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Full text of "The faults of speech : a self-corrector and teachers' manual"

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1423 



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THE 

FAULTS OF 

* 

A Self-Corrector vA:.. 



AND 



TEACHERS' MANUAL 



BY 



ALEXANDER MELVILLE BELL 



SIXTH' EDITION 



WASHINGTON, D. C. 
THE VOLTA BUREAU, 1601 35TH ST. N. W. 

1916 



Copyright, 1898, by 
THE VOLTA BUREAU 




ALEXANDER MELVILLE BELL, F.E.T.S,. F.R S.S A., F.A.A.A.S. 



PREFACE. 



| HIS little work supplies a want of which 
I have been frequently reminded dur- 
ing my professional career. In revising the 
4 ' Principles of Speech and Vocal Plrysiology ". 
for a new edition in 1863, a section of the 
book was devoted to the "Cure of Stammer- 
ing;" and in another section the " Diction - 
ary of Sounds" reference was made under 
each consonant to the defects to which the 
element was subject : but a complete separate 
treatise on the FAULTS OF SPEECH has not 
hitherto been published. 

I am glad to be able still, to add to my 
professional publications one which, I hope 
and believe, will prove not the least useful of 
the whole. A. M. B. 

TUTELO HEIGHTS, 
BRANTFORD, OXT., April, 1880. 



CONTENTS. 



ELEMENTARY SOUNDS 1 

Corrective Training 5 

Organic Defects 7 

IMPEDIMENTS OF SPEECH . . . . 9 

Nervousness 10 

Stammering a Habit 11 

Systems of Cure 12 

Self-effort Necessary ... .13 

Temporary Relief 14 

THE CURE or STAMMERING . . . .17 
The Breath. Atmospheric Pressure ; Air 
Channels ; Inspiration and Expira- 
tion 17-18 

The Voice. Exercise, Continuity of 
Voice; How to learn Elementary 
Sounds; Difficult Elements . 19-23 
Organic Regulation. The Mouth; The 
Jaw; The Head; Spasmodic Ac- 
tions 24-26 

Self-Observation 27 

Capricious Difficulties .... 28 
Aggravants of Difficulty . . . .29 



672799 



vi CONTENTS. 

MINOR FAULTS 30 

Nasalizing 30 

The Aspirate 32 

Vocal Consonants ...... 33 

Thickness of Speech 34 

ORATORICAL FAULTS ...... 35 

Conversational Slurring . . . .35 

Sustained Voice 36 

Mai-Respiration 38 

ORGANIC SUBSTITUTIONS 40 

POSTSCRIPT 61 

APPENDIX . . . . . . . 67 



THE FAULTS OF SPEECH. 



ELEMENTARY SOUNDS. 

| HE processes of speech are mechanical, 
but they are intimately associated with 
mental operations. Sometimes the mechanical 
processes are mismanaged, and sometimes the 
intellectual associations are imperfect. In the 
latter case, expression is tardy or inexact ; in 
the former, utterance is interrupted or vitiated. 
The two kinds of defect may be combined, or 
either may exist separately. Stammering, 
stuttering, etc. are, for the most part, mechan- 
ical defects; drawling, hemming, and uh 
uh hesitation are, in great measure, faults of 
the intellect. The observations in this work 
will have reference to failures in the mechan- 
ical execution of speech. 



2 HIE FAULTS OF SPEECH. 

The fact that " everybody speaks," and yet 
not ,o:ie ( person in a thousand knows how he 
Gp<;ak ; and that children talk the language 
,of their nurses be it English, French, Ger- 
nvu>,' "Italian, Indian, Patois, or whatever else 
proves that language is normally acquired 
by imitation. A child imitates with more or 
less accuracy the general effect of the sounds 
it hears ; but, in doing so, makes many sub- 
stitutions of easier for more difficult actions 
of the organs of speech. The lips and the 
forepart of the tongue are the first of the ar- 
ticulating organs to be brought into use ; and 
u tum," u tat" and "tate" in most cases sat- 
isfy the child's apprehension of the words 
"come," "cat" and "cake." The action of 
the back of the tongue is often not acquired 
for years. Infantile defects are unwisely en- 
couraged by parents, who with the requisite 
knowledge might enable their children to 
pronounce correctly as soon as they begin to 
prattle at all. There can be no doubt that 
the most serious blemishes and impediments 
arise from parental neglect or rather ignor- 
ance in this respect. When a child says 
"turn" for "come," and "tin" for "king," 



ELEMENTARY SOUNDS. 3 

Jie correct articulation will be induced almost 
at the first trial by the simple expedient of 
holding down the forepart of the tongue with 
the finger. The effort to imitate the general 
effect will then force the back of the tongue 
into action ; and in a few da}^s at most, the 
child will, without any assistance, form A;, g 
and ng where before it could only utter t, d 
and n. 

The "shut" consonants (p, t, k, b, d, g) are 
the most easily acquired, and children conse- 
quentty pronounce p instead of the more dif- 
ficult /, and t instead of th. A few minutes 
devoted to amusing exercise will conquer this 
difficulty. Thus: tell the child to bite his 
lower lip, and blow, and he will form a tol- 
erable / at once ; or to bite his tongue, and 
blow, and a passable th will be the result. 
The sounds of s and sh are often for a long 
time confounded ; also those of s and th. The 
sound of s will be obtained from th by drawing 
back or, if assistance is needed, by push- 
ing back the tip of the tongue till it is free 
from the teeth. The teeth require to be very 
close for s, but there will be room to insert 
the edge of a paper-cutter to play the tongue 



THE FAULTS OF SPEECH. 

into position. The sound of sh will be ob- 
tained from s by drawing or pushing back 
the body of the tongue till it is free from the 
gum. The sibilation of sli is formed between 
the middle of the tongue and the palate, modi 
fied by a degree of elevation of the point of 
the tongue also : that of s is formed between 
the point of the tongue and the upper gum, 
modified by a degree of convexity of the mid- 
dle of the tongue : and that of tli is formed 
between the tip of the tongue and the upper 
teeth, with the edges of the tongue flattened 
against the side teetn to obstruct the breath 
at all points but the tip. 

The sounds of / and r are generally the last 
to be mastered by a child. The I resembles 
th in having the point of the tongue in con- 
tact (preferably with the gum) , but the sides 
of the tongue, instead of being flattened 
against the teeth, are free from lateral con- 
tact, so that the breath passes over the sides, 
R resembles s in having the point of the 
tongue raised to the upper gum, but the mid- 
dle of the tongue, instead of being convex r 
is depressed so that the breath strikes sharply 
on the free tip of the tongue. The sound of 



CORRECTIVE TRAINING. 

y resembles sh in having the middle of the 
tongue arched towards the palate, but without 
the elevation of the forepart of the tongue, 
which is a necessary part of the modification 
of sh. 

Corrective Training. 

A VERY little attention on the part of par- 
ents would secure their children against artic- 
ulative blemishes which otherwise disfigure 
them for life ; and which are often the first 
causes of the most painful impediments. In- 
stead of being satisfied with the child's im- 
perfect imitation of the general effect of 
concrete utterances in words and sentences, 
parents should require an exact reproduction 
however slowly of syllables, and, if ncc- 
essaiy, of elementar} 7 sounds. This of course 
implies that parents can themselves analyze 
their utterance into s} T llables and elements. 
Few persons can do so with entire accurac}' : 
but the attempt, though imperfect, will put 
the child in the right way to correct himself. 

Some children manifest a degree of inapti- 
tude for speech, probably from defective im- 
itation, or it may be from intellectual dulness ; 



6 THE FAULTS OF SPEECH. 

so that a child of three or four years of age 
will be no farther advanced than an average 
child of two or three. The faculty of imita- 
tion becomes almost inoperative after the earli- 
est 3^ears, and special care should be given in? 
such cases to establish a habit of distinct 
elementary and syllabic utterance so far aa 
ability extends, and to prevent the formation 
of a habit of defect. It is certainty true that 
a child who fails to pronounce the whole of a 
word can be made to reproduce its s}'llables, 
or its elements, one by one ; and as the long- 
est utterance is made up of s}'llables, these 
only should be required of the learner. Fac- 
ility of combination will infallibly come with 
practice, if patience and skill are displayed to 
regulate the analytic utterance of the back- 
ward child. 

