position (Mid Middle) by the focal pressure already described. (See pages 72, 73.) Being produced thus without any shaping or preparation of the vowelrchamber, beyond the dropping of the lower jaw to open the THE TECHNIQUE OF SPEECH resonator, the sound is unrefined and un- beautiful, the resonance very obscure. It is in fact the elemental vowel, being the first sound made by infants in their efforts to articulate. It is said to abound in savage dialects, and its retention as a definite vowel in English is due, like tlie evolution of the equally unrefined mixed vowel, to tiie in- flexibility and sluggish action of the organs of speech characteristic of the Anglo-Saxon race. This resonance mtist never be sub- stituted, as is apt to be the case with English- speaking people, for the final e in French, Italian, or German. If, while retaining this Mid Middle posi- tion, the tongue be widened by pressing the sides outward against the lower teeth, the resonance produced will be that of tiie Eng- lish « as in tis, utter, etc., the Mid Middle Wide vowel (22), which differs from the Natural only in the breadth and sonority added to the resonance by the increased width of the vowel chamber. If, on theicontrar%-, the surface of the tongue be narrowed at the Mid Middle position 160 VOWEL FORMS AND RESONANCES by slightly contracting the side muscles tow- ard the centre, the resonance produced will be that given in German to the final e in eine (23), a much more refined and delicate sound than the Natural vowel, which it so closely resembles, however, that English- speaking people are apt to confuse the two resonances, to the mystification and despair of the native German vocal teacher if he does not know the difference in the two tongue positions. The Germans obtain another resonance from this position by covering the sound, during its emission, with a forward motion of the upper lip, thus changing the resonance to that of the "modified" vowel 6 (24) peculiar to German, as in Gotter. The only difficulty in producing this resonance cor- rectly is due to the mistaken effort to hold the tongue in the position for 0. Although the alone has been retained in the modified digraph, formerly written oe, the resonance is that of the e (final) covered, as the student can readily demonstrate for himself, when familiar with the two tongue positions, by 161 THE TECHNIQUE OF SPEECH delabializing 6. (Sefe page 8g, foot -note.) Indeed, he will find it a physical impossi- bility to produce a mddified or dovered resonance with the tongue in the correct positioh for d. Let him attempt, while in- toning the vowel o, to change the resonance to d, and he will firid that he cannot produce any sound even remotely t-esembling the latter without changing the tongue position; while, if he begins by intoning the Mid Middle Narrow vowel e (23), the resonance will change to that of d as soon as the vowel is Well covered by the upper lip. When the student has succeeded in pro- ducing and hearing these four sottiewhat obscure fesonatlces obtained with the tongue at its normal elevation, he is ready to shape the vowel-chamber for the scries of vocal forms obtained from the next primary vowel position. This is done by lowering the point of resistance at the sides of the tongue from the Mid Middle to the Low Middle positibn (see Diagram I), thus de- pressing the surface of the tongue from the i6a VOWEL FORMS AND RESONANCES ntidellt to the frotU otsly, and producing the fullest and dearest of all the resonances: the first of the five cardinal vowel sounds — f DIAGRAM I Side view of the positiozi of tbe toqgne tor tbe Law .Vwo.> vott^ (»5). !*« dotted Bae indicates tl»e normal poshicm of the ross\:e -when at res|. THE LOW MIDDLE VOWEL (^5) Tliis sound is given to a in Italian, French, Ei^lish, and German, as in the key-words 163 THE TECHNIQUE OF SPEECH given in \'owel Table II — madre, time, ask, and .4 bend. Great care should be taken in shaping the chamber for this vowel not to depress the tongue at the back,' where, indeed, if per- fectly relaxed (as is necessarj- to maintain the poise of the larynx in singing), it will appear to the eye to be raised, in contrast to the depression of the surface at the front. ' TUs pernicious habit, so prevalent among English and Gennan singers, and so balBing to the teachers of true bel canto production, is due to the fact that so many Ei^ltsh authorities classify this so-called broad a as the Low Back Wide vowel. Had these eminent scholars and phoneticians been singers as well, they would have found that this tongue poshaon fails to stand the ultimate test for all vowel resonances, vocalisation; for it is impossible to sing this vowel with the tongue low at the back; it cannot even be so spoken cormctly — ^that is to say, with its full quota of resonance. It is, in fact, a j^ysical impossibility to form any vowel on the Back positions without de- pressing the larynx tmnaturally, except by advancing and rounding the lips, as for o, and the instant such a change is made in the shape of the vowel-chamber during the emission of a, the resonance changes to that of a in crwe, proving the latUr to be the Low Back Wide vowel; while a similar test of the position giving the fullest, clearest resonance for a in ask proves that the natural and therefore the correct position for that Yowel is Low Middh. 164 VOWEL FORMS AND RESONANCES Nor should the centre of the tongue be de- pressed deliberately in the mistaken effort to form a "gully" or "groove," whidi only results in stiffening the superior lingual muscle from the tip to the back, and thus depressing the larynx. If the tension of the inferior lingual muscle at the focal point be sufi&cient, the surface of the tongue wiU iaS. naturally into the proper depres- sion. One of the inexplicable vagarks of so- called accent is the tendency of English and German people, who possess this beautiful normal resonance of a in common with the Italian and French, to substitute for it, in speaking the latter languages, the broader and coarser resonance of the Low Middle Wide vowel (26), peculiar to English and German, produced by pressing the side muscles of the tongue outward against tiie lower teeth. This resonance is heard on the tongue of cultured English speakers only before the closing cottsonant r, as in bar, hard, etc., and in German only before the aspirate, or r, as in wahr, and in aa, as in Aal. 165 THE TECHNIQUE OF SPEECH The French, on the contrary, narrow the tongue in this position, thus producing the more delicate and elusive resonance of the Low Middle Narrow vqwel (27) peculiar tq their language, and, like the wider English and German variant, heard Qnly before the consonant r, as in orm^e, parler, oTgeiit. charme, etc. This resonance (neither so clair as thp,t of a in ami, nor so "sombre" as d) being the result of the French manner of articulating the r with a vibratory move- ment of the soft palate, is not classified by their authorities as an independent vowel sound. These wide and narrow vari9,nts of the Low Middle vowel are indeed rnere sh^dg vowels, but EngHsh and Gennsn students who wish to acquire a pure French accent must learn and practise the different tongue positions in order to avoid confusing the resonances, as they are so apt tq do when depending entirely upon the ear for guidance ; hence the writer includes both resonances in the regular vowel-gamut. Foreign students of French must also learn to produce the Low Middle vowej with 166 VOWEL FORMS AND RESONANCES the veil of the palat6 slightly depressed, thus giving the double t^sonance of the Lai^ Middle Nasal vowel (28), al^o pfeculiar to the Ffeiich language. This resonance is given to both a and e when followed by a siHgle dosing m. or n, as in the words Idmpe, tre»ible, cha^^t, enfant; the ^ or H being sUent (except when the followirlg Word be^ gins with a vowel, in whieh case it is articu- lated as the Opening consonant of that wOfd, never as a closing coilsOnant of the syllable in which it occurs), the vowel alone having the "nasal" of double resonance. The stu- dent will find little difficulty itt producing the resonance correctly tvhen it occurs as the final sound in a syllable; but when the tti bt n is followed by another proHouncSd consonant, gtedt care must be taken not to move the tongue during the ettiissibh of the double fesonance, ot the result will be a nasal consonant also, as in the English w6i"ds h,'thp, trewiMe, chakt, ete. Gfeat flexibility of the visil of the palate is neeessary to pfo- duce these nasal vOWels corirectly. Wheh that has been acquired by the proper breath- 167 THE TECHNIQUE OF SPEECH ing exercise, the attention of the student must be directed to the correct manner of emitting the tone, in order to secure a per- fect adjustment of these double resonances. This can only be done, as we have already seen, by increasing the pressure of the breath on the upper stream of the resonance, instead of dividing these vibrations equally with the divided stream of the breath, as in the normal manner of tone-emission . If the vowel vibra- tions are also crowded into the resonators above the palate, the result will be the pinch- ed nasal quality characterized by the French in their verb nazarder; if, on the contrary, all the vibrations, both tone and vowel, pass beneath the lowered palate, forcing the same backward against the pharynx, the result will be the equally disagreeable and far more unrefined nasal "twang" known among Eng- lish-speaking people as "talking through the nose" (which is, however, exactly the oppo- site process, as the student may f>erfectly demonstrate for himself by closing the nos- trils firmly between the thtunb and index filler while speaking). i68 VOWEL FORMS AND RESONANCES When the variants of the Low Middle vowel have been successfully produced and heard, the student is ready to attempt the more difficult feat of lifting the tongue to the second primary position — that of THE HIGH MIDDLE VOWEL (15) the point of resistance for which is easily found by pressing the sides of the tongue DIAGRAM II Side view of the position of the tongue for the High Middle vowel (15). The dotted line indicates the normal position of the tongue when at rest. 169 THE TECHNIQUE OF SPEECH against the upper teeth at a point midway between the front and back of the vowel- chamber, while holding the tip firmly down behind the lower front teetii with the focal pressiire, thus dividing the vowel-chamber into two compartments, so to speak, exactly equal in size, and gi%Tng equal depth and brilliancy to the vowel (see Diagram II). This resonance, the second of the five car- dinal vowel sounds, ig given to ^ in Italian, French, English, and German in closed syllables, as in st^Ua, sc«ie, sflid, mdlich. It is usually called the "short" e in English, but, more correctly, in Italian and French the "open" e. In the variants of this tongue position we have a group of \xtcal forms peculisir to the French language. The High Middle Wide vowel (i6) e, as in