c, ce, ci, sci, se, si, s, t, ti, like sh, as in ōçeǎnie, ocean, vicious, conscious, nauseous, session, sure, ratio, nation.

Silent letters are printed in Italics.

*This sound of ew occurs only after r.

INTRODUCTION.

ARTICULATION.

ARTICULATION is the act of forming with the organs of speech the elements of vocal language. Correct articulation is of the first importance, as without it there can be neither good reading nor good speaking. "A good articulation consists in giving every letter in a syllable its due proportion of sound according to the most approved custom of the best speakers, and in making such a distinction between the syllables of which words are composed that the ear shall readily distinguish their number and perceive at once to which syllable each letter belongs."

Articulation differs from pronunciation, in that it refers specially to the elementary sounds contained in words, without including accent.

PRONUNCIATION.

PRONUNCIATION is the utterance of words taken separately. It includes not only a correct articulation of the elements of a word, but also a proper placing of the accent.

A proper knowledge of the sounds of letters can be acquired only by example, and by the aid of such books as show the true pronunciation of words.

In ordinary conversation, or in such reading as imitates it, even the best speakers utter many letters with a quicker and more obscure sound than ought to be given to them in solemn discourse.

2 *

B

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That care which would be pedantic in ordinary conversation is absolutely necessary to good elocution, which demands that every word should be so uttered as to be distinctly understood.

ACCENT is the stress of voice which we place upon a particular syllable of a word to distinguish it from the other syllables. In pronouncing a word of more than one syllable, we always give more force or stress to one of the syllables than to the others. Besides this primary accent, when the word is long, we often give a secondary accent to another syllable, as to the second syllable of ar-tic ́-u-la′tion.

In words from the Latin and the Greek the accent is generally on the termination, while in words from the Saxon it is usually on the root. There can be but little elegance in the delivery of a speaker who does not pay close attention to the proper placing of the accent and to a distinct articulation of the unaccented syllables.

EMPHASIS.

EMPHASIS is the stress of voice which we lay upon some particular word or words, to distinguish them from the other words in a sentence. As accent gives force to a syllable and character to a word, so emphasis gives force to a word and character to a sentence. The right placing of the emphasis is therefore of equal importance with the right placing of the accent. In reading a sentence, we naturally, as the sense requires, give more force to some words than to others. The speaker or the reader must give constant attention to the meaning of what he utters, the only sure guide to which is a just conception of the sentiments he is about to deliver. He must, however, be on his guard against the use of too many emphatic