our "w" sound; the persistent Chinaman develops the muscle of his tongue in the transformation of "lice" into "rice.' But the vast majority of our own speakers who exhaust the ears and patience of audiences with their mumbled words could, if asked to repeat any sentence, articulate with perfect distinctness.

With these people it is not a question of organic defect, nor of absolute misplacements of the organs of articulation; they are easily able to make every consonant sound. But in their habitual manner of speaking they are satisfied to make loose articulations, approximately correct placements of the lips, teeth and tongue. To illustrate concretely, they may articulate the "f" in "fine" so indefinitely that the listener understands the word to be "pine"; or their "t" and "th" sounds are so slightly distinguished that their "thanks" are apt to pass for "tanks." Now the simple fact to be observed is that the consonants of a language can be produced in only one way, and that with exactness and energy in the placing of the lips, teeth or tongue as the case may require. It is not enough to be approximately correct. It is possible, of course, to articulate so precisely, so 'nicely," as to sound affected, but such an unfortunate result of carefulness is so rare as to be negligible. Certainly it is not a danger of such magnitude as to excuse or explain the slovenliness

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of modern American speech. And, for the public speaker, indistinctness, or any other speech defect, is likely to spell failure. Demosthenes was not thinking of his health when he used to practice speaking with pebbles in his mouth to overcome

a stammer.

C. MODULATION

Regard for distinctness is scarcely more essential to effective speaking than is careful attention to quality, pitch and volume of voice, and rate of utterance. We shall consider these factors with a view to securing the most pleasing, clear and forceful expression of the speaker's thoughts and emotions.

I. Pleasing Expression

a. Voice Quality

Pleasing vocal expression is clear and resonant in quality, and varying within moderate limits of pitch, volume and rate. A clear and resonant voice quality depends largely upon an open throat and unobstructed nasal passages. If the speaker "talks in his throat," he is constricting the flexible walls of the voice-box and throat, with the inevitable result of huskiness, harshness, and a lack of carrying power. If he "talks through his nose" (as the popular expression misleadingly puts it),

he is, in reality, closing the nasal passages so that little or no air can escape by way of the nostrils. This results in the same disagreeable sound as is produced by speaking with the nostrils pinched together. If the student is troubled with either a throaty or nasal voice, he can improve his quality by exercise on the vowels a-e-i-o-u with a view to producing clear, open tones which get their resonance well up in the back of the mouth and in the nasal chambers without any strain on the throat.

Fortunately no unusual, "professional" kind of voice is desirable for pleasing, and otherwise effective, public address. The normal quality is emphatically the best. As soon as a speaker begins with a hollow, stilted, "oratorical" tone which goes with, "Let us stretch our ears back and listen to the distant rumblings through the corridors of time," the audience tends to go to sleep or leave the room. On the other hand, the quality which pleases an audience is the sincere, natural quality which a person would use in an interesting discussion with a friend. Even if one is speaking in a large auditorium, the added carrying power should be given by increasing the force and speaking with especial distinctness—not by changing to a bellowing orotund.

b. Inflection

To produce a pleasing impression, the inflection, i. e., the raising and lowering of pitch, should be within moderate limits-neither so low that the words cannot be easily heard, nor ever reaching a height where shrillness begins and the voice is liable to break. At the same time, the tone should be kept moving, irregularly of course, in keeping with the sense, up and down the scale to avoid monotony. Here again no better standard can be suggested than a slight extension of the range employed by the interested participants in a conversation. The desirability of making the inflection more marked than in ordinary conversation is, first, that the speaker is usually farther from his listeners; and, secondly, that the extended range of inflection helps to express the vital interest which the speaker must employ in order to arouse and sustain the real attention of his listeners. It might be supposed, perhaps, that a speaker who has the proper interest in his subject and audience will naturally use a bright and attractive pitch modulation. If he does, it is well. But in many cases persons whose modulations in private conversation are all that could be desired. become hollow in voice quality, monotonous in pitch and rate, and ineffective in emphasis when brought face to face with an audience. If the

student of speaking can, therefore, keep constantly before him the idea that he is not to "orate at" his auditors, but to talk interestingly to them, his pitch and many other things, noted throughout the book, will be greatly helped.

c. Force and Rate

Among other things pleasingly regulated by a slightly modified conversational style of address are force and rate. Naturally, the volume should be somewhat greater in public address than in ordinary conversation, and the rate a little slower. It is distinctly annoying to an audience to listen to a speaker whose voice is so lacking in force (volume) that a constant strain is necessary in order to hear what he says. Quite as displeasing is the speaker who talks loudly, as if he were addressing a company of deaf people. Even an occasionally stentorian outburst is to be avoided, for the speaker who pleases never shouts. Neither does he rush through his sentences, nor drag out his words, one by one.

We have seen that the essentials of attractive speaking are: a clear, resonant, normal quality of voice; pitch, force and rate conversational, with the first somewhat more extended in range, the second slightly increased, and the last slightly decreased; and a general avoidance of extremes.