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SPEECH. |
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2. Analysis of Speech.—Speech may be said to consist of emissions of breath modified as follows: (1) The breath is made to vibrate as it passes through the glottis (the chink between the vocal cords), thus producing sound; (2) it is moulded into vowels as it passes through a definite shaped mouth; (3) it is articulated into consonants by contact with the various parts of the air passages. These vowels and consonants which represent letters in writing must be regarded as sounds or phones in speech. Phones are combined to form syllables, syllables are made into words, and words are built up into sentences or phrases. A syllable may consist of one vowel, or of a vowel and one or more consonants; words may consist of one or more syllables ; and phrases may contain one or many words. To every phone must be given its exact value; very few speakers are able to do this until they have had proper instruction in the art of speech.
3. Phrasing for Speech.—A phrase may be described as a more or less prolonged emission of vibrating breath formed into the sounds contained in the words of the sentence. These sounds should be made to flow out upon each breath and should not be popped out like corks from bottles. Continuous speech is divided up into phrases, to allow intervals for inspiration and to allow pauses that will help to give meaning to the sentences or give emphasis to certain words. These pauses are called rhetorical pauses (as opposed to those indicated by the ordinary punctuation used by printers, which are called grammatical pauses, since they are based upon the grammatical construction of the sentences). In phrasing sufficient time must be allowed for an easy and noiseless intake of air to replace that emitted as voice; also ample time must be given to |
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