n've, mane, etc., differs from the High Middle vowel only in the greater breadth and sonority of resonance, caused by widening the tongue and thus en- larging the front compartmoit of the vowel- chamber. In making this movement with the tongue, great care must be taken not to 170 VOWEL FORMS AND RESONANCES Itnver the poitU of restsUmce, as both ^^iglish and German q)eakeis are apt to do, thus con- fu^Dg the i^sonance with tiiat of the Freodi a, as in lave. In contracting the surface of the tongue for the Hi^ Middle Xarrow vovrel (17), how- e\-er, tile poittt of resistance must be slightly raised, so tiiat the side muscles are pressed against tiie aioet^es, or "gums," just abovb the upper teetil, in order to produce the resonance peculiar to the French unaccented f , as in fe, fcnir, etc. "Hie indolent Kn glish tongue is apt to sag on this vowel to the normal position, thus substituting the reso- nance of the Xalural vouvl — as in ker — so disagreeaUe to tiie foreign ear. Two other resonances are obtamed by the Fretich from this tongue pOBiticm: First, by covering the sound during its QUission, they modify the resonance to that of the High Middle NarroiL' (covered) \'owel (18) indi- cated by the vowel combination ch, as in feU, deux, etc., which is. however, a pure Vowd, not a diphtiwugcd sound. Again, by dightly lowering the vdl of tiie palate, they THE TECHNIQUE OF SPEECH obtain the High Middle Narrow (Nasal) vowd (19) given to the u when followed by a single closing m or «, as in the words un, hjtmble, lu«di, etc. The difl&culty en- countered by foreigners in trying to pro- duce this vowel is due to the effort to hold the tongue in the position of the Italian u or English 00. For exact instruction for producing the correct nasal resonance, see Low Middle Nasal vowd, page 167. THE HIGH FRONT VOWEL (l) In order to produce this resonance the tongue is not only lifted but moved forward until the sides press against the upper front teeth as near the eye-teeth as possible, and at the same time the tip must be hdd firmly at the focal point behind the lower front teeth by a downward, forward, and lateral pressure of the inferior lingual muscle under the front part of the tongue, in order to keep the centre of the superior lingual muscle perfectly relaxed from tip to base, and thus maintain the poise of the larynx for a free 172 VOWEL FORMS AND RESONANCES emission of the tone- waves. This position of the tongue divides the vowel-chamber into two unequal compartments, the front cham- ber being much smaller than the back one DIAGRAM III Side view of the position of the tongue for the High Front vowol (i). The dotted line indicates the normal position of the tongue when at rest. (sec Diagram III). If the former is not cor- rectly shaped and maintained, the vowel re- sonance will be lacking in brilliancy; if the latter be sacrificed by lowering the tongue 173 THE TECHNIQUE OF SPEECH and narrowing the aperture between the lips, as many singers are apt to do in order to secure brilliancy of tone, the vowel reso- nance will be entirely without depth or sonor- ity and of a colorless, sharp, penetrating timbre. The resonance produced by this vocal form is the third cardinal vowel sound, being given to the so-called long e and ee in English in the open syllable, as in hero, see, etc. ; to the i in German, when followed by silent e or h, as in die, ihm, etc., and to i in Italian and French in closed syllables, as in irmi, id, etc. The writer inclines to the opin- ion that it is only by narrowing the tongue in this High Front position that we obtain the more delicate and brilliant resonance peculiar to the Italian and French i in the open syllable, as in si, mi; hence, she leaves the tongue position an open question, giv- ing the student choice of the High Front vowel ( I ) and the High Front Narrow vowel (2). By covering this vowel during its emission the resonance is changed to that of the High Front (Covered) vowel (3) peculiar to the 174 VOWEL FORMS AND RESONANCES French language, as in tu, muriaure, etc. (See page 89.) The wide variant of this tongue position gives another resonance — that of the so-called "short" i — peculiar to English and German, as in is, little, Himmel, *st, etc., the High Front Wide vowel (4). By covering this vowel during its emission, the Germans modify the resonance to that of ii, as in uher, tr^ben, etc., the High Front Wide (Covered) vowel (5). The only test of the correct tongue position for this, as for all covered or modified vowels, is to de- labialize the resonance. (See page 89.) When the tongue is sufficiently strong to maintain the High Front position, the stu- dent will find it comparatively easy to drop to the position for THE MID FRONT VOWEL (7), which is extremely difficult to reach by moving the tongue upward from the lower positions, as the point of resistance is in mid- .17s THE TECHNIQUE OF SPEECH air, so to speak, just between the upper and lower teeth, so that the side muscles are not braced by either, as in case of the High and Low vowels. This resonance is given to the closed e in Italian, as in sera, dolere, etc. In groping for the elusive point of resistance for the vocal form peculiar to this Italian vowel, the English tongue is apt to move during the emission of the sound, giving the second- ary resonance peculiar to the English Mixed a (20), so disagreeable to the Italian ear, accustomed only to the purest vowel reso- nances. For this reason it is better for Eng- lish singers in practising the Italian vowels to use only the High Middle e (15), as the corresponding English . vowel ^, as in bed, is a pure resonance. Perhaps the most difficult feat for the sluggish English tongue is the narrow vari- ant of this vocal form peculiar to French, the Mid Front Narrow vowel (8), called the "closed" ^, as in f^e, h^4, p^netr^, etc. This is the most delicate, subtle, and elusive reso- nance in the entire vowel-gamut. It can, however, be acquired, even by the heavy 176 VOWEL FORMS AND RESONANCES English tongue, without any trace of foreign accent by patient practice in contracting the side muscles first in the High Front position, then, while intoning the Italian or French i, gently lowering the point of resistance to the Mid Front Narrow position, without widening the tongue. Somewhat less difficult for the English student are the two wide variants of this vocal form peculiar to German, the Mid Front Wide vowel (9) e, as in Leben, and its covered resonance (10) given to the "modi- fied" a in Madchen. We come now to a group of vocal forms producing variations of the resonance given to a, in the four languages under considera- tion, in the closed syllable, and especially where the closing consonant is doubled. THE LOW FRONT VOWEL (ll) is the resonance given in German to a, as in AEe, allein, etc.; and also heard by the ob- serving foreign student of phonetics on the tongue of cultured Italian speakers, both in 177 THE TECHNIQUE OF SPEECH Rome and Florence, in certain closed syllables, as anno, mottina, etc. As this shading of the vowel is due to the peculiarly Italian manner of articulating the closing consonant, the Italians take no note of the same, their authorities giving — as far as the writer has been able to ascertain — only one sotmd of a, the more sombre resonance used in the open syllable, as in modre, dare, etc. Singers^ of course, use only the latter always, but even they, as well as speakers who wish to acquire the language without a foreign "accent," must practise the a with the two tongue positions, in order to avoid the ten- dency to substitute the variant of this vowel peculiar to his or her own language. The resonance peculiar to English is pro- duced by broadening the tongue to the posi- tion of Low Front Wide vowel (14), as in annual, flatter, etc., while the French narrow the tongue on this position, giving the greater delicacy of resonance peculiar to the French a clair, the Low Front Narraiv vowel (12), as in ann^e, aller, etc. By slightly lowering the veil of the palate 178 VOWEL FORMS AND RESONANCES with the tongue in this position (see the instructions given for the Low Middle Nasal vowel), the French secure the double reso- nance peculiar to the Low Front Narrow Nasal vowel (13), which is given to i and to y before a single closing m or n, as in the words timbre, thym, vin, syntaxe, etc. The student should note carefully that the vowels a and e, when preceding this nasal vowel, are always silent, as in the words iaim, train, plein, etc. In taking up the study of the Back vowels we must emphasize the fact, already noted, that the word "Back" is used relatively only, the positions of the tongue being merely just back of the Middle positions. If made at the back of the vowel-chamber the strain upon the larynx is excessive and injurious, and the resonance of the vowel is obscured by placing the sound under the soft palate instead of under the vault of the hard palate. In the High Back position especially, the size of the back chamber of that double vocal form is so diminished that it becomes difficult to 179 THE TECHNIQUE OF SPEECH produce a clear, ftill resonance, even in speak- ing, and in singing impossible. The student has already demonstrated the fact that it is much less difi&cult to begin with the high positions and drop the tongue gradually to the lower than to work in the opposite di- rection, and he will now find a similar ad- vantage in working from front to back. Hence, to secure the correct position for THE HIGH BACK VOWEL (30) he should begin by lifting the tongue to the High Front position, then while first whis- pering and afterward intoning the vowel e, as in be, move the point of resistance slowly backward, at the same time advancing and rounding the lips. If the tip of the tongue be held firmly in place by the focal pressure, while the side muscles are braced against the upper teeth in moving backward, as soon as these muscles reach the point just back of the High Middle position the resonance will change to that of a clear, brilliant Italian u (see Diagram TV). 