There is then no justification for allowing 
lisping, burring, lallation and other elementary 
defects to become fixed into habits. True, 
the}' be corrected at any time, with but little 
trouble ; yet "prevention is better than cure," 
and such elementary disfigurements of aduli 
speech ought to have been rendered impossible 
by attention in the nursery and school-room. 



ORGANIC DEFECTS. 1 

Organic Defects. 

ORGANIC causes of difficult}' sometimes pre- 
sent themselves. When the formation of the 
jaws is such that the teeth cannot be brought 
evenly in line, the sibilant sounds s and z will 
be defective ; when the tongue is too closety 
tied to the lower jaw, the sounds of , d, n, I 
and r will be wanting in clearness. The den- 
tist may do much to rectify the former mal- 
formation ; and the surgeon, by the simple 
operation of snipping the frsenum that binds 
the tongue, may give the requisite freedom in 
the latter case. 

A more serious organic cause of defective 
speech is cleft palate, when an opening exists , 
between the mouth and the nasal passage. 
The breath, which requires to be shut within 
the mouth for p-b, t-d, fc-g, escapes by the 
nose, and a percussive articulation is impossi- 
ble. In most cases a skilful dentist can cover 
the fissure in the palate by a suction-plate, 
and the power of clear enunciation may thus 
be obtained. Cleft palate causes all vowels 
to be nasalized ; but frequently the fault of 
nasalizing vowels is merely habitual, without 



8 



THE FAULTS OF SPEECH. 



any organic cause. As with the mechanism 
of consonants, so with that of vowels : habits 
of mal-pronunciation may be prevented more 
easily than rectified ; and among other imper- 
fections, that of nasalizing is perfectly suscep- 
tible of preventive or corrective training. 




IMPEDIMENTS OF SPEECH. 

JAR more serious than any of the ele- 
mentaiy defects hitherto noticed are 
those affections of speech which create an im- 
: pediment to utterance. These are known by 
the names of stuttering, stammering, spas- 
.modic hesitation, etc. Their common charac- 
teristic is involuntary action of the organs, 
which are not obedient to the will. In stut- 
tering, the articulating organs the lips and 
tongue rebound again and again before the 
sequent vowel can find egress. The mouth 
opens and shuts in vain effort to act on the 
throat ; and the throat opens and shuts in vain 
effort to act on the diaphragm. From the 
rocking head to the fluttering chest there is a 
general want of precision in the attempt to 
articulate. In stammering, the breathing is 
entirely deranged the normal actions of the 
Behest and diaphragm are reversed the breath 

9 




10 THE FAULTS OF SPEECH. 

is inspired in the attempt to speak ; the throat 
is shut in the attempt to form sound ; the voice 
is fitfully ejected or restrained ; and the articu- 
lating organs when they meet remain insepar- 
able, as if glued together. In spasmodic 
hesitation there is a futile straining, often 
silent and choking, but occasionally frightfully 
demonstrative. The eyeballs protrude, the 
veins of the neck start out, the face is suf- 
fused and contorted, and the muscles of the 
whole body are spasmodically affected. 

No sharp line of demarcation can be drawn 
between these varieties of impediment. Loose 
stuttering is apt to pass into compressive 
stammering from the dread of ridicule in- 
spired by consciousness of peculiarity ; and 
the worst features of spasmodic difficulty ma}' 
supervene, from the increase of sensitiveness 
and the bitterness of disappointed effort. 

Nervousness. 

NOTWITHSTANDING the manifest nervousness 
of the majority of stammerers, they are rarely- 
persons of weak nerves under ordinary cir- 
cumstances. Their nervousness is associated 
only with speaking, and it is much more likely 




STAMMERING A HABIT. 11 

to have arisen as a consequence of impedi- 
ment, than to have been as many imagine 
a cause of the malady. The true cause prob- L 
ably lies far back in childhood, when some 
slight imperfection has been harshly corrected 
or mocked ; or when weakness of the system- 
after illness has made the child peculiarly sen- 
sitive under ordinary difficulties. The slight- 
est beginning at that period may lead on to 
the most, aggravated form of impediment. 
Even a casual example may exite imitation at 
the time when that faculty is the strongest in 
>ur nature, and so enslave the little mimic. 
Many isolated cases are believed to have had 
no other than this simple origin. 

Stammering a Habit. 

THE frequent occurrence of stammering 
among members of the same family has led 
many persons to imagine that the affection 
was transmitted hereditarily, and that conse 
quently it was an incurable affliction of the 
constitution. But there is no ground for such 
a supposition, opposed as it is to the manifest 
nature of the impediment pertaining only to 
speech, which is altogether artificial and no- 



12 THE FAULTS OF SPEECH. 

part of our physical endowment. A full con- 
sideration of the subject and a wide experi- 
ence with all varieties of the impediment lead 
to the settled conviction that stammering is 
v >a habit only the formation of which may be 
entirely prevented by precautionary training 
in childhood ; the growth of which may be 
easily checked before it is aggravated by the 
excitements of school ; and the uprooting of 
which ma}' be accomplished at any. stage by 
intelligent care and perseverance. 

Systems of Cure. 

THE stammerer's difficulty is : where to turn 
for effective assistance. Certainly not to an}' 
pretender who veils his method in convenient 
secrecy, nor to an}' who profess to c 4 charm " 
awa}' the impediment or to effect a cure in 
a single lesson ! Not to any whose "system" 
involves drawling, singing, sniffing, whistling, 
stamping, beating time all of which expedi- 
ents have constituted the "curative" means 
of various charlatans ; nor to any who bridle 
the mouth with mechanical appliances forks 
on the tongue, tubes between the lips, bands 
over the larynx, pebbles in the mouth, etc., 



SELF- EFFORT NECESSARY. 1& 

etc. The habit of stammering can only be 
counteracted by the cultivation of a habit of 
correct speaking founded on the application 
of natural principles. Respecting these there 
is no mystery except what arises from the little 
attention that has been paid to the science of 
speech. 

Instruction must be sought from teachers 
whose professional position is a guarantee 
against deception. If no encouragement were 
given by too credulous stammerers to the craft 
of unqualified u professors," respectable teach- 
ers would prepare themselves by special study 
for this important department of work, and. 
the stammerer's perplexity to find trustworthy 
skill would be at an end. 

Self-effort Necessary. 

BUT with the best assistance the stammerer 
must work out his own cure. He cannot be 
passive in the matter. He must clearly ap- 
prebend the principles on which he is to pro- 
ceed, and diligently apply them. Nor must 
he, in this, depend too much on the watchful- 
ness of his instructor, but must learn to watch 
over himself. His perfect release from the 



14 T1IE FAULTS OF SPEECH. 

habit will require time, patience, and hopeful 
energetic effort. 

Temporary Relief. 

IMMEDIATE temporary relief from the chok- 
ing and spasmodic contortions of the impedi- 
ment is generall}' obtained when the art of 
managing the breath is acquired and this is 
often in a single lesson. The stammerer is 
apt to be unduly elated at this stage, and to 
relax his watchfulness. A relapse is aim oat I 
certain to be the consequence. Besides, other 
functional difficulties will present themselves, 
-each of which must be encountered in a cour- 
ageous spirit, and mastered separately. 

The following practical directions are de- 
signed for the use of stammerers who may 
attempt their own cure, as well as for the 
guidance of parents, governesses and school 
teachers. 



PRACTICAL DIRECTIONS 



FOK THE 



CURE OF STAMMERING 



AND 



MINOR DEFECTS. 



THE CURE OF STAMMERING. 

The Breath. Atmospheric Pressure. 

|N normal breathing the lungs are filled 
by atmospheric pressure, to the extent 
of the cavity within the chest. There is no 
suction no effort. In deep breathing, as be- 
fore a sigh, the inspiration is equally easy and 
unlabored. The cavity within the chest is in- 
creased by descent of the diaphragm the 
muscular base of the chest as well as by 
expansion of the bony framework the ribs, 
etc. but atmospheric pressure fills out the 
lungs to occupy the entire space created within 
the chest. 

Air Channels. 

