ORATORY. 



ORATORY. 



o*-s, rrr,' end, i-n.t From their forming the purest and most 

 nlsjrii) material of intonation, then are called Tunic sounds. They 

 hare a more musical quality than the other element* ; they are capable 

 of indefinite prolongation; admit of the concrete and tremulous 

 rise and fall through all the intervals of pitch, and may be uttered 

 more forcibly than the other elementary sounds, a* well M with 

 more abruptness). 



II. The next division include* a number of sounds possessing vari- 

 ously among themselves properties analogous to those of the tonics, 

 but differing in degree. They amount to fourteen, and are marked by 

 the separated italics in the following words : /)-ow, rf-are, g-ive, r-Ue, 

 r-one, y-e, r-o, /A-en, a-i-ure, /, f-ove, m-ay, ii-ot, r-oe. 



From their inferiority to the tonics in all the emphatic and elegant, 

 purpose* of speech, whilst they admit in some measure of being into- 

 nated, or carried concretely through the intervals of pitch, they are 

 called nbloxir sound*. 



III. The remaining nine elements are aspirations, and have not that 

 sort of sound which is called rocality. They are produced by a cur- 

 rant of the whisiwring breath through certain positions of the cnuncia- 

 tive organ*. They are heard in the words Vf, ou-r, ar-t, i-f, ye-i, 

 *-e, ir*-t, (A-in, pu-A. 



As they admit of little or no pitch, and supply no part of the con- 

 crete when breathed among the constituents of syllables, they are 

 termed the Atomic sounds. 



The name of Abrupt sounds is also given to three of the subtonics 

 and three of the atonies, namely, b, d, g,p, I, I; since they confer an 

 trploart character on the following tonic, the breath bursting out 

 after a complete occlusion.* 



In conformity to the above division of the letters, and with especial 

 reference to the time which is occupied in pronunciation, syllables are 

 divided into three classes 1st, Immutable, such as at, ap, el; hap-less, 

 pit-fall, ac-crp-tance ; 2nd, Mutable, as yet, what, praMtude, destruc- 

 tion ; 3rd, Indefinite, as yo, thet, for, day, man, till, de-fay, be-yuilr, 

 n-trrme, er-ro-neous. It is the peculiar nature of this last class of 

 syllables, that to whatever necessary degree their quantity is prolonged, 

 their character is still preserved, while the mutable and immutable in 

 some cases almost lose their identity by too great an addition to their 

 time. The use of these distinctions will appear in the sequel. 



Thus much having been premised, it will be the more easy to under- 

 stand the general divisions of vocal sound. All the varieties of sound 

 in the human voice may be referred to the following general heads : 



Quality, Force, Time, and Pitch. 



I. The terms by which the Quality or kind of voice is distinguished 

 are rough, smooth, harsh, full, thin, slender, soft, musical, and some 

 others of the same metaphorical structure. 



There are three different sorts of voice, the natural, ibefalteitc, and 

 the orotund, to which must be added the whitaer, which, strictly speak- 

 ing, is not TiAce, The natural is that which we employ in ordinary 

 speaking. It includes a range of pitch from the lowest utterable sound 

 up to that point at which the voice is said to break. At this point the 

 natural voice ceases, and the higher parts of the scale are made by a 

 shriller kind, called the faitette, of which the cry, the scream, the yell, 

 and all shrillness are various modes. The name of orotund (from to 

 rotvndum) is given to that natural or improved manner of uttering the 

 elements, which exhibits them with a fulness, clearness, strength, 

 smoothness, and a ringing or musical quality rarely heard in ordinary 

 speech, and which is never found in its highest excellence except as 

 the effect of long and careful cultivation. This voice is highly agree- 

 able to the ear ; it is possessed by actors of eminence, and is peculiarly 

 adapted to set forth the beauties of epic and tragic composition. The 

 irlutprr is the constituent of the atonic elements ; but all the tonics, 

 and the greater part of the subtonics, may likewise be uttered in this 

 mode of sound. The subtonics r, z, ir, M-en, zh, when whispered, are 

 not respectively different from the atonies/, , wA, rA-in, A. 