180 VOWEL FORMS AND RESONANCES This resonance, the fifth cardinal vowel sound, is common to the four languages tmder consideration, being given to the DIAGRAM IV Side view of position of the tongue for the High Back vowel (30) . The dotted line indicates the normal position of the tongue when at rest. vowel u in Italian and German, to ou in French, and to 00 in English. There are no narrow variants of the Back vocal forms, as it is impossible to contract the side muscles of the tongue in that posi- 181 THE TECHNIQUE OF SPEECH tion without throwing undue strain upon the larynx; but by widening the tongue in the High Back position we obtain a resonance peculiar to English and German, the High Back Wide vowel (31). This resonance is given to K in German, as in the word Hund, and to 00 in English, as in good. From this High Back position the tongue drops easily to that of THE MID BACK VOWEL (33) This is another resonance common to the four languages, being the fourth cardinal vowel 0, as in croce, t^t, go, Sohn, and, like the other back vowels, must be well rovmded by the lips. The wide variant of this vowel is peculiar to the French language, and usually termed the "open" o, as in the words sole, loge, the Mid Back Wide vowel (35) . The French also obtain a third resonance from this tongue position by slightly depressing the veil of the palate during the emission of the vowel, thus giving the double resonance of the Mid Back Nasal vowel (34), heard in 182 VOWEL FORMS AND RESONANCES such words as mon, ronde, etc., where the vowel is followed by a single closing m or n. See further instructions given under the Low Middle Nasal vowel (28). THE LOW BACK VOWEL (37) gives an open resonance of o common to Italian, English, and German, and used chiefly in closed syllables, especially when the closing consonant is doubled, as in notte, collar, Wonne; while its wide variant, the Low Back Wide vowel (38), is a vocal form peculiar to English. This resonance is given to the vowel a when followed by certain closing consonants, as in awe, all, etc. (see page 201). Great care must be taken not to give a secondary resonance to this vowel by moving the tongue, as is often done in provincial sections of the New England States. As in the case of all the Back vowels, the lips only are moved to round the vowel and bring forward the sound. The English Mixed Vowels, produced by 183 THE TECHNIQUE OF SPEECH moving the tongue from one position to an- other during the emission of the sound, thus changing the shape of the vowel-chamber and giving two successive resonances to the vowel, form a class apart, and demand special study. A full classification of these and of the r shade vowels, also peculiar to English, will be found in the following chapter. The student should not be discouraged if at first he is unable to produce clearly and distinctly all these vowel resonances or even those belonging to his own language. Let him consider that in the mental effort neces- sary to transfer the control of his speech from the sense of hearing to the sense of touch, his psychological condition is similar to that of a person long blind who has had his sight suddenly restored and finds it difficult to accept the evidence of the new sense, until confirmed by the testimony of the more familiar one upon which he has been accus- tomed to rely. For this reason the writer encourages her pupils to use a hand-mirror in studying the vocal forms, thus calling in VOWEL FORMS AND RESONANCES a third witness to aid the limping sense of touch in its first feeble efforts to control the organs of speech. But we must not forget that the eye is even more unreliable than the ear in recognizing and regulating the vocal forms, as we have already noted in the case of the tongue positions for e (15) in "bed" and a (14) in "bad," which appear to be the same when seen from the front (see page 75, foot-note). The difference in many other vocal forms is equally as subtle, and depends entirely upon the tension of the muscles at the point of resistance, hence can only be detected by the sense of touch. With the aid of the numbers and of the key-word given under each vocal form in the Vowel Tables, the student whose tongue is under proper control should now be able to acquire with ease and rapidity the forty vowel sounds constituting the gamut of resonances of the four languages considered in this work, or as many of them as his in- dividual studies demand. II CLASSIFICATION OF THE ENGLISH VOWEL RESONANCES THE illogical and cumbersome spelling of our language makes it impossible to formulate a complete and unvarying classi- fication of the English vowel sounds. But the foreigner who studies the structure of our speech from the standpoint of its vowel resonances according to the English modes of syllabication, as indicated in the preced- ing chapters, will find that there is a certain method in that "derangement and relin- quishment of its ancient laws of sound" through which, according to Jacob Grimm, English has acquired a force and strength as well as an intrinsic power of expression such as no other modern language possesses. Not only the foreign student, but every i86 ENGLISH VOWEL RESONANCES English-speaking person whose diction is faulty, and all singers and public speakers, should master thoroughly this somewhat ob- scure and complicated but rhythmic varia- tion of the English vowel resonances. Turn- ing to the Vowel Tables (see folder), and applying to the English key-words the sys- tem of phonetic analysis given in the pre- ceding chapter, the student will note, first, that the English vowels are of two kinds — pure and mixed. The pure vowels are those having only one resonance, the mixed vowels being composed of two pure vowel resonances. For example, the a in can is a pure vowel, hav- ing only one resonance, while the a in cane is composed of two different vowel sounds, the primary resonance being that of the e in bed; the secondary, that of i in it. This impure or diphthongal vowel quality, so marked in English speech, is readily accounted for by the inflexibility of the organs of speech character- istic of the Anglo-Saxon race, especially the sluggish action of the tongue, which, in pre- paring for the motion of a closing consonant, alters the shape of the vowel-chamber during 187 ♦ THE TECHNIQUE OF SPEECH the emission of certain vowel sounds, thus producing a secondary resonance. As the development of the language tends toward greater unity and purity of resonance, this secondary vowel sound is less and less ac- centuated in cultured speech, being indeed a mere vanish of the voice, heard only at the moment of the articulation of the following consonant; except in the case of the Mixed u, in which the accentuated resonance comes last. On the tongue of the most refined speakers the secondary resonance is not heard at all in the final vowels or in the open syllable. In the case of e and o especially there is no excuse for this movement of the tongue during the emission of the vowel which produces this secondary resonance, except the preparation for the articulation of a closing consonant, hence in the final vowel or the open syllable it has absolutely no raison d'Hre.^ There is no greater test • It is for the purpose of keeping before the mind of the student this subtle but important discrimination between the pure and mixed resonances of these vowels that the writer has made a separate classification of the same in the Vowel Tables, giving the e in be and 1 88 ENGLISH VOWEL RESONANCES of the purity of an actor's diction than the ability to render the first phrase in the famous soliloquy of Hamlet, "To be or not to be," with sufficient resonance, without making a diphthongal sound of the vowel e in the word be. The habit of giving two resonances to all the vowels is characteristic of the careless or illiterate English-speaking person, while re- fined speech is marked by the most scrupu- lous preservation of these subtle distinctions between the pure and the mixed vowel reso- nances. Except in the case of the Mixed u, the two resonances should be distinguishable only in monosyllables or final syllables end- ing with a silent e — such as late, concede, t^'me, home, etc. Even, in the compounds of such words, where the mixed vowel is fol- lowed by a pronounced syllable, the primary resonance alone should be distinctly heard. In order to gain perfect control of these varying values of the mixed vowels, foreigners should note carefully the distinctions made the e in eve, for example, as two different vowel sounds, although the primary resonance is the same. 13 189 THE TECHNIQUE OF SPEECH by cultured English speakers between the vowels in such groups of words as the following: Li fe, as in che, chi, etc. In German ch repre- sents a manner of aspirating through an aperture wider than that of sh. This is done at the point demanded by the position of the tongue for the preceding vowel. When pre- ceded by a Front vowel, the process takes place at the Front position, as in ich; while in ach it is at the Middle, and in doch at the Back position. The sibilants offer the greatest difficulty to be encountered in singing German or English, especialli' the latter, in which they abound to a degree absolutely painful to the 246 STUDIES IN ARTICULATION Latin ear. For this reason, the exercises (which are the same as for the preceding con- sonants) should be practised with great care to modify the hissing sound of the non- resonant s, especially when followed by an- other non-resonant consonant, such as st, sp, etc. The Germans accomplish this by aspirating the 5. In the case of final sibilants, both resonant and non-resonant, the pressure of the tongue must be released with the release of the tone, or else the hiss or buzz (especially in concerted or chorus work) will trail off like the fuse of a sky-rocket. In X we have another example of a single letter representing two consonants. It is produced by sibilating through the "back" consonants g or k. With the resonant g it gives the buzzing sound of gs heard before a vowel in such words as exact, exist, etc., while with the corresponding non-resonant k it gives the hissing click heard in the words cxcKsc, expose, etc.; this non-resonant form is used chiefly before consonants. C is unique among consonants, having no individual sound in any language. In Eng- 247 THE TECHNIQUE OF SPEECH lish and French it takes the sound of 5 be- fore e and i; in German the sound of ts; in Italian the sound of the English ch; while before a, o, and u, in all four languages, it takes' the sound of k. n; nd, nt; ng, nk For n the motion of the tongue and the point of contact with the hard palate is the same as for the initial I, but at the same time the veil of the palate is slightly de- pressed as for m, giving a nasal resonance to the consonant. Great care must be taken in articulating this consonant not to let the resonance of the vowel preceding or follow- ing be divided with the stream of the breath by this lowering of the palate, thus giving a nasal "twang" to the entire syllable, a fault distressingly common in certain sections of America, especially in New England outside of Boston. The only nasal sounds in Eng- lish are the resonances of m and n and cer- tain consonant combinations of which these resonances form the basis, such as mb, mp, nd, nt, etc. 248 STUDIES IN ARTICULATION When n is followed by another resonant consif.