PART IV.

ELOCUTION.

READING is the art of receiving or imparting ideas by means of written or printed characters. It is silent or vo cal, sentential or oratorical.

Sentential reading has regard to the sense or thought of the composition; oratorical reading expresses not only the thought, but the emotion of the thought. To this end elocution is a means.

Elocution is the vocal delivery of extemporaneous or written composition, and includes vocal gymnastics and gesture.*

VOCAL GYMNASTICS.

Vocal gymnastics is the science and the art of speech. It includes orthoëpy, pitch, force, and time in the first, and orthophony in the second portion of the definition. Science teaches us to know, art to do. Science is classified knowledge, art is the use of classified knowledge.

The science of speech is the philosophy of the human voice-its relations, principles, and laws.

The art of speech is the use of these scientific facts.

1. ORTHOËPY treats of correct pronunciation. It includes articulation, enunciation, and pronunciation.

2. PITCH is any degree of elevation or height. In oratory, pitch is the position of voice upon the diatonic scale.

3. FORCE is the result of action. In oratory, force is the degree of intensity or energy with which words or their components are uttered.

4. TIME is a measured portion of duration. Time in oratory is the measure of rate or speed of utterance.

5. Orthophony is the training of the vocal organs in orthoëpy, pitch, force, and time.

* Gesture is not discussed as a science in this Manual, but has been treated with a view to assist the teacher or student in its application. See Gesture, p. 101.

ORTHOËPY.

ORTHOËPY treats of correct pronunciation, or the distinct and proper utterance of combined elements of language. First, we must consider the articulation of single elements; second, the enunciation of combined elements in whole syllables, or in parts of syllables; third, the pronunciation of words.

Though these three terms are often regarded as synonymous, yet a distinction is to be made in their use. In speaking of the general manner of delivery, elocution may be used instead of enunciation; as, “His elocution is good," not "His enunciation is good."

Articulation, resulting as it does from certain definite and unvarying configurations or movements of the vocal organs, is in its nature fixed; whereas pronunciation, dependent as it is upon good usage, custom, or fashion, is subject to change from time to time. One unit of speech or sound may be substituted for another in words of the same origin and meaning, as lände for land, honde (in Chaucer's time) for hånd (in our time), myselve for myself, etc. Sometimes the sounds are changed when the orthography is unchanged, as either and neither for either and neither.

Articulation, in the science of elocution, is the distinct utterance of the elementary sounds of a language.* This implies organs, their functions or offices, and the results. The organs of articulation may be classed in three groups; those of the chest, those of the throat, and those of the mouth. In the production of words, the first group performs the labor known as respiration, which furnishes breath, or material for sound; the function of the second group is phonation, or sound-making, and results in voice or sound; the function of the third group is articulation, or sound-modification, which results in units of speech or articulate sound.

* Utterance does not necessarily mean articulation; as, "He uttered a sigh,' ," "He uttered a moan." A sigh or moan is not articulate.

I. FIRST GROUP -CHEST ORGANS.

The organs of respiration, their functions, and results: 1. The muscles:

a. The abdominal (in front) give the first impulse toward the production of sound, and, by contracting, assist the diaphragm in an upward movement.

b. The dorsal (in the lower part of the back) act in concert with the abdominal muscles in giving an upward movement during violent use of the voice, as shouting, etc.

c. The intercostal (at the lower part of the chest), and, d. The thoracic and pectoral (at the upper part of the chest), dilate and contract the chest in breathing or vocalizing.

2. The diaphragm, or midriff (a muscular and tendinous partition which separates the thorax, or great chest cavity, from the abdomen), gives an upward impulse, acting upon the pleura, or lung-case.

3. The thorax, or chest cavity (the region of body between the neck and stomach), continues the great work of respiration by contracting and expanding, and gives depth and resonance to the voice, as well as voice-material, or breath,

4. The pleura, or lung-case (a membrane covering the lungs), receives from the diaphragm and muscles an impulse, which it communicates to the lungs, causing it to expel the air from its cells into the bronchi.

5. The lungs (a lobed and spongy body filled with minute divisions and subdivisions of the bronchi) act as an air receiver, subject to the action of the pleura.

6. The bronchi (two main branches of the trachea, or windpipe, with their divisions and subdivisions) distribute the air inhaled through the trachea to the lungs, and convey that expelled by the organic impulse back through the trachea, larynx, and mouth.

7. The trachea, or windpipe (a series of cartilaginous or gristly rings forming the great air-channel to and from the lungs), serves to conduct the breath through the bronchi to and from the lungs in respiration, phonation, and articulation.