THE external apertures for the entrance of 
: ,he air are the mouth and nostrils. Both these 
passages meet behind the mouth, in the pliar- 
fnx ; and the pharynx communicates with the 

17 



18 THE FAULTS OF SPEECH. 

windpipe. At the top of the windpipe, be- 
tween it and the pharynx, is the organ of 
Voice the laiynx through which all air 
entering the lungs, and all breath leaving 
them, must pass. In order to make inspiration 
silent and effortless there must be no obstruc- 
tion or constriction in any part of the passage. 
Stammerers attempt to "draw" in air while 
the aperture of the larynx is either closed or 
greatly narrowed, and even while the mouth- 
passage is similarly obstructed by positions of 
the tongue. The first point to be impressed 
on the stammerer's mind, then, is that the 
lungs fill themselves that no effort of suction 
is required ; but that if he merely raise the 
chest, with the passage to the windpipe open, 
he cannot prevent the lungs from filling . 

Inspiration and Expiration. 

NEXT, considering that air entering the 
lungs and breath escaping from them must 
pass through the same channel, it is obvious 
that the acts of inspiration and expiration 
must be alternate, and cannot possibly take 
place simultaneously. Stammerers, however, 
endeavour to draw in air at the same time that 



THE VOICE. li> 

they are making muscular efforts to expel the L 
breath. The first condition of free respiration 
is, then, a silent pause to replenish the lungs 
Again, in stammering, the chest is violently 
heaved and pressed down, and the action of 
the diaphragm is downwards instead of up- 
wards. The action of the diaphragm may be 
distinctly seen in the motion of the abdomen. 
When the diaphragm falls (in inspiration) the 
abdomen slightly protrudes ; and when the 
diaphragm rises (in expiration) the abdomen 
falls inward. The chest should rise and fall 
but little ; it should be kept moderately raised 
throughout speech, and the principal action of 
respiration should be in the diaphragm. The 
requisite motion, however, is very slight, and 
entirely free from jerking. The stammerer \ 
must practise the acts of inspiration and ex- 
piration until they are practically, as well as 
theoretically, faultless. 

The Voice. 

VOICE is formed by the breath in its_jaut- ^ 
wardj>assage setting in vibration the edges 
c )f the aperture of the larynx the glottis. 
Stammerers often endeavour to form voice with, 



20 THE FAULTS OF SPEECH. 

ingoing air ; but in general the}' close the ^ 
glottis in the effort to vocalize. This of course 
stops the breath, and hence the, choking and 
other distressing symptoms of the impediment. 

Voice is the material of Speech. This fact,^ 
in all its meaning, the stammerer has to learn. 
His efforts are always directed elsewhere than 
to the organ of voice. He moves the head, 
he moves the jaw, he moves the tongue, he 
moves his limbs, in the vain attempt to force 
out sound, the production of which he is all 
the time preventing, by closing the passage 
through which only voice can come. Voice 
being the material of speech, the speaker must 
have voice, whatever else he lacks. The stam- 
merer must not stint himself of this material, 
nor must he cut it into shreds and fragments ; 
but he must acquire command of a full, strong, * 
unbroken stream of sound. 

Exercise Continuity of Voice. 

HAVING mastered the art of regulating the 
breath, the stammerer's next step must be to 
practise the continuous production of voice. 
He should confine himself to this exercise 
until he has become perfectly familiar with all 



ELEMENTARY SOUNDS. 21 

vocal elements ; repeating them first one by 
one, then in long sequences, and then in com- 
binations, but always without a break in the 
continuity of the sound. 

The following are the elements for this ex- 
> ercise, all of which may be prolonged ad lib- 
Hum : 

a, e, i, o, u, ah, aw, oo, oi, ou ; 
1, m, n, ng, v, dh, z, zh, w, y. 

These elements are not to be considered as 
"vowels" and tfc consonants," but simply r as 
voices, each of which has precisely the same 
sound in the throat ; their differences arising 
solely from the shape of the mouth-passage. 

It must be carefully noted that the names 
of the letters will be useless for this exercise ; 
the actual sounds of the elements must be 
pronounced. 

How to Learn Elementary Sounds. 

THE reader unaccustomed to phonetic analy* 
sis will have no difficulty in isolating the act- 
ual elementary sounds, if ne will simply pro- 
long for some seconds the elements printed in 



22 THE FAULTS OF SPEECH. 

capitals in the following words, as commonly 
pronounced : 

feeL, seeM, vaiN, soNG, leaVe, wiTH(dh), 
iS(z), rouGe(zh) ; We, Yes, Ale, An, EEL 
End, Isle(ahee), In, Old, On, Use(yoo). 
Us, Arm (ah), All (aw), OOze, OWl(ahoo), 
Oil (awee) . 

The use to be made of the power which will 
be developed by this exercise is all-important, 
The sensation of throat-action must never be 
lost in speaking. When old tendencies in- 
cline to false effort, the stammerer will feel 
himself off the voice, like a locomotive off the 
rails. Then, instead of plunging about wildly 
at random, he must stop, and carefully put 
himself upon the track again. 

There are three elements of speech which 
have obstructed vocality, and cannot be pro- 
longed. These are B, D, and G (as in go) 
The}' are often terrible stumbling-blocks to the 
stammerer : but his never to be forgotten tal- 
isman is : VOICE ! No mouth-action must be 
allowed to interfere with throat-sound ! 

There is another class of elements which 
are entirely non-vocal, and which therefore 
tend strongly to throw the stammerer ' ' off the 



DIFFICULT ELEMENTS. 23 

voice." These are P, T, K, F, Wh, Th, S, 
Sh, H. Each of these should be practised 
separately, in connection with a vowel ; and 
with the principle constant!}" before the mind 
that no mouth-action must be allowed to in- 
terfere with the flow of throat-sound. 

Difficult Elements. 

ELEMENTS that present special difficult}' must 
be made the subject of special exercise, thus : 
Prolong any throat-sound, say the vowel a/i, 
and without stopping the sound introduce the 
mouth-action to be practised, say B, thus : 

ah bah bah bah bah, etc. 

It will be found that the mouth-action does 
not interfere with the continuity of the throat- 
sound. The exercise must be continued until 
the true relation between the two kinds of ele- 
ments is distinctly felt and established in the 
mind. 

The relation between the throat and the 
mouth in speech will be understood when it is 
stated to be the same as that between the 
sound-producing part of \\\Q flute the mouth - 
hole and the sound-modifying parts the 



24 THE FAULTS OF SPEECH. 

finger-holes. The action of the fingers modi- 
fies, without interrupting, the sound produced 
at the mouth-hole ; and so the mouth-actions 
in speech modify, without interrupting, the 
sound produced in the throat. This relation 
must be established practically, in connection 
with the elements of speech, in cases of stam- 
mering, and all difficulty, and dread of diffi- 
culty, will certainly sooner or later disappear. 
A few other directions will complete all 
that is necessary to be attended to in overcom- 
ing the habit of stammering. 

The Mouth a Tube. 

FROM what has been already said, it will be 
understood that all effort thrown into the 
mouth, jaw, lips or tongue, is futile. The 
mouth should be as nearly as possible passive, 
a mere tube or funnel for the deliveiy of throat- 
sound. The mouth-tube is constantly varying 
in shape ; but it is always a transmitter only, 
and never an originator of sound. 

The Jaw. 

A GREAT deal of the stammerer's difficulty 
will consist in subduing the upward pressure 



THE HEAD. 2& 

of the jaw. Whatever action the jaw has" 1 
should be downward ; but there must be no 
pressure, even in the right direction. The 
practice of throwing the effort of speech back 
to the throat will, however, speedily relieve 
the tendency of the mouth-organs to cling to- 
gether. 

When mechanical assistance ma}' be neces- 
sar} T , a paper-cutter held against the edges ot 
the upper teeth will manifest an} r undue up- 
ward motion of the jaw, while it will not pre- 
vent the mouth from opening. The paper- 
cutter must not be held between, or by, the 
teeth. When the maxillary difficulty has been 
overcome, the lower teeth should not once 
touch the paper-cutter, in reading or speaking. 
A gentle contact will be almost unavoidable 
in forming the hissing sounds, but even this 
should be prevented in curative exercise. t 

The Head. 