>nant in En^ish, Italiaxi, (jr German, the two ref/jnances are blended int/j a single /c*«f and 5a«fe {plandt, sangk). In '/rdc-r to give these combinations their proper resonances, the student should prac- tise lists of words, stich as and, ant; send, sent; thing, thmk; swig, stmk, etc., until able in render the consonantal value of each class with delicacy and precision, and with- out confusion of the vowel and consonant resonances. Singers who have a tendency to exaggerate the hissing, clicking, or grinding noises made by the conjunctif/n and separation of the organs of speech for the processes of articu- \atum should practise the worrls in which the nfm-resonant consonants occur, by sub- stituting the corresponding resonant con- sonant until all such sounds are eliminated 249 THE TECHNIQUE OF SPEECH and the motions for the former are as deli- cate as the latter. For German, on the con- trary, aU consonant motions must be ex- aggerated in practise by English as well as French and Italian students. Exercises for practise of each of the con- sonants in reading^ will be found in the "Sen- tences for Practise," page 279. VAGARIES OF ENGLISH ARTICULA- TION Foreign students should note carefully the following vagaries of articulation peculiar to the English consonants: ASPIRATED CONSONANTS The sound of sh or zh is sometimes given not only to 5 and z, but to c, sc, g, t, and x, as in the following examples: 5 takes the soimd of sh before ea and ia in unaccented syllables, as in nausea, Asia, Persia; and in the ending sion, when pre- ceded by a consonant, as in tension, version, etc. ; but when preceded by a vowel the 250 STUDIES IN ARTICULATION sound is that of zh, as in occasion, adhesion, etc. The 5 is also aspirated in sugar and in sure and its compounds insure, assure, etc., when the syllable is tonic; but when sure forms an unaccented syllable, as in meas- ure, treasure, etc., s takes the sound of the aspirated z, as in azure. C often takes the sound of sh before ea, eo, ia, ie, and io, in unaccented sylla- bles, as in the following examples: ocean, herbaceous, racial, ancient, gracious, etc. ; but in enunciation and pronunciation, the best usage tends rather to the unaspirated sibilant. Sc is aspirated in unaccented syllables, such as conscious, conscience, prescience, om- niscience; but in science, sc takes the pure sibilant sound, as in all tonic syllables, ac- cording to the regular rule for c before e and i (k before a, a, and u) . G takes the sound of the aspirated z in melange, mirage, persiflage, rouge, and other similar words borrowed from the French. Let the student also note here that al- though g usually takes the sibilant sound of 2SI THE TECHNIQUE OF SPEECH / before e and i, it retains its normal non- resonant form in the following words: gibber gild gird gibbous gills girdle giddy gilly girl gig gimlet give giggle gingham gizzard T takes the sound of sh in unaccented syllables before ia; io, etc., as in the case of s and c: dementia, palatial, satiate, ratio, potion, propitious, etc. th Although th is always aspirated in English, it has two sounds, one of which is resonant, as in thine; the other non-resonant, as in thin. When it occiirs as a final consonant it is always non-resonant, except in the words beneath and bequeath, and the preposition with, which, according to the best usage, take the resonant form. When substantives end- ing in th are pluralized or changed into verbs, adjectives, etc., by the addition of s, silent e, 252 STUDIES IN ARTICULATION er, em, etc., they usually take the resonant form, as in the following examples: Non-resonant Resonant bath bathe breath breathe cloth clothe, cloths, clothier, etc. faith fourth father, farther, further heath heather lath lathe, lather loath loathe quoth moth moths, mother rather scath scathe sooth soothe south southern swath swathe tooth toothsome truth truths wrath wreath wreathe youth youths When used as an initial consonant, how- ever, the resonant and non-resonant forms are applied so indiscriminately that they can only be acquired by usage, and, for the ■" 2 S3 THE TECHNIQUE OF SPEECH foreign student, practise of such lists as the following: Resonant Non-resonant than Thane, Thanatopsis, etc. that thank, thatch, thaw, etc. the, thee theatre, theft, theory, and all Greek derivatives in tkeo. their thief them theme then, thence there thermometer these theses, thesaurus, etc. thine thin this thistle, thick, thigh, third, thirst, etc. thither those, though thorough, thong, thorn thou thousand thus enthusiasm, thumb, thunder, Thursday thrall and all other words with thr X takes the sound oi sh m a. iew words such as anxious, complexion, flexion, noxious, and luxury; but when initial, or in other words from the Greek, it has the normal resonance of z, as in Xavier, xenia, xantheine, xylophone. 254 STUDIES IN ARTICULATION SILENT CONSONANTS In the words heir, homage, honor, how, and their compounds, h is silent; but in herb, humble, an/1 humor and its compounds, the best usage is to aspirate the consonant fully, though certain authorities give the silent h as a secondary pronunciation. In monosyllables such as lamb, limb, comb, etc., the b is silent, the m alone is articulated ; but in words of more than one syllable, such as chamber, combat, slumber, both consonants are articulated according to the regular rule of English syllabication. In debt and doi^t and their compounds b is always silent. In the words enough, rough, tough, laugh, cough, hough, lough, trough, gh is pronounced like /; when it occurs as an opening conso- nant the g alone is sounded, as in ghostly, ghoul, ghost, etc. ; in other cases both letters are silent. G is also silent when occur- ring with m or n as a, closing consonant, as in apothegm, phlegm, malign, sign, etc.; but when the m or the n is used as the opening consonant of a following syllable, the g is 255 THE TECHNIQUE OF SPEECH pronounced according to the r^ular rule, as in signal, malig-nant, phleg-ma-tic, etc. The same rule obtains in the case of the combination mn: autumn \ autumnal \ -^^ "'J'™^ ! n silent columnar L, ^^dw solemn solemmty bounded condemn/ condemnation/ In the combinations //, Ik, Im, the / is some- times silent and sometimes sounded: half \ self \ walkj / silent bulkj / sounded balm) ehn) The combination ng is sometimes articu- lated as two separate consonants, as in anger, danger, finger, longer, plunging, etc.; again the two consonants are moulded into one so-called nasal soimd, as in sang, singer, longing, lungs, etc. The combination ph has the sovmd of /, as in pharynx, philosophy, phlegm, etc.. while in pn and ps, as in pneumatic, pneumonia, psychology, etc., the p is silent. 256 STUDIES IN ARTICULATION "liquefied" consonants The process known in French as "mouil- lure, " or liquefjdng the consonant by adding the sound of y, occurs occasionally in Eng- lish with t and d, but must be used with great discretion, and the y never allowed to de- generate into the sound of / or ch. For ex- ample, in the words verdure, literature, tedious, educate, courteous, etc., the pronunciation "verdynr," "literatjmr," etc., is admissible, but foreigners should carefully avoid "liter- achur," "tejus," "edjucate," etc., as often heard in England (and even "immejitly" and "Chewsday" for immediately and Tues- day!). N, when followed by io, as in junior, senior, onion, bunion, etc., takes the "liquid" sound of gn as in the Italian Sigwora, French Seig»eur, etc. rv STUDIES IN ENUNCIATION THE complete process of enunciation — the utterance or "giving forth" of thoughts in the form of syllables and phrases, which includes the processes of articula- tion — demands, in addition to the strength and flexibility of the organs of speech needed for the latter, absolute co-ordinate control of those organs, and also the perfect adjust- ment of all the resonators above the larynx, upon which correct emission of the voice, either in speech or song, depends. During the writer's earlier efforts to formu- late a system of exercises that would bring about these ideal conditions, she found that merely putting the tongue, lips, etc., through a course of ordinary gymnastics, while it se- cured a certain amount of muscular strength 258 STUDIES IN ENUNCIATION and flexibility of the organs of speech, did not give the singer the co-ordinate control of the intrinsic and the extrinsic muscles of the tongue necessary to co-ordinate the two proc- esses of tone-production and word-produc- tion in singing. This, she has since found by experiment and demonstration, can only be gained by gentle, rhythmic exercise of the muscles, after the manner in which they are used in normal speech; that is, by alternate and properly balanced tension and relaxation. The following exercises — ^which have never failed to secure the desired results when correctly and regularly practised — are based entirely upon this principle of rhythmic normal action. If done in a perfunctory manner, however — only occasionally, or too long at a time, or without the intervals of complete relaxation, and, above all, without regard to the special muscles used — they will be found of little use to either singers or public speakers. For example. Exercise (3) brings into play both the intrinsic and eoc- trinsic muscles of the tongue in order to enable the student to feel the action of both; 259 THE TECHNIQUE OF SPEECH but, as his ultimate object is to gain perfect control of the intrinsic muscles, without bring- ing the extrinsic into play, the muscles of the tip of the tongue alone must be tensed. If the first result of the exercises is to make the tongue "feel like a ball in the mouth," as Mr. Davies says, the student may be sure that he is not doing the exercises correctly, but is bringing the extrinsic muscles into play. He must also take particular care never to tense the muscles of the back of the tongue, which forms the front wall of the throat, the muscles of which must be left perfectly free and relaxed during aU the exercises. In all the processes of articula- tion and enunciation, indeed, only the muscles of the front half of the tongue are used. The distances between the positions for the different vowels being so very slight, the movements must be correspondingly deli- cate, especially in widening and narrowing the tongue. But the effect upon the vowel resonance of the very slightest change in these positions is almost beyond belief to one who has not made a practical study of ?6o STUDIES IN ENUNCIATION the subject; and when the student is able to control perfectly these delicate move- ments, he will possess the key that unlocks all the mysteries of "accent" and the remedy for all faults of speech. EXERCISES FOR THE ORGANS OF SPEECH (i). Drop the lower jaw downward and backward by relaxing the muscles complete- ly until two fingers can be inserted between the teeth without touching the same, taking care not to move the tongue from its normal position. Repeat four times. Practise also the exercises in articulation (pages 224-250) and the sentences under y (page 279). (2). Drop the lower jaw, tongue in nor- mal position; advance the Hps, forming the consonant w without any sound, taking care not to close the teeth nor move the tongue. (Four times.) Repeat four times the words woo, coo, quest, exaggerating the movement of the lips, and taking care not to close the teeth in changing position of the tongue from High ?6i THE TECHNIQUE OF SPEECH Back to High Middle for the mixed vowel in quest. Drop lower jaw, tongue in normal posi- tion ; form the consonants m, b, p, v, and / by the lips alone, without any sound and without closing the teeth. (Fotir times.) (3). Drop lower jaw; while (mentally) counting four, thrust the tongue slowly out- ward as far as possible without straining the root or touching the teeth, tensing the muscles at ike tip only; on the fifth beat relax the muscles suddenly and completely, letting the tongue slip back to normal position with- out moving the jaw. (4). Drop lower jaw, with tongue in nor- mal position ; while (mentally) counting four, slowly lift the tip until it touches the hard palate just back of the front teeth, tensing muscles of tip in lifting, and relaxing same in returning to normal position. Repeat four times, each time touching the hard palate at a point farther back. (5). Repeat Exercise (4) three times with the consonants t, d, I on the Natural vowel, forming the syllables t(er), d{er), l(er), trill- 262 STUDIES IN ENUNCIATION ing the tip of tongue on the last r only. Repeat syllable l{er) before each of the car- dinal vowels, exaggerating the trill. Then the syllables ra, re, ri, ro, ru (cardinal vowels) until trill is perfected. (6) . Drop lower jaw, tongue in Low Front position ; and while intoning the Low Front vowel o (14), repeat first movement of Exer- cise (4), forming the syllable la as many times as possible on a single emission of the breath, beginning slowly and gradually in- creasing the speed of the movement, being careful to use the muscles of the tip of the tongue only, and not to blur the resonance of the vowel or permit the same to degen- erate into the sound of the Natural vowel. (Four times.) (7). Drop lower jaw; relax the tongue completely, letting the tip rest lightly upon the lower lip; while (mentally) counting four, slowly narrow the surface of tongue by contracting the transverse fibres (see Fig. IV), relaxing suddenly and completely on the fifth beat. Repeat, reversing the move- ment, widening the tongue by expanding 263 THE TECHNIQUE OF SPEECH the same fibres outward, relaxing to the normal width on fifth beat, as before. (Each movement four times, then alternately four times.) (8). Drop lower jaw weU downward; lift tip of the tongue as for the consonant t, and, while pressing the tip gently against the upper teeth, slowly widen the inferior lingual ■muscle under the front part of the tongue by expanding the transverse fibres (see Fig. IV) outward during four beats, relaxing on fifth beat to normal position. (9) . Repeat second movement of Exercise (8) with the tip of the tongue held firmly down behind the lower front teeth, thus widening the surface or dorsum by using the muscles under the front part of tongue, as in the preceding exercise. (Four times each.) When this exercise is correctly done, with the lower jaw well relaxed, and a firm, for- ward, downward, and lateral pressure of the inferior lingual muscle at the focal point (see Fig. II), from which the entire mechanism of the tongue is controlled, the student wiU feel a sudden impulse to yawn, proving that 264 STUDIES IN ENUNCIATION the muscles of the throat and of the back of the tongue are entirely relaxed. Hence, the practice of this exercise gives the most perfect adjustment of the tongue and the larynx for the processes of speech in sing- ing. (lo). Repeat Exercise (9) while intoning the syllables ma, ha, pa, va, fa, thus widen- ing the tongue on the vowel ma ah, ba ah, fa ah, giving the "broad" sound of a peculiar to that vowel in English when followed by the final ("vocal") r, as in star. Repeat on lists of words ending in r followed by an- other consonant, such as stark, mark, barn, farm, etc., lifting sides of tongue to upper teeth while holding tip firmly down behind lower front teeth at the focal point (see Pig. II). (11). Drop lower jaw, tongue in normal position; and while holding the tip firmly down behind the front teeth, slowly lift the side muscles until the edges touch the upper teeth, tensing the muscles while counting four and relaxing quickly to normal position on the fifth count. This exercise for the i26s THE TECHNIQUE OF SPEECH fibres of the cortex is absolutely necessar>' to secure control of the vowel forms in anging, especially in case of the High vowels. (12). Repeat Exerci se ( 1 1 > , lifting only one side of the tongue — ^first right, then left, or vice versa — ^until the edge touches the middle of the hard palate from the front teeth to the veil of the soft palate, taking care to use only the muscles of front part of tongue. (Four times each side, then alternately four times, tensing during four beats and relaxing on fifth to normal poation.) (13). Drop lower jaw, press tip of tongue lightly against the lower teeth, and while (mentally) counting four, advance the su- perior lingual muscle as far outward and over the lower teeth as possible without straining the root of tongue, tensing the muscles of the sides or cortex only, and re- laxing completely to normal position on the fifth count. (14). Whisper the BQgh Front vowel (i) with the teeth closed naturally, noting care- fully the position of the tongue by the sense of totick; if the preceding exercises have been a66 STUDIES IN ENUNCIATION sufHciently and correctly practised, the sides of the tongue will be felt pressing against the upper teeth at the front position, while the tip remains well down behind the lower front teeth, and the student will be able, while intoning the vowel {e as in be), to drop the lower jaw downward to the proper posi- tion for singing without changing the position of the tongue. Great care must be taken not to lower the sides of the tongue, nor to let it slip backward. Nor should the lips be allowed to spread on this exercise, but the mouth should be kept well rounded, as for singing. (15). Drop lower jaw; relax tongue com- pletely, letting it drop as far as possible outward and over the lower lip without pushing or straining; then, while counting four (mentally), tense the muscles of tip alone, turning the same backward until it rests upon the middle of the tongue; on fifth count relax suddenly and completely, letting the tongue spring out over lower lip with a lapping movement. Repeat Exercise (15), folding the tip in- 267 THE TECHNIQUE OF SPEECH ward as the tongue turns backward like the curled petal of a flower. (Four times.) (i6). Drop lower jaw, tongue in normal position ; and while (mentally) counting four inhale deeply and slowly through the nostrils only, with the mouth open, then exhale quickly on fifth count through the mouth alone. Re- peat tmtil the action of the veil of the palate is distinctly felt, descending on the first and rising again on the second move- ment. These exercises are to be used only as exercises. The student should not try at once to maintain the different tongue posi- tions in singing, but merely while intoning words on the line of resonance. When the intrinsic muscles are sufficiently strong and flexible, the tongue wiE adjust itself naturally to the correct point of resistance for each vowel, provided the tip is kept properly ad- justed at the point of support, which should soon become habitual and subconscious, as all muscular action should be, in singing as in speaking. 268 STUDIES IN £NUNCiATIOK( EXERCISES IN RESONANCE Having secured muscular strength and flexibility of the organs of speech, and co- ordinate control of the same by the preced- ing exercises, the student is now prepared to obtain the perfect adjustment of the resonators above the larynx necessary to maintain a properly balanced flow of the two streams of the divided breath, on which correct emission of the voice, as well as its resonance and beauty of timbre, largely de- pends both in speaking and in singing. Many singers obtain this adjustment by humming gently the resonant consonant m with the special vowel, or vowels, chosen by the vocal instructor for "placing" the voice. This is the best possible means to the desired end — as far as it goes. Humming on m alone, however, merely serves to start the vibra- tions on the upper stream of the breath, the closure of the lips for this consonant check- ing the lower stream entirely. But if, while humming m, the lips are opened and the i8 269 THE TECHNIQUE OF SPEECH tongue lifted qtiickly to the hard palate with the pressure for n, the vibrations in the vowel- chamber also are aroused and emitted on the lower stream of the breath. By alter- nating the two consonants (w and n) without any distinct vowel sound at all, on a steady gentle hum of the vocal cords, a continuous sworl of vibrations is kept up which soon fills all the resonators above the larynx, produc- ing a continuous line of resonance, which can be increased or diminished at will by proper breath pressure, without any strain upon the larynx or cords whatever. When the student has obtained perfect control of this line of pure resonance, he has only to practise the same with the tongue in the correct position for each of the vowels, in order to secure the maximum of reso- nance for each vowel, beginning at-tvays 'd.-ith the High Front vowel and mo%"ing from that position to each of the others in succession. The writer has found that the best results are obtained by intoning thus each of the five cardinal vowels in syllables beginning with nt and closing with n, until the full STUDIES IN ENUNCIATION quota of resonance is obtained; then drop- ping first the n and finally the m, and in- toning the vowels alone in rapid succession withotd altering Hie adjustment of the two streams of the breath. (i). Inhale deeply; close the teeth natural- ly, and gradually expel the breath with a soft hissing sound, forming the consonant s, forcing all the breath through the teeth by a steady, gentle contraction of the muscles controlling the diaphragm. Repeat, and while hismng, suddenly dose the lips without arresting the action of the diaphragm, thus forcing the breath through the face-mask instead of the vowel-chamber and changing the hissing to a humming sound, forming the consonant m. Alternate the 5 and m until the direction and sensation of the divided breath, flowing first through the vowel-chamber and then through the face-mask, can be distinctly felt and perfectly controlled by the action of the muscles controlling the diaphragm. (2), Close the lips gently, producing the 271 THE TECHNIQUE OF SPEECH consonant »» as in Exercise (I'i ; then, with- out interrupting the flow of the resonance, open the lips and lift the tip of tongue to the hard palate, thus producing the consonant n; alternate four times, being careful not to move the back of the tongue. This exercise should be repeated until the \ibrations of the voice are distinctly felt in the face-mask and in the head, producing a continuous stream of pure resonance, u-ithout any distinguishable I'oivel sound witjicver.