An eminent platform speaker says: "If you wish to be effective in your delivery, you will need to be absolutely accurate in your pronunciation." One of the first essentials of a good speaking voice is clear, distinct enunciation. "To utter articulately," is one of the definitions given by Webster for the verb "enunciate." And all authoritative public readers and speakers assent to the proposition that faultless articulation is a prime requisite to accuracy in pronunciation.
One of the most pleasing and impressive public readers of the French stage fifty and more years ago, was Monvel. We are told that the secret of his success was his exquisite articulation, acquired by untiring practice, and that he began life with little or no voice power. We need to remember that no word is correctly pronounced which is not distinctly articulated. A distinguished teacher of oral expression gives this bit of counsel: "Concentrate primarily on articulation in your voice work." One simply cannot ignore clear, distinct enunciation, and at the same time expect to grow in popularity as a public speaker or platform teacher.
It is scarcely necessary to add that placing the accent on the wrong syllable, or giving the wrong sound to an accented vowel, results unfailingly in a mispronunciation.
Observe how each of the following words illustrates the vulgar absence of articulation by the omission (elision) of a legitimate syllable or consonant, or by the insertion (interpolation) of an alien syllable or consonant: (See PDF)
We close this article with a few notable citations:
Ruskin wrote: "An accomplished education must include full command of expression by language."
John Quincy Adams: "The training of the speaker should begin in boyhood, and should be part and parcel of the lessons of the school."
Dr. Charles W. Eliot declared: "A man is educated when he can speak the language of his own country correctly. Nothing is more useful than to speak distinctly."
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