Stamering And Cognate Defects Of Speech Vol - Ii

MODES OF ENUNCIATION, ETC. 153

"No stammerers, I believe, hesitate in making vowel sounds,
or in speaking syllables commencing with vowels. For instance,

they can always say a, dl, eke, ire, onr, etc. But in attempting
to get out such words as ball, gaid, maul', leak, seek, speak, fire,

flour, power, growl, etc., they succeed only in giving a sound
which they know better than I can describe. Now, let a stam-
merer try the word speak. If he thought any one was expecting
something from him whom he was anxious to please, he would
give a sound something like esp, and balk. Let him stop right
there and say eke. He may now try them again in their order,
uttering them as two distinct syllables, and he has csp-eek;
zxxake it shorter and it becomes sp*€®k. Let him now try the
word commencement; pronounce it in this way: Kufo-um-muk-
ence~muh~mt; potatoes, puh-o-tuh-a-tuk-ws; pepper ^ puk-ep-
pnh«er* The same method can be applied to any word with
similar results. With a little practice the stammerer will be
able to speak the two parts of a divided syllable so quickly
that a hearer will hardly perceive the division* It will be seen
that in this method a lesser evil is incurred to eradicate a greater,
after which the former can certainly be overcome/1

We leave the comment to the reader*

Another expedient that Is occasionally recommended
consists in interpolating a more or less u inaudible "£ be-
tween the initial consonant and the following vowel™

C-halm on th-he 1-histcning ear of n-hight

C-home Heaven's m-helodious str-hain%

Wh-here w-hild J*hudea str-hetches f*har

Her s-Hlver-mantled pl-halns —
and so on.

The object of the aspirate is probably to open the
glottis, which It would doubtless do if physical stam-