^ (3). Drop the jaw with tongue in Hi^ Front position; alternate the movements for m and n, while intoning the vowel e (i), forming the syllables me, tie. until the vibra- tions of tone are distinctly felt in the reso- nators of head and face, while the vibrations of the vozvcl are felt at the same time in the vowel-chamber only. (4). Repeat Exercise (3); then, without ' Great care most be exercised not to pronmtnce the m and n "em" and "en," as in the alphabet. The sound, if kept well forward by correct action of the lips and tip of tongue, will slightly resemble the syl- lables "min," "nim" (i as in minute), and should never be allowed to d^enerate into the resonance (A. the Natural vowel. 272 STUDIES IN ENUNCIATION interrupting the stream of pure resonance, drop the tongue gently but quickly during the emission of the syllable me from the High Front to the Low Middle position, thus changing the vowel resonance from that of e to that of a, cm a single breath impulse, form- ing the syllable me-ah. If the mouth be kept well open, the motion of the tongue made with swiftness and delicacy (without any mo- tion of the lower jaw, which would cause a y to intervene in changing the shape of vowel- chamber, and thus forming the heavy and incorrect articulation me-ya), and the \'ibra- tions of the vowel kept weU forward under the palatal arch, the brilliancy of vowel reso- nance thus gained will give a clear, ringing, forward o (25), and add much brilliancy to the tone as well, in singing that "darker" vowel. (S). Repeat Exercise (2), and without in- terrupting the stream of resonance, draw the side muscles of the tongue slowly and gently backward Tvithout lowering the point of re- sistance and without moving the tip from the point of support, until the High ^liddle 273 THE TECHNIQUE OF SPEECH position is reached, changing the vowel resonance from that ol e va me (i) to that of e in met (15). (6). Repeat Exercise (5), continuing the backward motion of the torque, and at the same time advancing and rounding the lips until the point of resistance changes from High Middle to High Back. The distance is very slight, and tongue must be arrested as soon as the vowel resonance changes from that of e in met (15) to that of 00 in moon (30). (7). Repeat, changing position of tongue in sam^ manner from High Front to each of the primary vowel positions in turn, then to those peculiar to the language under con- sideration, moving always from High to Law and froin Front to Back. (8). Repeat all these changes without any sound or resonance at all, until perfect con- trol of the vowel forms through the sense of touch is established. (9). Intone the English syllables mean, mine alternately, being careful not to let the tongue rise at the back when the pressure of 274 STUDIES IN ENUNCIATIOKl the lips is made for m, nor during the emis- sion of the vowels, thus preserving the pure quality of the primary vowel resonance of these mixed or diphthongal sotmds; and to articulate the n with the tip of the tongue, maintaining the consonant resonance by pressing the tip firmly against the hard palate until the lips close on the following m (then dropping the tongue to normal posi- tion during the m) , thus keeping up a con- tinuous unbroken stream of resonance. (lo). Intone in the same manner the syl- lables, mine, main, m£an, moan, m,oon, vocalizing on the primary resonance of the mixed vowel sounds, the secondary reso- nance being heard only as the tongue rises for the articulation of the n, thus keeping the primary vowel resonances as pure as those of the corresponding Italian vowels a, e, i, o, u (25, IS, I, 33, 30). (11). When the student is able to intone the five words given in the preceding exercise with perfect control of the divided breath and the two streams of resonance, let him drop the n and intone the Italian syllables 275 THE TECHNIQUE OF SPEECH ma, mc, mi, mo, iiin, until ho can control and adjust the vowel rosonancc and the tone on these five cardinal vowels; finally intone the vowels alone, when, if he h;xs obtained the coiTect adjustment of the reso- nators wliich these exercises should secure, he will bo able to produce these or any vowel sound in any language (prcniicii-d he knows the proper tongue position for the same), with its maximum of resonance. Students of French and all singers should add the following oxorcises for the double French resonances called "nasal" vowels: (12). Drop lower jaw, tongiie in Low Middle position; and while intoning the vowel a (25) gradually lower tlie veil of the palate as in first movement of Exercise (16), page 268, without moving the tongue, when to the res- onance of tlie vowel will be added a seamd resonance, slightly nasal in quality, produc- ing the so-called nasal vowel peculiar to tlie Frencli language, indicated ortliographically by on or am (see pages 166-168). Then, while intoning tlie same vowel and carefully main- taining the Low Middle position of thv tongue, 276 STUDIES IN ENUNCIATION gradually lift the veil of the palate until only the primary resonance of the pure vowel is again heard. All students of French and all singers should repeat this exerdse with the tongue on the Mid Back, the Low Front, and the High Middle Narrow positions, pro- ducing in turn the other French nasal vowels, on, in, un. These exercises are also of great value in gaining proper control of the resonators of head and face in tone-production, and singers should add the practise of scales of five notes on each of the f otrr French nasal vowels, with various consonants. In practising these double resonances great care must be taken not to move the tongue during the emission of the vowel soimd. If the back of the tongue is allowed to rise, as is instinctive with English-speaking people accustomed only to nasal consonant combi- nations, such as nd, ng, etc., the front vowel- chamber wUl be thus cut oflf , all the vibrations of voice forced into the resonators of head and face, the primary resonance of vowel ob- scured, and the sound of the morn intervene. 277 THh TECHNIQUE OF SPEECH (13). Wlien Exercise (n) has been thoroughly perfected, the student should learn to increase or diminish the volume of each resonance by means of the breath ahuc, withont forcing the fundamental or "cord" tone by any tension of the larynx. Begin- ning with the upper stream of the breath on m, and then gently opening the lips and dropping the lower jaw, without interrupt- ing the flow of the resonance, increase and diminish the lower stream of the breath in same manner with each of the cardinal vowels until a perfect crescendo and diminuendo can be made on the resonant or "ea\4ty" tones with any vowel. Singers should practise the words of every song, oratorio, or opera they study, on this sustained line of resonance, phrase by phrase, until the diction is perfect, before they at- tempt to sing the same, beginning always with n-m, whatever the word may be, and re- turning to the same "hum" between the phrases to keep the resonators properly ad- justed for the two streams of resonance. This will not only enable them to retain the 278 STUDIES IN ENUNCIATION value of the spoken word in singing, but greatly facilitate their vocal work, and en- hance the beauty of the tone by the rein- forcement thus obtained from the vowel resonance. Public speakers and readers wiU find the exercises of equal value in giving resonance, brilliancy, and carrying power to the speaking-voice. SENTENCES FOR PRACTICE The following sentences have been selected, compiled or composed, at random, according to their value as mere exercises in the technique of speech. They embody the pre- ceding rules, and should he repeated until the action of all organs is easy and natural; the vowel clear and resonant; the articulation of the consonant distinct and unlabored; and the syllabication smooth and flawing. I saw a yacht and a yawl over yonder yester- day. The yellow cat yawned and yawned. 279 THE TECHNIQUE OF SPEECH Yes, ye yeomen, yield! Youth yearns to be older, while age yearns to be young again. "Take my yoke upon you," h Halt! Who goes there? Ship, ahoy! Ho there, ye hunters! hie ye hence over the high hills. Hark! I hear the horn and the hounds, "Hark, hark, the lark at Heaven's gate sings." "Heigho! the holly. Most loving's mere folly." He had learned the whole art of angling by heart. Lift your hearts to Heaven, be humble and hu- man; hate not your enemies. "Bid him welcome, boys! Were you a woman, youth, I should woo hard to be your groom." "True hope is swift, and flies with swallow's wings." 280 STUDIES IN ENUNCIATION " Beside him lay his staff of yew, with withered willow twined." "Soft and low, breathe and blow, Wind of the Western sea." Woe, woe is me! wh What is a watt? When he went. Where will you wear it? Which is the witch f The poor wight was white with fear. "I came like water and like wind I go Into the universe, why, not knowing, Nor whence, like water willy-nilly flowing, And out of it, as wind along the waste, I know not whither, willy-nilly blowing." " What, without asking, hither hurried, whence? And without asking, whither hurried hence?" b AND p "Be bold, be bold, and everjrwhere be bold." "The barbarous Hubert took a bribe To kill the royal babe." 281 THE TECHNIQUE OF SPEECH " Blythe bell that calls to bridal halls A bridal bed and a bier." "Earth smiles around with boundless beauty blest." " The bursting of the South Sea Bubble put the public in a hubbub." " Do you think I am easier to be played upon than a pipe?" "A pert, prim person of the Puritan party." See the great ship plunge! "Pleasures are like poppies spread." " If thou be'st Prospero, give us particulars of thy preservation." The pert pedlar prated proudly to the petty Prince about his pretty prints. / AND V "After life's fitful fever he sleeps well." " But come, thou goddess fair and free, in Heaven yclept Euphrosyne." "Fair is foul and foul is fair. Hover through fog and filthy air." "Full fathom five thy father lies." 283 STUDIES IN ENUNCIATION His fancy flitted like a butterfly from flower to flower. " Fair Virtue's form." The vanquished Vikings, vowing vengeance, fell upon their fierce foes. "Verily, verily, I say unto you. . . ." " ' Vanity of vanities,' saith the preacher, * all is vanity.' " "Lifting their voices to Heaven, in universal praise." "And vainly venturous, soars on waxen wing." "The miirmuring pines and the hemlocks." "A mild, mysterious, mournful sighing.'' "A humming all over the tall, white branches, a humming of bees." " Martha, Martha, thou art much troubled about many things." His crime moved me mightily. Give me some ice. 283 THE TECHNIQUE OF SPEECH / AND d Tut, tut! Hold thy tongue, its chatter would try the temper of a saint. " A tell-tale, tattling termagant, that troubled all the town." The wintry wind whipped his tattered garments about his trembling limbs, as, with chattering teeth, he tottered pitifully along, breasting the bitter blasts. "They started at the tributary peal Of instantaneous thunder." "There blossomed suddenly a magic bed Of sacred dittany and poppies red." "The deltige deepens tfll the fields aroimd Lie sunk and flatted in the sordid wave." "Meadows trim, with daisies pied. Shallow brooks and rivers wide." Down, down into Hades, where hideous dragons reared their horrid heads and doleful dirges droned through the deepening dusk. "He licked the hand thus raised to shed his blood." " Strikes through their wounded hearts a sudden dread." 