A LOOSE rising motion of the head is almost 
a universal feature in stammering. This must r I 
be subdued before power can be obtained over ' 
the organs of speech. The head should be 
firmly on the neck, so that even a con- 



56 THE FAULTS OF SPEECH. 

siderable pressure would not force it back 
At the same time there should be no stiffness 
to interfere with free motion. The fault con- 
sists in lifting the head, as a part of the action 
of speech ; and it is often a source of very 
great difficulty. The jaw cannot be controlled 
while its fulcrum, the head, is unstable and 
yielding. 

Spasmodic Actions. 

WITH reference to the spasmodic actions of 
stammering, which sometimes extend over the 
whole bod}', no specific directions are needed. 
The} T invariably disappear when the breathing 
is relieved. 

There is nothing to prevent a stammerer 
who will thoroughly master the principles laid 
down in this Treatise and diligently and watch 
fully exercise his voice, from perfectly throw- 
ing off the fetters of impediment. Many 
exercises will be found in the Author's "Prin- 
ciples of Speech," which will be of service. 
But, while a study of the whole subject, and 
.a knowledge of all the organic actions, as ex- 
hibited in " Visible Speech," are desirable, if 
-not necessary, for teachers, stammerers should 



SELF- OB SEE VA TION. 2 7 

mot allow the mind to be diverted from the 
direct and simple means of cure sufficiently 
set forth in these pages. 

Self- Observation. 

ONE important hint remains to be given. 
With all persons speech-actions are so purely 
habitual that without watchful observation 
faults m&y long remain undiscovered. This 
is especially true in reference to the minutiae 
of the organic actions on the rectification of 
which success depends in cases of defect or 
impediment. The stammerer will therefore 
find the use of a mirror a most valuable auxil- 
iary in his efforts at self-correction. In carry- 
ing out the prescribed principles for the 
regulation of the breath, the control of the 
head and the jaw, the proper mechanism of 
elementary sounds, etc., let the stammerei 
seat himself before a mirror, and he will learn 
man} r things of which he might otherwise have 
-continued unconscious. Even teachers, in 
dealing with defects and impediments of 
speech, should place their pupils before a mir- 
ror, as the readiest means of giving them 
command over the organs of articulation. To 



8 THE FAULTS OF SPEECH. 

this use of the principle of "reflection" as an 
aid to self-government, the poet's denuncia- 
tion of 

"Attitude and stare, and start theatric 
Practised at the glass," 

has no applicability. The vocal action of 
singers, as well as speakers, would less fre- 
quently offend the eye if students were taught 
to exercise the voice before a glass, that they 
might "see themselves as others see them." 

Capricious Difficulties. 

IT is a very curious circumstance that stam- 
merers who are powerless in the presence of 
friends or strangers, generally declare that 
they can speak freely when alone. A child, 
however, or even a cat, in the room is enough 
to destroy their freedom. The proper use to 
make of this fact should be to build on it as 
a ground of hopefulness and confidence ; for 
it proves that no organic cause exists to pre- 
vent success, and thus disposes of the mys- 
terious dread of physical entailment. But 
stammerers are often the victims of man}- 
equalty groundless fancies: supposing their 
infirmity to be affected by certain states of the 



OF DIFFICULTY. 29 



atmosphere, the direction of the wind, or the 
phases of the moon ! Those who look for 
such associations are pretty sure to find them. 
But they carry the seekers back to the clays 
of witchcraft and the "evil eye" to da}'s of 
ignorance ! 

Aggravants of Difficulty. 

THE function of articulation like ever} T 
other function is, of course, affected by the 
condition of the health deranged digestion, 
depression of spirits, physical debility, etc. ; 
but these aggravants are not to be confounded 
with original causes of the difficulty. The 
former will disappear and still leave the latter 
behind. The stammerer must cast off idle 
superstitious fears and fancies, and set to 
work to stud}' and observe. He will undoubt- 
edl} T find that " Knowledge is power;" and 
that, with knowledge, "Patience and perse- 
verance will conquer all difficulties." 



MINOR FAULTS. 

Nasalizing. 

JHE soft palate which hangs at the back 
of the mouth acts as a valve on the 
passage to the nose. When the top of the 
soft palate is arched backwards from its point 
of junction with the hard palate, it covers the 
internal nasal aperture, and the breath passes 
altogether through the mouth. When the soft 
palate is relaxed and pendent from the edge 
of the hard palate, the breath passes partly 
through the nose and partly through the 
mouth ; and when the mouth-passage is closed 
(by means of the back of the tongue, as in ng; 
the forepart of the tongue, as in n; or the 
lips, as in m) the breath passes altogether by 
the nose. A knowledge of these facts will- 
enable any person to correct the habit of na- 
salizing vowels. 

The chief difficult}- lies in the recognition 
80 



NASALIZING. 31 

by the ear of pure oral and mixed nasal qual- 
ity. The action of the soft palate ma}-, how- 
ever, be seen, by opening the mouth very wide 
in pronouncing the vowels ah and aw. Then, 
by pressing on the top of the soft palate with 
the thumb, or with the india-rubber end of a 
pencil, the internal nasal aperture will be cov- 
ered, and the utterance of ah and aw will be 
purely oral. Repeat these vowels with and 
without the mechanical pressure, and after a 
few experiments the ear will distinguish the 
difference between oral and nasal. Practice 
on other vowels, in forming which the soft 
palate cannot be seen, will soon develop a 
feeling of the difference. 

But the readiest way to gain a perception 
of the denasalizing action of the soft palate 
will be by the following exercise : 

Sound the consonants m b without separat- 
ing the lips, as in pronouncing the word ember. 

The change from m to b is nothing more than 
the covering of the nasal aperture by the soft 
palate ; and the change from b to m, without 
separating the lips, as in the word submit, is 
merely the uncovering of the nasal aperture. 



32 THE FAULTS OF SPEECH. 

The tendencj 7 to nasalize vowels is most felt 
when they occur immediately before or after 
nasal consonants m, n or ng but many 
persons nasalize every vowel. 

The French elements an, en, in, on, un, am, 
^m, etc., are merety nasalized vowels. 

The Aspirate. 

THE letter H represents a simple and nearly 
silent emission of breath. The organs of 
speech are placed in the position for the sub- 
sequent vowel before the emission of the aspi- 
rate. Thus h in the words lie, hay, hie, hoe, 
hah, etc., has the oral quality of the vowel it 
precedes. The aspirate is not the same as a 
whispered vowel, for the words his and is, 
hand and ana*, hold and oZo", hart and art are 
clearly distinguishable when whispered. 

H is sometimes roughened faultily by a gut- 
tural quality. To correct this habit, breathe 
out the aspirate silently. 

The Cockney confusion of vowels and aspi- 
rates is a remarkable fault which will disap- 
pear when learners are taught phonetically in 
the abecedarian stage of education. The same 
person who says all for hall pronounces hall 



VOCAL CONSONANTS. 33 

for all, and so proves that the perverse habit 
is due only to defective elementary training. 

H is omitted in pronouncing the words heir, 
honest, honour, hour, humour, and their deriv- 
atives. It should be pronounced in herb, hos- 
pital, humble, and all other words. 

H is heard instead of wh, before o, as in 
who, whose, whom, whole. 

Vocal Consonants. 

THE following consonants are respectively 
pairs of vocal and non-vocal elements ; that 
is, the consonants in the second column have 
precise^ the same oral formation as those in 
the first column, but with the addition of 
throat-sound or murmur. 

non-vocal. vocal. 

P B 

T D 

K G as in go. 

F V 

WH W 

S Z 

SH ZHasinrmon. 

TR&sinthin TH(=<Z/i)asin 

CH as in church J then ' 

X (= Jcs) as in extend . . . X (= gz) as in 

exist . 



34 .THE FAULTS OF SPEECH. 

These pairs of consonants are confused by 
Gaelic and Welsh speakers, who substitute 
non-vocal for vocal elements ; and by German 
speakers, who mix up the elements sometimes 
by a similar substitution, but more frequently 
by the use of vocal instead of non-vocal ele- 
ments. Careful exercise and observation will 
entirely remove these difficulties. 

Thickness of Speech. 

