application of the principles of Respiration, Inflexion, &c. Next, the principles of Modulation, and the notations of Force, Time, and Expression, should be made familiar, and the marked illustrations read with as much accuracy as possible. After this, there cannot be too much practice in Expressive Reading from the works of our poets and prose-writers, or from books of well-selected extracts. The custom of marking the leading expressions on the principles of notation given, will be found most useful in accustoming the mind, not only to read the words—the outward form of language but to discern the thoughts and feelings which they embody—the spirit and essence of language. To Stammerers, the Observations and Exercises on the Articulations, (Dictionary of English Sounds, Section second,) will be found of much practical value ; though the Author does not assert that they contain his complete system for the eradication of this distressing affection. No two cases of Stammering are precisely alike, and each case requires some peculiar modification in the plan of treatment. To have fully detailed his own modus operandi, in removing Vocal Impediments, would have been foreign to the proper objects of this Work, as well as professionally impolitic : the Author has, however, unreservedly communicated the principles on which the Cure of Stammering must in all cases be conducted. Early attention to impediments and defects of speech would, in almost every case, be successful in checking their formation, if Parents, Governesses, Tutors, and Teachers, were competent to direct the articulation aright. The necessary knowledge of the Principles of Speech, with many assistant exercises adapted for the youngest pupils, the following pages supply. A little pains taken to direct the first articulative efforts of children, would secure to them distinctness and fluency of utterance, and would render almost unknown that " cruel malady" STAMMERING, which “ Not only preys convulsive on the frame, In its harsh struggle for conceived sound- And spreads, like guilt, a terror o'er the mind.” This Work has had the advantage of a critical perusal, in proof, from the Author's Father, Mr Alexander Bell, Professor of Elocution, London, and from his Brother, Mr D. C. Bell, Professor of Elocution, Dublin; to both of whom it is indebted for many judicious emendations and suggestions. The Book will, it is hoped, be found as free from errors as could be expected in a work of such various and often difficult typography. EDINBURGH, 10th November, 1819. CONTENTS. Exercises to purify and strengthen the voice, Principles of healthful vocal respiration, Exercise to strengthen the respiration, Principles of vowel formation, Three organic classes of vowels, Second, Third, and Fourth Vowel Positions, Fifth and Sixth Vowel Positions, Seventh and Eighth Vowel Positions, The terms, “ Long, Short, Open, Shut,” &c., as applied to Vowels, 29 NUMERICAL NOTATION OF VOWEL-Sounds, Comparison of English and French Nasal Elements, Produced by distension of the Pharynx, Deficiency of Pharyngeal Power-how manifested, First mode of Articulative Action, Second mode of Articulative Action, GENERAL SCHEME OF ARTICULATIONS, TABLE OF ENGLISH ARTICULATIONS, Extract marked to illustrate the BREATH and Voice Distinction- "Great Effects from little Causes," Elementary Instruction in Speech Of Vowels-three primary degrees, Of Articulations-five primary degrees, Table of Elementary Quantities, Table of Initial Articulate Combinations, Table of Terminational Syllabic Combinations of Breath Articulations, 67 Quantitative Influence of Unaccented on Accented Syllables, First Vowel-Observations and Exercises, (including Directions for the correction of dialectic and other peculiarities,) 79 SECTION SECOND.-ARTICULATIONS, P_Observations and Exercises, (including Directions for the D,–Observations and Exercises, (including Directions for the removal of Defects and Impediments of Articulation,) page 176 Passages containing Double Articulations, Alliterations and Difficult Sequences, Illustrations of the fluctuating value of English letters, Table of the Sounds of the Vowel Marks, 6 the Marks of the Vowel Sounds, “ the Sounds of the Articulation Marks, " the Marks of the Articulations, NOTATION OF THE ELEMENTS OF SPEECH, Review of Mr Pitman's Phonographic Alphabet as a means of PRINCIPLES OF A New PAONOGRAPHIC SCHEME, Alphabet of Articulation Marks, C6 Emphatic Accentuation, RHYTHM, 1st Stage of Rhythmical Grouping, with Examples, 2d 3d 66 < 228 229 231 232 234 236 238 239 241 66 4th " 5th " 6th 66 7th " 66 66 << Over-estimate of by Modern Elocutionary Writers, Mechanism of the Simple Inflexions, Illustrations of the Mechanism of the Inflexions as applied to Words of various Accentual Construction, Compound Inflexions, Circumflexes or Waves, APPLICATION OF THE INFLEXIONS, Review OF SENTENTIAL RULES OF ELOCUTIONISTS, First Part of a Compact Sentence, The First Part of an Antithesis, Questions commencing with a Verb, Questions asked by Pronouns or Adverbs, Verb Questions of Two Parts connected by or, EXERCISES FOR THE ACQUIREMENT OP Vocal FLEXIBILITY, 255 Modulative and Emphatic Parsing, Modulation and Inflexion of Principal and Subordinate Clauses, 290 Notation of their leading varieties, RECAPITULATIVE TABLE of the Marks Employed in the Notation of Inflexion, Modulation, Force, Time, and Expression, ILLUSTRATIVE Passages MARKED FOR PRACTICE, 300_311 |