2S4 STUDIES IN ENUNCIATION I "All's well that ends well." Alas, he is ill and alone, all alone, in London. "Lie lightly on her, earth, Her step was light on thee." " The linnets on the Linden-tree Were making gentle melody." "And drowsy tinklings lull the distant folds." "Hear the sledges with the bells, Silver bells! What a world of merriment Their melody foretells!" "All the world loves a lover." " Around the rough and rugged rock the ragged rascal ran." " I prithee let me bring thee where crabs grow." " Great rats, small rats, lean rats, brawny rats. Black rats, brown rats, gray rats, tawny rats." "Break, break, break. On thy cold gray stones, O sea!" >9 28s THE TECHNIQUE OF SPEECH Here rich and poor rest side by side, on Nature's breast reposing. " Rend with tremendous sound your ears asunder, With gun, drum, trumpet, blunderbuss, and thunder!" " As from their own clear North, in radiant streams, Bright over Europe bursts the boreal mom." "The curfew tolls the knell of parting day; The lowing herd winds slowly o'er the lea; The ploughman homeward plods his weary way. And leaves the world to darkness and to me. " Now fades the glimmering landscape on the sight, And all the air a solemn stillness holds. Save where the beetle wheels his droning flight, And drowsy tinklings lull the distant folds. "Save that from yonder ivy-mantled tower The moping owl does to the moon complain Of such as wandering near her secret bower Molest her ancient, solitary reign." "On Linden when the sun was low All bloodless lay the untrodden snow. And dark as winter was the flow Of Iser, roUing rapidly. "But Linden saw another sight When the dnim beat at dead of night, Commanding fires of death to light The darkness of her scenery. 286 STUDIES IN ENUNCIATION "By torch and trtunpet fast arrayed, Each horseman drew hia battle blade; And, furious, every charger neighed To join the dreadftil revelry." g AND k (q AND HARD c) "All that glitters is not gold." "A giddy, giggling girl, her kinsfolk's plague. Her manners vulgar and her converse vague." He glowered gloomily at the garden wall over which had climbed the criminal, but the guard at the gate kept his coynsel and gave no information of the guilty guest's comings and goings. The Queen's quair went in quest of the quandpm lover. Be quick! Collect a quorum to settle the quarrel. The choir quailed and quaked while he quietly questioned them. "Clustering like constellated eyes in wings of cherubim." "Armour rusting on his walls, to the blood qf Clifford calls. Quell the Scot, exclaims the lance, bear me to the heart of France." "The clumsy kitchen clock clicked and clicked," 287 THE TECHNIQUE OF SPEECH "The combat deepens. On, ye brave, Who rush to glory or the grave!" " Kings it makes gods, and meaner creatures, kings." "He comes! He comes! In every breeze the power Of philosophic melancholy comes!" 5 AND z " Come thou, expressive Silence, muse His praise." "When to the Sessions of sweet silent thought." "Good Lord, how sweetly smells the honeysuckle In the hushed night, as if the world were one Of utter peace and love and gentleness." "Charles Smith's Thucydides." "A roseate blush, with soft suffusion. Divulged her gentle mind's confusion." Silly Susan sits on the sea-shore, stringing sea- shells and sea-weeds, and softly sings, or listens in silence for the syren's songs. "A soft dazzle of azure." "Zounds!" shouted Ezra, as he seized the amazed Zeno by the ears. 288 STUDIES IN ENUNCIATION "Thus I thought Until my mind was dizzy and distraught. Moreover, through the dancing poppies stole A breeze, most softly lulling to my soul. And shaping visions all about my sight Of colors, wings, and bursts of spangly light; The which became more strange and strange and dim, And then were gulfed in a tumultuous swim ; And then I fell asleep." The guests drink toasts at the host's behest, till one insists that he fasts while he feasts and persists in his boasts; while another desists to fight with his fists, the ghosts which he wists not are mists from the coast. sh " The nations shall rush like the rushing of many waters, but He shall rebuke them and they shall flee." "'Hush, ah, hush,' the scythes are saying. 'Hush and heed not, and fall asleep; Hush,' they say, to the grasses swaying, 'Hush,' they sing to the clover deep. 'Hush, 'tis the Itillaby Time is singing — Hush, and heed not, for all things pass; Hush, ah, hush,' and the scythes are swinging Over the clover, over the grass." 289 The technique of speech Shunning the sunshine, he pushed him into the shadow of the shore and made a dash at the fish which, with a swish and a splash, vanished in the shallows. th The length and breadth and depth and height of being. " I know that my Redeemer liveth, and that He shall stand at the latter day upon the earth; and though, after my skin, worms shaU destroy this body, yet in my flesh shall I see God, whom mine eyes shall behold and not another." "As the Thirty-third passed, enthusiastic thou- sands thronged their pathway through thethorough- fare, thrusting themselves into the thick of the fight and thus thwarting those who thought to throttle them." Hang the table-cloths close to the clothes and close the clothes-basket. / AND ch The judge was gentle, just, and generous, but the jurors were cajoled by the lawyer's jests. "Is jollity for apes and grief for boys?" The Jewish title for God was Jehovah. 290 STUDIES IN ENUNCIATION James was jesting when he adjured Jennie to jtimp over the juniper hedge. "Judge not, that ye be not judged, for with what judgment ye judge ye shall be judged." Charlie and Julia are such charming children. My child, choose Chastity and Charity as thy handmaids. John chose a chisel from a jtmk-chest in the janitor's lodge. The joUy Chinaman chuckled and chortled over his chores. The chimes are rung from a chamber between the chapel and the church. n, nd, nt, ng, nk No, no, not now! " These are not natural events — they strengthen from strange to stranger." "None knew thee but to love thee, None named thee but to praise." He is a nonentity and can pain nobody by such nonsense. 291 THE TECHNIQUE OF SPEECH "Will all great Neptune's ocean wash this blood Clean from my hand? No; this my hand will rather The multitudinous seas incarnadine, Making the green — one red." "Like leaves on trees the race of man is found. Now green in youth, now withering on the ground." The painter complained that the red paint pained his eyes. "She walks the waters and the land, She and Quiet, hand in hand; The low winds say, 'Sweet sounds obey,' Soft colours fade away. The winds say on — Do they say on? No whisper. Day is gone." At the command of an angry hand, they sank upon a sandy bank, rank by rank, and sang and sang until the welkin rang. ILLt'STRATI\'E EXCEPTION'S TO EXGLISH VOWEL RESOXAXCE? "OnSer oonfoontled Kss, all beauty void; DistiQctkvn lost; tuui g^iy variKy One uaiv»sat Wot," SUCH, no doubt, must be the first im- prvssdon of the ^■^^g■vV^ies of Engfish pronunciation recvn\-ed by the fcjreigner wiio att«t^ts to aoquiiv oiu- language o.^ ii is nriiUit, aiKi it cannot be denied that the exceptions to the EngH^ rules of resonance are nx»n? nun>erous and. by reason of our defecti\-e spelKng, apparently nx>re erratic than those peculiar to the other modem langua^^s. But the student who has mas- tered the \-ariations of the Englisli \T>\nel reaanances according to the English modes of syllabication, as indicated in the preceding 305 THE TECHNIQUE OF SPEECH chapters, ^ill be able to recognize the real vagaries of the language as such when he hears them. These exceptions can be learn- ed only by rote and practise, as the excep- tions in every language miist be acquired. The present chapter, as the title indicates, is designed merely to illustrate the general character of these vagaries, and to give a sufficient number of examples of such words most used by the average English speaker, to aid foreigners in acquiring, and careless or illiterate English-speaking students in cor- recting, an ordinary vocabulary. These ex- amples are limited to variations of the Eng- lish vowel resonances, without any attempt to classify variations of stress, emphaas, etc., which wiU be treated fully later in the study of the Muac of Speech. A single list of words spelled alike and accented differently has been added to those spelled differently and pronounced alike, and vice versa, which are given at the request of the foreign stu- dents of English among the writer's pupils, for whose benefit this chapter was especial- ly prepared. These aids in conquering the 394 EXCEPTIONS vagaries of ottr language are not, of course, intended to replace a dictionary, ^^ch both native and foreign students should keep ever at hand for reference. BXCEPnOXS TO THE RESONANCES OF a The Low Front Wide Vowel, 14 (normal sound, am of), when preceded by qu, squ, w, or sw, takes the resonance of the Low Back vowel, 37 (o in odd) : swab swaddlii^ s?ffallow^ swan swamp swap In the words wait:; want, aofer, and squaw the sound is that of the Low Back Wide vowel, 38 (a in ceive) ; authorities differ in r^ard to the a in squalor, the majority giving to it the sound of the Mixed a (20); while in quack, quagmire, thwack, wag, swagger, swam, and wax it reverts to its normal resonance. In a few instances, such as chamber, angel, danger, manger, it takes the soimd of the -^95 quadrant squab wad qualily squad wan quandary squadron wander quantity squander was quarrel squash wash quarry squat watch THE TECHNIQUE OF SPEECH Mixed a (20) ; in the second a in alas, and when followed by ss (final), it takes that of the Low Middle vowel (25), as in the word ass, class, grass, pass, lass, mass, etc. But if the ss is not final, the preceding a re- verts to the normal sound, as in assume, classify, passage, lassi-tude, massacre. The Low Middle Vowel, 25 (normal sovmd, a in ask), when followed by sh, and (in mono- syllabic words) by nd, and nt, takes the reso- nance of the Low Front Wide vowel, 14 (a in at) : ash bashful and bland cash fashion hand grand dash clashing land stand The Low Middle Wide Vowel, 26 (normal sound, a in art), when preceded by qu, w, or sw, takes the resonance of the Low Back Wide vowel, 38 (o in awe) : quart war sward quarter warn swarm quarto warm swart quartz warp swarthy but in square the a is the shade vowel of the Mixed a, as in fair. 296 EXCEPTIONS The Mixed a, 20 (normal sound, a in ale), shows occasional vagaries in a few excep- tional words, such as orange, in which it takes the resonance of the High Middle vowel, 15; in are, the Low Middle, 25; in vase, ac- cording to best English usage. Low Middle, though according to certain authorities it retains its normal sound in this word. EXCEPTIONS TO THE RESONANCES