THE consonants , d, n, Z, r, are correct- 
\y formed by the point of the tongue acting 
against the upper gum ; but in u thick" speech 
the tongue acts against the teeth, or the point 
rests on the lower teeth and the above ele- 
ments are imperfectly formed by the surface 
of the tongue. This fault is unavoidable when 
the tongue is so tied to the bed of the jaw that 
the point cannot be raised. But "thickness" 
has not alwa}'s this excuse ;' it is often the re- 
sult of a childish habit of sucking the tongue, 
that should have been "put away" with the 
years of childhood. The more sharpty the 
tongue can be pointed upwards, the better will 
, c?, n, Z, and r be formed. The tongue should 
never touch the lower teeth in speech, and it 



CONVERSATIONAL SLURRING. 35 

should never come between the teeth except 
for the single element tli dli, and then to a 
very slight extent. In fact, th is best formed 
with the tongue behind, instead of between, 
the teeth. 

ORATORICAL FAULTS. 
Conversational Slurring. 

WHEN a person unaccustomed to public 
speaking has occasion to address an audience, 
his words seem to run together, and it is only 
with the greatest difficulty that their purport 
can be gathered by a hearer at a little distance. 
He is called on to "speak out" and " speak 
up," but increase of force is of little avail. 
He has to learn the difference between speak- 
ing and mumbling. 

Conversational speech is, in general, very 
slovenl}'. Could it be written down exactly 
as we hear it, the speaker would not recognize 
the unintelligible jargon. Thus : 

Convsashnlspeech zngenlveslovnly. 

This is not an exaggeration of the kind of 
utterance that passes current in social life. 
The chief element of distant audibility 



36 THE FAULTS OF SPEECH. 

throat-sound, or voice is so curtailed and 
slurred out. that little more than mouth-actions 
remain. 

Sustained Voice. 

THE very reverse must be the relation of 
throat to mouth in oratorical speech. Conso- 
nants may be softened to any degree, but 
vowels must be given fully and with swelling 
clearness. Thus : 



srEEcn Is IN GENER- 

AL VERY SLOVENLY. 

But it is possible to soften the consonants 
too much ; to soften them away altogether, as 
we hear from some yaw-yaw-yaw speakers 
whose utterance is 

Vox et preterea nihil. 

In good delivery every element should be 
heard in its proper relation to other elements ; 
every syllable in its proper relation to other 
syllables ; every word in its proper relation to 
other words ; every sentence in its proper rela- 
tion to other sentences. 

Sustained vocality is the secret of good 
oratorical speech. This quality has perhaps 



SUSTAINED VOICE. 37 

never been better illustrated than in the case 
of the Rev. Mr. Spurgeon, who, with no ap- 
parent effort, in the vast Agricultural Hall, at 
Islington, London, made himself distinctly 
heard by an assemblage of twenty-five thou- 
sand persons.* There could, of course, be no 
undue softening of the consonants in such 
delivery, nor, on the other hand, was any 
harshness or prominence of consonant-action 
perceptible even to the nearest auditor. 

Some coarseness of effect to ears in the im- 
mediate vicinity of a speaker is almost un- 
avoidable in order to secure effectiveness at a 
distance. Oratory is in this respect analogous 
to scene-painting: the canvas which charms 
by the softness of its depictions when viewed 
from the proper standpoint, is often incredibly 
rough to a close inspector. The speaker, then, 

* I was present on one of the occasions. I got as near 
to the speaker as possible, with the view of studying his 
management of the vocal bellows; but I could discover no 
unusual labour or straining. All was easy and natural. 
I was within five feet of the speaker; and a friend with 
whom I was to compare notes took the most distant seat from 
the platform. We counted the audience by means of the 
uniform sections into which the seats were arranged, and 
found the number of hearers was upwards of 25,000. The 
nearest ear was not offended by bellowing : the most distant 
lost no syllable. 



38 THE FAULTS OF SPEECH. 

may without offence lay on his vowel lights 
and shades in masses , and give corresponding 
strength and firmness to his consonant out- 
lines, in order to produce the right effect in 
the farther corners and galleries of his audi- 
torium. 

It is to be noted that the percussiveness of 
good oratorical speech is not due to chest- 
action which would be laborious but to 
expansibility of the pharynx, the cavity at the 
back of the mouth and above the throat. Dis- 
tension of the pharynx may be plainly seen in 
the neck of a player on the bugle or cornet-a- 
piston. 

Mai - Respiration . 

THE exhaustion after vocal effort from which 
many public speakers, especially clergymen, 
suffer; the " clerical sore- throat," which by 
its frequency has won for itself a place in 
medical terminology ; and the wild outbursts 
of vociferation which throw the whole physical 
frame into violent action, are due to misman- 
agement of the "vocal bellows." 

The principles of easy, natural, powerful 
respiration are fully explained in the earlier 



MAL- RESPIRATION. 39 

sections of this work. Let public speakers 
develop the solidity of chest and mobility of 
diaphragm prescribed for the enfranchisement 
of stammerers from their spasms of difficulty, 
and the oratorical defects associated with mal- 
respiration and which are so often painful in 
their consequences will be unknown. 

Oratorical defects in the expressive manage- 
ment of the voice, by inflection and modula- 
tion, are extremely common. In reference to 
these the reader is referred to the Author's 
"Principles of Elocution."* 

* Fourth edition, 1878. Salem, Mass., J. P. Bui-bank. 



ORGANIC SUBSTITUTIONS. 



GREAT variety of the minor defects 
of speech arise from the substitution of 
one part for another of the oral organs. The 
correction of such defects presents no difficulty 
to one who is familiar with the true formation 
of the elements of speech. The following 
classification embraces all ordinary defects of 
this kind. The directions given should render 
self-correction a hopeful undertaking in any 
case, however long-established may be the 
habit. 

One plan of exercise should regulate teacher 
or self-corrector in all cases. The attempt to 
introduce a new element at once in reading or 
speaking will never succeed. Awkwardness 
and habit will defeat the best efforts of unac- 
customed organs. Elementary power must 
first be gained. Thus : 
40 



ORGANIC SUBSTITUTIONS. 41 

I. Pronounce the element separately again and 
again, until it becomes easy of formation. 

II. Practise its combination with a single vowel, 
and continue this form of exercise until 
rapid reiteration becomes easy. 

III. Practise separately all the consonant com- 
binations into which the element enters. 

IV. Pronounce words or sentences containing 
the element repeating each quickly. . 

V. Introduce the corrected element in read- 
ing, by slightly holding or prolonging it at 
each recurrence, until the habit is formed 
of articulating it correctly without special 
effort. 

One hour of systematic exercise regulated 
as above, will do more than a week of desul- 
tory effort. 

LD for G. 

THIS is generally an infantile defect, and 
easily corrected (see page 3) ; but if no efforts 
are made for its removal at an early age, it 
will continue to disfigure even adult speech. 
When we hear a grown-up boy or girl sa} T ing 
* k dood" for good, and "dive" for give, the 
very natural assumption is that there must be 



42 THE FAULTS OF SPEECH. 

a congenital cause for the defect. But this is 
a mistake. The action of the back of the 
tongue only requires to be developed. Hold 
down the forepart of the tongue, and the back 
will be compelled into action. Give this me- 
chanical assistance in pronouncing the words 

gay, guy, go, gawk, gag. 

An hour's exercise should cure this defect. 

It is a curious fact that perhaps three-fourths 
of all speakers unconsciously substitute d for 
g in the initial combination gl, as in glad* 
glide, etc. Indeed, the resemblance in sound 
is so close that only a watchful ear will dis- 
cover the difference. Try : 

dlad, dlide, dlow, dlove, dlory, dloom. 
glad, glide, glow, glove, glory, gloom. 

n. *Mf* . 

THE formation of ' as that letter is pro- 
nounced before a vowel, requires the tip of the 
tongue to be pointed towards the upper gum. 
In this defective substitution the tongue lies 
flat, and acts forward against the teeth, giving 
the sound of a soft dli (= th as in then) , instead 
of r. Thus : 



ORGANIC SUBSTITUTIONS. 43 

"Apdlietty intedhesting bdhide." 
A prett} T interesting bride. 

Inability to raise the tongue is generally the 
cause of this defect. To effect a perfect cure 
the tongue may require to be loosened ; but 
careful exercise will, in most cases, develop 
sufficient .power to make a good though un- 
trilled r without an operation. 