OF e The only notable exceptions to the normal sounds of e as classified in this work accord'- ing to the open and closed syllables, page 191, are found in the word pretty, and in unac- cented prefixes, such as event, believe, etc. (see page 205), in which the vowel takes the High Front resonance, 4 {i in it), and cer- tain vagaries already noted under the Nat- ural vowel. This vowel is often muted in unaccented syllables closing with a resonant consonant, such as heav'n for heaven, giv'n for given, etc. In the case of ed, the d sometimes takes the sound of the corresponding non-resonant t, as in ialk't for talked, reap't for reaped, 297 THE TECHNIQUE OF SPEECH etc. In such words as often, listen, etc., the t is also silent — "ofn," "lis'en," etc., being the pronunciation made correct by best usage in speech; but in singing, the fioll sound of both vowel and consonant must be given. In case of the endings es, eth, end, ent, etc., how- ever, great care must be taken both in speak- ing and in singing to preserve the normal resonance of the e. High Middle (15), and not permit the same to d^enerate into the sound of the Natural vowel, so often heard in such words as silent, solemn, treaUnettt, etc. EXCEPTIONS TO THE RESONANCES OP t The High Front Wide Vowei, 4 (normal sound, as in it), takes the two resonances of the Mixed i in tonic syllables ending in Id, 'nd, gh, ght, and gn — except when preceded by « (seepage 210): chfld blind light sign high mild find might malign nigh wild mind sight condign sigh also in the words Christ and pint, 29S EXCEPTIONS The Mixed i, 39 (normal sound, t in time), in unaccented syllables ending in silent e, such as active, relative, infinite, facile, agile, mobile, usually takes the resonance of the High Front vowel, 4 (i in it) ; but in a few words of this class, such as hostile, reptile, etc., some authorities retain the normal sound of the Mixed i (29). In many words borrowed from the French, the resonance changes to that of the French i{i): profile clique fatigue machine pastille oblique intrigue ravine castille unique regime routine also in tricot and trio. EXCEPTION TO THE RESONANCES OF O The Mid Back Vowel, 33 (normal sound, as in so) , in the verb to do, and its forms doer, doing, and compotuids such as undo, overdo, etc., and in the words two and who, takes the resonance of the High Back vowel (30) 00, as in too; but in to, to-day, to-night, to-morrow, 399 THE TECHNIQUE OF SPEECH etc., and in bosom, that of the High Back Wide vowd (31) 00, as in took. The Mixed o, 36 Cnormal sound, as in ro^, shows a pectdiar variation of its two reso- nances ia the words one and once, in which the primary resonance changes to that of the Hig^ Back Wide vowd, 31 (00 ia good), the stress being shifted to the secondary." resonance which also changes, taking lie sound of the Natural vowd '^21): cnt in notie, done, come, some, above, dace, glot'e. love, it takes the resonance of Ihe Xatural vowel (21) alone; while in gone lie sound beccanes that of the Low Back vowd, 37 (o in oddi : and in move and prove that of the High Back vowd, 30 (00 in coo). When followed by the cotKonant cram- bioation m&, this vowd shows extracsdinary vagaries, having its normal sound Mixed a (ao). 1 Low Back Wide 1 (3S). I Mixed * (6). 1 Shade vowel of J r (pure). \ Shade vowel of J r (mixed). 1 Low Middle / Wide (a6). WORDS PRONOUNCED ALIKE Hie H%h Hoes Hose Hole Whole Hrm HyTDn Knead Need Know No Knot Not T-rnnn Loan Lone Load Lode Lain Lane Moat Mote Made Maid Maize Maze Meat Meet Mete Mean Mien Mixed i (29). j*^t 1 Mixed . (a,). I Mode Mixed 0(36). ,jj^^^ H^ Front! Oh! Wide (4). Owe Mixed e (6). Mid Back (33V O'a- Ore Onr Hour Low Back Cs -1-1^ H^ Front Pear Wide (+). Pair Mixed o (36} . Mixed ..•' (36). Mixed a (2o>. Mixed o (36). Mixed a (ao). Mixed a (20V \ Mixed e (6). I Mixed e (6). Plow Hongh f. Paws Pause Peace Piece Peer Pier Peak Pique Pdk Poll Prav Prey Rain Rein Reign Mixed o (36). Mixed a (30). Mid Back C33)- Shade vowel of r (pure). Shade vowel of r (mixed). Mixed a (30). Shade vowel of r (mixed). Mixed vowel (39)- Low Back Wide Mixed f (6). Shsie vowel of r (mixed). Mixed e (6). Mixed o (36). Mixed a (roV 1 |- Mixed a (2o>. J THE TECHNIQUE OF SPEECH Rode Road Rowed Rap Wrap Red Read Reed Read Right Rite Wr^ht Write Rhyme Rime Roe Row So Sew Seal Ceil Seen Scene llixed o (36). }Low Front Wide (14)- \ High Middle ] (IS)- I Mixed e (6). 1 \ Mixed i (29). J \ Mixed i (29). } Mixed o (36). } Mid Back (33). I Mixed e (6). \ Mixed e (6). Sole Soul Team Teem Taught Taut Thyme Time Vail Vale Veil Vain Vane Vein Way We%h Waist Waste Waive Wave Weak Week I Mixed o (36). j Mixed e (6). 1 Low Back Wide / (38). [ Mixed » (29). Mixed a (20). \ Mixed a (20). > Mixed a (20). > Mixed a (20). \ Mixed a (20). j Mixed e (6). WORDS SPELLED ALIKE, BUT AC- CENTED DIFFERENTLY Nouu or Adjectax A7, 139 141 jdder 157-185; ibtiltsHtas^ 83, 88, 89, 99, lOi, :o2. IT 5. U&-118, 120 138-141, idder. 157- Lai^uages. tfae Germanic. 138; tbe Romanic, 138. 191, 192. Laiynx. 7. 8, 27, 48, 51- 54. m. .14. 172. 179. Liaisr^'. ji2. 113, Line of re;%«iasce, 11— 13. 324 INDEX 17. 26, 34, 3S, SI. 149- 154, 269-279. Lingual consonants, 105, 107, 237—242. Lips, use of, 19, S4. S6, S7> 63, 8s, 261. Liquefied consonants, 102, 238. 2S7- Lispmg, 47. Low vowels, 85, folder. Lyric diction, 17, 25, 36, 37, 39, 42, 44, SI. S9. 66, 69, 72, 77, 78, 96, 104, 108, 109, III, 118, 121, 124, 127-147, 190, 191. Ljmcs, 109, 127, 136. M M, the consonant 235, 236, 2SS, 256. 269-279, 283. MacDowell, E., 137. Mackenzie, Sir Morell, 66. Mechanism of speech, 43- 60, 258-268. Methods, phonetic, 18, 19, 43,67,126; "natural," 45. Middle vowels, 84, 11 (folder). Mid Middle vowels, 88, II Qolder). "Mid" vowels, 8s, folder. Mixed vowels, 65, 90, 93, 141, 176, 187-190, 202, 203, 205-206, 207, 209, 211—297, 299, 300, 302— 3°7- Modified vowels, 88-90. Motions, consonant, 98- 102. Motor irritations, 76. Mouillure, 102, 238, 257. Mouth, the, 11, 26, 58, 60, 85, lOI. Mouthing, 58, 64. Muscles, extrinsic, 13-14, 67, 72, 259-268; in- trinsic, 13-14, 69, 72, 259-268; lingual inferior 71, 165, 172; lingual superior, 72, 86, 165, 172; of throat, 54, 56, 70, 72. Muscular action, 13-14, 52, 56, 67-73, 122, 164, 259- 268. Muscular relaxation, 20, 52, 70, 73, 259-268. Music, drama, 24, 134; vowel, 80, 81, 140 N N, the consonant positions, 237, 248-249, 257, 269- 279, 291, 292. Narrow vowel positions, 86, 87, 260. National tone - standard, xvi, XX. Nasal consonants, 248- 250, 256. Nasal "twang," 91-93, 68, 248. Nasal vowels, 90, 92, 103, 167, 168, 192, 276, 277. Natural vowel, the, 33, 89, 107, 120, 158-160, 195— 198. Nazimova, Madame, 41. Nerves, motor and sensory, 76. Nodes, 316. 32s THE TECHNIQUE OF SPEECH Xotation, sysltuu of -rowel, 82, 84. Notes and references, 315- 319- Xumbers. 95. O O, the vowd, folder, 188, 207, 208, 299-301. Open and dosed fowels, igi— 193, 204. 207. Opoiii^ the Tootsih, 28, 58, 60, 224. Opera, 24. 143-146: Eng- lish, 137, 143-146; in America, 137—146. Oratorio, 24, 44, 131. Ore rolundo, the Italiaii. 85- Otgamc structure of speech, S7-3Q. 43—60, 102, 126, Or^ns Si> 114, 278, 279; placing, 8, 17, 76, 78; produc- tion, 8, 10, 16, 20, 26, 42, 49, so. S3. 80, 158; speech, 23, 31, 32, 33, 3<5. 39. 49. 54. S9. I24. I2S. 157; resonant, 11, 26, 29, 31, IS7. 278; standard, xiii-xx. Tongue, the, 7-12, 28, 29, 38, 61-67, 84, 91, folder, 157-168, 258-279. Touch, sense of, 9, 10, 14, 16, 17, 20, 39, 75-77, 184, 185, 234—274. Translations, 125, 128- 134. Trill of r, 239-243. U U, the vowel, 180, 208, . 302-303. Utterance, three forms of, 123, 226-229. Uvula, 56. V V, the consonant, 234, 282, 283. Vagaries of English vowel resonances, 293-314. Values of mixed vowels, 189-191, 203. Veil of palate, 56, S7. 59- Velum. See Veil of Palate. Vertical fibres, 68. Vibration, of breath, 11-13, 26, 29, 80, 105; vowel, 3, 11-13, 14, 49, S3. 80, p2, 105. Visible Speech, 13, 43, 44, 48, 86, 194. Vocal cords, 26, 48, 49, 54. Vocal forms, 83, 84, 157- 185. Voice, impulse, no, iii, 114, 122, 225-230; plac- ing, 17. Voice, production, 26, 48, 49 {see also Tone Produc- tion); the speaking, xiii- xx, 4, 5, 11-13, 15, 26, 27. 3^-5(>, 37. 40, 41, 54, 59, 60, 81, 125, 144. Vowel, the, 79-96. Vowels, the Back, 84-86, 179, iii {folder). Vowel, the High Back, 180, 301; the High Back Wide, 182, 302; the Low Back, 183, 267, 301; the Low Back Wide, 183, 201; the Mid Back, 182, 208, 299; the Mid Back Nasal, 182, 183; the Mid Back Wide, 182. Vowels, the Front, 84, i {folder). Vowel, the High Front, 172, 173, 174, 204; the High Front Covered, 174; the High Front Narrow, 174; the High Front Wide, 175, 298, 299; the Low Front, 177; the Low Front Narrow, 178; the Low Front Nar- row Nasal, 178-179; the 329 THE TECHNIQUE OF SPEECH Low Front Wide, 178, iq8, 205, 395; the Mid Front, 175; the Mid Front Covered, 177; the Mid Front Narrow, 176; the Mid Front Wide, 177. Vowels, the Middle, 84, ii (folder). Vowel, the High Middle, IS, 204; the High Middle Narrow, 171; the High Middle Narrow Covered, 171; the High Middle Narrow Nasal, 172; the High Middle Wiae, 170; the Low Middle, 163, 200, 206; the Low Mid- dle Narrow, 166; the Low Middle Nasal, 166- 167; the Low Middle Wide, i6s, 200, 208, 269, 296; the Mid Middle, 158 (see also Natural Vowel) ; the Mid Middle Narrow, 1 60-1 61; the Mid Middle Narrow Covered, 161; the Mid Middle Wide, 160, 302. Vowels, the mixed, 65, 90, 93, 141, 176, 183, 187-190, 202, 203, 205, 209, 211-297, 299, 300, 302-307. Vowel, attack, 113, 114; chamber, 11, 26, 28, 30- 38, 49, 56-60, 74, 79, 80-85, 93! character, II, 26-35, 74, 79-80; color, 25, 70, 71; com- binations, 212-218; form and resonances, 83, 84, 95-96, 157-186; gamut, 33, 8a. 83, 139-142; harmonies, 26, 35, 76, 80-82, 140; impulse, 28, 227; initial, 113, 114; music, 80-82, 76, 80, 82, 140; the Natural, 33, 88, 89, 107, 120, 1 58, 160, 195-198; placing, 17; resonance, principle of, 3, I I-I2, 22-42, 49, 114- 126, 139-141, 154, 157, 269-279; signs, 82, 94; tables, folder; vibrations, 4, s, II, 12, 26, 49, 79. 80, 92, 93, 105, 114; the cardinal, 28, 82, 94, 150, 170, 174, 180, 182, 200; long and short, 192, 193, 204, 207; mixed, 65, 81, 82, 90, 93, 141, 176 183, 187- 190, 202, 203, 305-209, 211, 297, 299, 300-307; muted, 297; nasal, 90, 93, 103, 167, 168, 192, 276, 277; open and clos- ed, 191-193, 204, 207; pure, 187, 204, 207; shade, 82, 106, 139, 152, 184, 198, 219, 233; whis- pered, II, 38, 29, 33, W W, the consonant, 232- 334, 361, 280, 281; the German, 233. Whispered vowels, ii, s8. 33. 225- ling, 30. Whistling, 30 330 INDEX White, Richard Grant.igp. Wide vowels, 86, 87. Widening the tongue, 86, 260, 263—265. Willis, 3. Words and the word, 123— 126. Word in singing, the, i, 8, 9, II, 12, 16-20, 24, 25, 36, 39, 123—126,142—147. Wullner, Dr. Ludwig, 146, 147- X X, the consonant, 247, 254. y, the consonant, 58, 59, 279; the initial, 58, 223— 225, 279; the vowel, 206, 223. Z, the consonant, 245; the Italian, German, 245. THE END II II lllil! Illl!lllll!!lli III llllli lillll^iiiiil I.