III. I? for S. 

THIS is one of the many forms of defect 
arising from inactivity of the forepart of the 
tongue. Sometimes a slight s-ward motion is 
made by the tongue at the same time that the 
lip's movement gives sharpness to the sibila- 
tion. To correct this defect, hold down the 
lower lip, and see the teeth, while pronounc- 
ing s. 

IV. F for Tli. ' 

THIS defective substitution arises from the 
same cause as the preceding sluggishness 
of the tongue. To correct it, hold down the 
lower lip and see the teeth while pronounc- 
ing th. 

F and th are so much alike in phonetic effect 



44 THE FAULTS OF SPEECH. 

that this substitution might almost pass un- 
noticed by one who did not see the speaker's 
mouth. The resemblance will be manifest in 
the following experiment : 

free, firty, Jirty-free, featre, fimble. 

three, thirty, thirty-three, theatre, thimble. 

V. Gh for R. 

THIS is the defect commonly called " Burr- 
ing," in which the back of the tongue is 
brought into action instead of the point. The 
sound has all the varieties of the front-lingual 
vibration smooth, when the soft palate is 
merely approximated to the back of the 
tongue ; and rough, when the uvula is rattled 
against the tongue. 

This defect sometimes arises from tongue- 
tiedness, but is very often a mere habit ac- 
quired by imitation. The cure is by no means 
difficult. To bring the point of the tongue 
into action, prolong the vowel aw and lift the 
tip of the tongue till it almost touches the 
edge of the palatal arch. Repeat the action 
a number of times without stopping the vowel 
sound. In this way the characteristic vibra- 
tion of r will be gradually developed. 



ORGANIC SUBSTITUTIONS. 45 

The tongue in this exercise may be raised 
so close to the palate as to produce the effect 
of d but softly, and without pressure, thus ; 

aw daw daw daw daw , etc. 

Gradually endeavour to maintain the tongue 
in this close approximation to the palate all 
the time that a continual vocal buzz is heard. 
This is a rudimental r. Practice on this new 
element, according to the directions on page 
41, will complete the cure. 

When the tongue is too much tied to the bed 
of the jaw, the true vibration cannot be per- 
fectly acquired without an operation ; but the 
"burring" may at least be discontinued, and 
an approximately distinct r substituted. 

VI. L for E. 

THIS substitution is common among child- 
ren, the articulation of I being easier than that 
of r. The Chinese never pronounce r, but 
substitute L The two sounds are produced 
by the action of the same part of the tongue 
the point ; at the same part of the palate 
the upper gum : the difference being that the 
voice passes over the tip of the tongue for r 



46 THE FAULTS OF SPEECH. 

and over the sides for I. The alternation of 
these letters in words and sentences presents 
a difficulty to most persons; as in " Truly 
rural." " Rob ran along the lane in the rain." 
" A lump of raw, red liver,'* etc.* 

VII.LU for S or Sli. 

THE sibilants s and sh are produced by the 
breath passing along a central channel over 
the tongue arched towards the palate, and 
with more or less elevation of the point. This 
defect consists in passing the breath over one 
or both sides of the tongue, as in forming I 
without voice. The I apertures are narrowed 
so as to cause a hissing, not unlike that of the 
true sibilants. To correct this fault, the first 
point is to concentrate the breath in a single 
central channel. The channel of r may be 
used as a guide ; and the channel of y will also 
be available. Substitute r without voice for 
the defective " cluttering" s ; and y without 
voice for the defective sh. By arching the 
middle of the tongue while the point is in the 
position for r, s will be produced ; and by 

* Many exercises on these and other difficult combinations 
will be found in the Author's " Principles of Speech and 
Dictionary of Sounds.'* 



ORGANIC SUBSTITUTIONS. 47 

raising the front of the tongue while the mid- 
dle is in the position for y, sh will be produced. 
The sounds obtained may at first be very im- 
perfect, but they will work into form. Per- 
haps as often happens some experimental 
or accidental shift may strike the true position 
and end all difficult}^. The hisses must, how- 
ever, be perfected as elements before an}' at- 
tempt is made to introduce them into words 
and sentences. 

VIII. N for Ng. 

CHILDREN who pronounce d for g and t for 
&, of course sound n instead of ng. But the 
substitution is very common also among care- 
less speakers in pronouncing the termination 
ing : as in meetin, eatin, and dririkin, for meet- 
ing, eating and drinking. This substitution 
is universal in Scotland. In the words length 
and strength the ng is very apt to be changed 
into n for ease of pronunciation. The sounds 
of &, (/ and ng are pronounced by the very 
same organic action contact and separation 
of the back of the tongue and the soft pal- 
ate : the differences being that k is non- vocal, 
g vocal, and ng naso-vocal. 



48 THE FAULTS OF SPEECH. 

IX.Ngfor L. 

THIS substitution is a not uncommon accom- 
paniment of burring, arising from the same 
inabilit}- or habitual difficulty in raising 
the point of the tongue. The effect of ng at 
the beginning of a syllable is very peculiar, as 
that element is never initial in English. Thus : 

ngove, ngord, ngady, nget weng angonc. 
love, lord, lady, let well alone. 

The formation of I has been explained above 
(see page 45) . Some assistance in correcting 
this defect will be obtained, at first, by holding 
the nostrils, to prevent emission of sound by 
the nose. 

X. Ng for N. 

THIS is an allowed assimilation, not a defect, 
when n occurs before k in the same syllable r 
as in 

inyk, rangk, mongk, trungk. 
ink, rank, monk, trunk. 

It would be difficult to articulate n in these 
words. 

The same substitution of ng for ?i taKes 



ORGANIC SUBSTITUTIONS. 49 

place but not uniformly before g; as in 

angger, fingger, longger, langguage. 
anger, finger, longer, language. 

Foreigners are unnecessarily puzzled b} T the 
Anomaly between such words and hanger, sing- 
er, wronger, etc., where the ng represents a 
single consonant. 

XLNgg for Ng. 

THIS is a Cockney peculiarity, occurring 
chiefly where ng is followed by a vowel, as in 

slugging, sing-g-a song. 
singing, sing a song. 

The correction of this defect will be assisted 
at first by a slight stop between the ng and the 
vowel. 

XII. Nh for S. 

THE effect represented by nil is n without 
voice a simple breathing through the nose 
while the tongue is in the position for n. This 
defect is generally attributed to a congenital 
organic cause ; but when it occurs as the sin- 
gle nasal peculiarity of a speaker, it may be 
confidently pronounced to be merely a correc- 



50 THE. FAULTS OF SPEECH. 

tible habit. Assistance will be derived at first 
from a mechanical prevention of nasal emis- 
sion by pinching the nostrils ; and also by 
blowing a feather off the hand held before the 
mouth. 

When oral emission has thus been obtained 
the means already prescribed for acquiring the 
s sibilation (see page 46) , will be effectual m 
curing the ungainly sniffling of this defect. 

XIII. S for Sh, and Sli for S. 

THESE two forms of defective sibilation will 
be corrected by the means pointed out in pre- 
vious* sections. The shades of difference in 
hissing sounds are numerous : many sibilations 
are heard of an intermediate kind, and which 
partake more or less of the characteristics of 
one or the other of the representative sibilants. 
Organic malformation sometimes prevents a 
perfect rectification as irregularly of the 
teeth ; inability to close the jaws ; projecting 
or retreating jaw, etc. but even in the worst 
of such cases, improvement will follow intelli- 
gent effort. In all cases where no malforma- 
tion exists, the sibilants may be adjusted to a 
normal standard. 



ORGANIC SUBSTITUTIONS. 51 

The teeth require to be very close in pro- 
nouncing s and sh. They should not touch, 
but their separation can not be greater than 
the thickness of a paper-cutter without produc- 
ing some peculiarity. 

The alternation of s and sh like that of r 
and I presents a difficulty to most persons, 
as in "Such a sash." "A shot silk sash." 
" A shabby sash," etc.* 

XIV. S for Th and Z for Dh. 

THIS substitution is made by French speak- 
ers, whose native language does not contain 
the sounds of tli and dh. Imitation might be 
expected to teach the foreigner so obvious an 
articulation ; yet those who have spoken Eng- 
lish for years may still be heard saying "I 
sink" for I think, and " zat" for that. A few 
minutes' exercise suffices to cure this defect. 

XV. T for K. 

THE directions given on page 41 for the cor- 
rection of the defect " D for 6r," apply equally 
to the kindred elements t and &, which are, 
* See note, page 46. 



52 THE FAULTS OF SPEECH. 

merely the non- vocal forms of d and g. (See 
page 33.) 

The unconscious use of t instead of c (=* k) 
in the combination d is also as common as that 
ofdforg. Thus: 

tlay, tlaw, tlew, tlaim, tlever, tlose. 
clay, claw, clew, claim, clever, close. 

XVL Thfor S. 

THIS is the defect commonly called "Lisp- 
ing." The relation between th arid s is the 
same as that between I and r. The breath 
escapes by a central aperture for s as for r; 
&ud by lateral apertures for th as for I. In 
forming r and I the middle of the tongue is 
concave and the point sharply raised : in form- 
ing s and th the middle of the tongue is con- 
vex, and the point flattened out. The central 
channel for s is over the top of the point of 
the tongue ; that for r is over the end of the 
tip. The lateral apertures for tk are between 
the edges of the point of the tongue and the 
"teeth, or the upper gum ; those for I are be- 
tween the body of the tongue and the side, or 
Iback, teeth. The apertures for th are inter- 



OEGANIC SUBSTITUTIONS'. 53 

stitial, and so cause hissing of the breath ; 
those for I are wide, and allow the voice to- 
pass with vowel purity. The I channels may r 
however, be narrowed so as to produce sibila- 
tion, and this is one form of defective substi- 
tution for s. (See page 46.) 

Lisping is easily cured. But some persons 
affect the lisp as a symbol of childish artless- 
ness, and, like Orlando of his love-disease, 
"would not be cured." A better means of 
displaying simplicity and innocence might be 
suggested; but 

"de gustibus non cst disputandum" 

The correction of the habit of lisping will 
be facilitated at first by mechanical^ prevent- 
ing the tongue from touching the front teeth. 
The edge of a paper-cutter may be used to 
push back the tip of the tongue. 

The tongue should be altogether out of sight 
in forming s. 

XVILV for Dh. 

THE remarks on "Ffor Th" equally apply 
to these, the vocal forms of the same articu- 
lations. (See page 43.) 



54 THE FAULTS OF SPEEC1L 

XVIILV for Z. 

THE directions on page 43 apply equally to 
these elements, whicb *re merely vocal forms 
of / and s. 



. V for W and W for V. 

THERE is a tendency to confound these con- 
sonants when the} T ccur in alternation, a? 
manifested in the Cockney's "werry veil" for 
very well. 

French and German speakers, whose ver- 
nacular recognizes no sound exactly corre- 
sponding to the English w, pronounce v instead 
of it. The French, however, use the true 
sound of w in pronouncing their diagraph 01, 
as in soir, boire, oiseaux, etc. 

The German w has the same labial action as 
the English element, but with a difference in 
the position of the tongue, which is advanced 
for the German and retracted for the English w. 

Foreigners can be taught the knack of the 
English element perfectly. Imitation is obvi- 
ously worthless for their direction. Mechani- 
cal assistance will overcome the difficult}'. 
Thus : sound the vowoi oo for some seconds 



ORGANIC SUBSTITUTIONS. 55 

and during the continuance of the sound gently 
approximate the centre of the lips with the 
finger and thumb a number of times. The 
vowel oo will be changed into the word 

woo, ivoo, woo, woo, woe, 

and the consonant w in its most difficult com- 
bination will be the result. 

English readers may, in the same wa} T , per- 
fectl} r acquire the knack of pronouncing the 
German w. Thus : sound the vowel ee for 
some seconds, and during the continuance of 
the sound gently approximate the centre of the 
lips with the finger and thumb a number of 
times. The vowel will be changed by every 
action into a true German pronunciation of the 
word 

wie, wie, wie, wie, wie. 

The phonetic resemblance of the German w 
to the English v will be recognized in this ex- 
periment. The articulative actions are, how- 
ever, different, and the English student of 
'German should profit by the lesson and dis- 
tinguish in future between English v and Ger- 
man w. 



50 THE FAULTS OF SPEECH. 

XX. W for L. 

THIS substitution is due to lingual laziness. 
The tongue lolling on the bed of the jaw sur- 
renders its proper functions to any part of the 
organs that can be got to undertake them. Ir* 
this case the lips are obliging, and we hear : 

" Wet the wady wait a wittoo." 
Let the lady wait a little. 

The existence of such defects is a disgrace. 
No difficulty attends their correction, and they 
should never have quitted the nursery. 

XXL W for R. 

R is the most difficult of all the consonants 
for children to learn, and it is, of all elements 
of speech, the most variously pronounced in 
languages and dialects and among individual 
speakers. When the r is trilled as in Scot- 
land the sound is nearly uniform, but the 
less definite varieties heard in England and 
America differ greatly. The American r 
scarcely uses the point of the tongue at all, 
but has a glide-sound approximating to that 
of y, while, between vowels, the r is modified 
by the lips, as in "vej^/." 



ORGANIC SUBSTITUTIONS. 57 

In England the r final or before a conso- 
nant has the vocality of a vowel ; and even 
the initial r has little of the friaativeness of a 
consonant. 

The substitution of w for r is a favourite 
dandyism in English speech, and generally 
accompanies the aw aw aw of 

"Awistocwatic dwawl." 
Aristocratic drawl. 

Those who have acquired the habit of using 
10 for r, otherwise than as an affectation, or of 
mixing the sounds of ID and r, may easily cure 
themselves by the means recommended on 
page 43 for the delabialising of s, namely : 
Hold down the lower lip with the finger, and 
see the teeth while pronouncing r. 

XXILWfor Wh. 

Wh is to w precisely what /is to v, or s to 
z the non-vocal form of the same articulative 
action. Speakers who make no difference be- 
tween these elements confound "whey" with 
way, "which" with witch, "whale" with wail, 
"whether" with weather ; and put their hear 
ers to unnecessary trouble to unriddle then 



5*5 THE FAULTS OF SPEECH. 

ambiguities. Refinement consists in the pre- 
servation of nice distinctions ; and no speaker 
with any pretensions to refinement will willing- 
ly forego such a source of distinctiveness as 
the proper pronunciation of these and all ele- 
mentary sounds. 

Cockney speech has no wh. 




POSTSCRIPT 



TO 



SECOND EDITION. 



POSTSCRIPT TO SECOND EDITION. 

NEW Edition of this little book having 
been called for, the opportunity is pre- 
sented for adding any further observations or 
directions that may seem necessary. The highly 
condensed matter in these pages could easily be 
expanded so as to fill a volume ; but the pre- 
cision of the Treatise in its present form is 
one of ts chief recommendations for the actual 
work of rectifying the "Faults of Speech." 
Some little peculiarity in the action of a single 
organ, or in the mode of pronouncing a single 
elementary sound, has the effect of rendering 
the whole of speech peculiar ; and the work of 
correction is incredibly simple when the fault 
is merely traced to its mechanical cause. The 
list of such mechanical causes of defects in 
speech, herein contained, is not only extensive 
but complete. 

61 



62 POSTSCRIPT. 

The effect of ignorance on this subject i 
often serious and painful. On one occasion a 
gentleman came to the author with a defect 
which greatly marred his whole utterance, yet 
it arose simpty from the habit of substituting 
nasal for oral emission in forming the sibilant 
consonants the " fault" described in Section 
XII, page 49. In this case a surgical opera- 
ation had been performed, which had subjected 
the patient to months of suffering, while the 
defect arose from no organic malformation, but 
merely from a mechanical habit which might 
have been checked in childhood, as it was per- 
fectly checked within a week of instruction. 

8tammerers have been bewildered more than 
benefitted by the theories of cause and cure of 
their impediment, and the extensive terminol- 
ogy given to its man} T varieties. In nearly all , 
cases, the source of difficulty is a failure in 
some simple principle of phonation or organic 
action, to which alone attention requires to be 
directed. The chief points for the stammerer's 
consideration and exercise whatever peculiar- 
ity any case may seem to present will be 
found set forth in the preceding pages. Let 



POSTSCRIPT. 63 

these be carefully studied, and the principles 
perseveringly applied, without thought of 
"consentaneous nerve actions" or any other 
recondite theories, and in the vast majority of 
cases relief will be certainty attained. 

The principles of vocal respiration are all- 
important, not only to stammerers, but to pub- 
lic speakers, readers and singers. Claims 
have been set up to the recent discovery of the 
proper function of the diaphragm in breathing ; 
but this ct discovery" will be found fully em- 
bodied in the Author's New Elucidation of 
the Principles of Speech and Elocution, 
published in 1849. The simple fundamental 
principles of breathing cannot be too clearly 
apprehended. The reader is referred to pages 
17-19 for definite instruction on this subject. 

Teachers who undertake the rectification of 
faults of speech should study the mechanism of 
articulation as exhibited in the symbols of 
"Visible Speech." The phonetic elements of 
languages, and their mutual relations, are so 
depicted in these symbols that all difficulty 
is removed from this otherwise difficult study. 
The text book Sounds and their Relations, e& 

10 



U POSTSCRIPT. 

hibited in Visible Speech,* may be obtained 
through any bookseller. The Visible Speech 
Reader,^ (adapted for children) may also be 
used with advantage to facilitate the acquisi- 
tion of English sounds by teacher or pupil. 

A. M. B. 

WEST WASHINGTON, D. C., 

October, 1883. 

* Price $2.00, post-paid, from the publisher of this Work, 
f Recently issued ; price 40 cents. 



NOTE TO FOURTH EDITION. 

No alterations were made in the Third Edition of this work, 
published in 1889; nor are any required in this Fourth Edition, 
issued under the auspices of the Volta Bureau. The little 
book has done good service during the seventeen years since 
its first publication; and it is now hopefully committed to a 
new generation of students. 

A. M. B. 

WASHINGTON, D. C.. 

1525 35th Street, 

Dec. 1st, 1897. 



Sounds and Their Relations Exhibited in Visible 
Speech and The Visible Speech Reader are out of print. 
But the Volta Bureau offers Visible Speech and Vocal 
Physiology, at 50 cents, as one of the most helpful 
of A. Melville Bell's works. (See page 72.) 



APPENDIX 



CONTAINING 



TABLES AND EXERCISES. 



APPENDIX. 



Table of Consonants. 

jlHE following table contains all English 
elements, and others referred to in the 
preceding paget*. 

Nasal Emission. 



Oral. 



Oral 
Obstruct! 


non-vocal 
fP . 


vocal 
B 


IT . 


. . D 


on lK. 


G 



Central 
Emission 



Lateral 
Emission 



non-vocal 
(Mh) . 
Kh . . 
(Ngh). 

(Blowing to cool) W German. 

Wh . . . . W 

S . . . . Z 

/RV.N 5 French r in T> cr 
^ Kn ^ theatre. R smooth. 
Sh . . . . Zh in w*ion. 

cM (= '&; n j-*- 

(Yh) |Germana v 



vocal 

. M 

. N 

. Ng 



(Ch)bennan. ' Gh j 



in auge; 



F 

Thi 

Lh Fr. I in teWe. 



Lax j (Snarl.) 
Vibration \ (Rh) 



V 

Dh to in <An. 
L 

(Burr.) 
R trilled. 

67 



APPENDIX. 



Table of Initial Consonant Combinations. 


Bl . as in 


blade 


Fr . as in 


fright 


Br . . . 


bride 


Fy . . . 


few 


Bw . . . 


buoy 


Vy . . . 


view 


By ... 


beauty 


Thr . . 


three 


n. . . . 


place 


Thw . . . 


thwart 


Pr . . . 


price 


Thy . . 


thews 


Py . . . 


pure 


SI ... 


sleep 


Dr . . . 


draw 


Sm. . . 


smile 


Dzh . . . 


jew 


Sn ... 


snarl 


Dw . . . 


dwell 


Sf . . . 


sphere 


Dy . . . 


due 


Sp . . . 


spy 


Tr . . . 


try 


St . . . 


sty 


Tsh . . . 


chain 


Sk . . . 


sky 


Tw . . . 


twelve 


Sw . . ." 


sway 


Ty . . . 


tune 


Sy . . . 


sue 


Gl . . . 


glad 


Shr . . 


shrink 


Gr . . . 


great 


Spl . . . 


spleen 


Gw 


guelph 


Spr . . . 


spring 


Gy . . . 


gewgaw 


Spy . . . 


spume 


Kl . . . 


climb 


Str . . . 


straw 


Kr . . . 


crime 


Sty . . . 


stuw 


Kw . . . 


quite 


Ski . . 


sclerotic 


Kv . . . 


cure 


Skr . . . 


screw 


Mt . V . 


muse 


Skw . . 


squint 


:NV . . . 


new 


Sky . . . 


skewer 


Fl . . 


flight 







APPENDIX. 



Consonant Exercises. 
FOR rapid reiteration. 



non-vocal. 
pata patapa 
tapa tapata 
paka pakapa 
kapa kapaka 
taka takata 
kata kataka 
pataka pakata 
tapaka takapa 
kapata katapa 



pafa pafapa 
fapa fapafa 
fawha fawhafa 
whafa whafawha 
pawhafa pafawha 
fapawka fawhapa 
whapafa whafapa 



fatha falhafa 
tbafa thafatha 
thasa thasatha 
satha sathasa 
.-sasha sashasa 



shasa sbasasnu 
thasba thashatha 
shatha shathasha 
tliasasha thashasa 
sathasha sashatha 
shasatha shathasa 

vocal. 

bada baclaba 
daba dabada 
baga bagaba 
gaba gabaga 
daga dagada 
gada gadaga 
bagada badaga 
dabaga dagaba 
gadaba gabada 

bava bavaba 
vaba vabava 
bawa bawaba 
waba wabawa 
vawa vawava 
wava wavaAVi* 
bawava bavawa 



70 



APPENDIX. 



vabawa vawaba 
wabava wavaba 



> r atha vathava 
thava thavatha 
thaza thazatha 
zatha zathaza 
vathaza vazatha 
thavaza thazava 
zavatha zathava 



thazha thazhatha 
zhatha zhathazha 
zazha zazhaza 
zhaza zhazazha 
thazhaza thazazha 
zathazha zazhatha 
zhazatha zhathaza 



rala ralara 
lara larala 
rana ranara 
nara narana 
lana lanala 
nala nalana 
ralana ranala 



larana lanara 
nalara narala 

combinations. 
blabra blabrabla 
brabla brablabra 
plapra plaprapla 
prapla praplapra 
flafra flafrafla 
frafla fraflafra 
glagra glagragla 
gragla graglagra 
clacra clacracla 
cracla craclacra 
thwaswa thwaswathwa 
swathwa swathwaswa 
thrashra thrashrathra 
shrathra shrathrashra 
slasna slasnasla 
snasla snaslasna 
tradra tradratra 
dratra dratradra 
chaja chajacha 
jacha jachaja 
spasfa spasfaspa 
sfaspa sfaspasfa 



APPENDIX. 71 

staska staskasta splaspra splaspraspla 

skasta skastaska spraspla sprasplaspra 

Words and Sentences. 

Beef-broth. Cloud-capp'd. 

Three sixths. Laurel wreath. 

Literally literary. Linen lining. 

Knitting needle. A comic mimic. 

Quit quickly. Rural railroad. 

Such a sash. Scotch thatch. 

Puff up the fop. Statistics of sects. 

A velvet weaver. Portly poultry. 

A cut of pumpkin. A wet white wafer. 

A knapsack strap. Pick pepper peacock, 

Coop up the cook. I snuff shop snuff. 

A school coal-scuttle. 

Veal and white wine vinegar. 

Geese cackle and cattle low. 

Cocks crow and crows caw. 

A shocking sottish set 

She sells sea-shells. 

THF END. 



The Volta Bureau's Book 
Department 



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UNIVERSITY OF CALIFORNIA LIBRARY 
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Return to desk from which borrowed. 
This book is DUE on the last date stamped below. 



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WJG 2* 
APR 20 1950 

JUN 4 - 1951 
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