II. For the specifications of Force we us* the words strong, weak, 

 feeble, loud, soft, forcible, and faint. These are indefinite in their 

 indication, and without any fixed relationship in degree. 



III. Time, in the art of speaking, is divided into long, short, quick, 

 slow, and rapid. These distinctions may siillioe for the common 

 purpose* of discourse ; if more precision is required, a notation will be 

 found in Mr. Steele's ' Prosodia Rationalist The distinction of immutable, 



The writer of thin article has personal opportunity of knowing that by thin 

 word Dr. Bush meant to designate that sound which Mr. Cull represents by 



hrr. 



f If <rf or oy, an In ro.Vc and bay, be added M perhaps they ought, the number 

 of the tonic* will be thirteen. 



J It U difficult to decide on the a&arrrU of the elementary sound* repre- 

 sented by the alphabet. That of Dr. Roah U ghrra In the text. The following 

 ha* bem furnUhed to the writer of this artich by Mr. Cull, and, although not 

 free from objection*, it more complete. 



I. Viiwtui, beard In the following syllables i all, rm, n, ale, rnd. Ml, 

 )IT, title, in, old, ooxt, on, *, cube, pull, our, nil, 



II. COXIOXAXTS. 1. Vi.icr Coiuinanti. ie, rfo, go, lo, me, no, roc, rat, we, 

 ye, ne, ting, arare, then, Jtw. ' 2. I'oicrl.ii OantonanU -up, H, art, */, 

 tape, ?nit, tin, chin, ihin, fAin, tcAen. In all forty-three element*. 



} To these Dr. Riuh adds a fifth, namely, Abrvptiuu ; but this appear* to b* 

 naolrable Into force and time. 



mutable, and indefinite syllables has reference to time, and has been 

 already treated of. 



IV. The meaning of the term Pitch, as applied to speech, has been 

 already explained. 



We come now to the application of these element* and distinctions 

 to the practical purposes of reading and speech. 



In plain narrative or description, the concrete utterance of each 

 syllable is made through the interval of a tone, and the successive 

 concretes have a slight difference of pitch relatively to each other. 

 The appropriation of these concretes to syllables, and the manner in 

 which the succession of their pitch is varied, are exemplified in the 

 following notation : 



Be read* in no- tare'* in- A. nit* book of se- crc- cy. 



If these line* and the enclosed spaces be supposed, each in proximate 

 order, to denote the difference of a tone in pitch, the successions of 

 the radical points, with their issuing vanish, will ihow the places of 

 the syllables of the superscribed sentence in easy and unim passioned 

 utterance, though it in not denied that a somewhat different arrange- 

 ment might also be agreeable. The perception of the successions here 

 exemplified U called (in a restricted meaning of the term) the melody 

 of speech. 



In simple phraseology, which conveys but little feeling or emphatic 

 sentiment, most of the syllables, except one or two of the hut in the 

 sentence, consist of the upward radical and vanishing tone. The 

 succession of these concrete tones is made with a variation of pitch, in 

 which any two proximate concretes never differ from each other more 

 than the interval of a tone, nor do there occur more than three 

 successive tones in one direction either upwards or downwards. This 

 is called the diatonic melody. The rise of each separate syllable is 

 called the concrete pitch of melody, and the place which each syllable 

 assumes above or below the preceding, the radical i>itch. The cumnt 

 melody of sentences in plain discourse admits of considerable variety, 

 but the forms of radical pitch are all reducible to a limited number of 

 aggregates of the concrete tones, which may be called the pkraiei of 

 melody. Their forms are pointed out in the notation of the following 

 lines: 



That quar- ter most the skll- fal Greeks an- nor 



Monotone. Falling Ditone. Uising Irituuc. lUsmg l)it,,ne. 

 Where yon wild flg- trees join the wills of Troy. 



Falling Tritonc. 



Alternation. 



Triad of the Cadence. 



The melody of the cadence, aa distinguished from the current melody, 

 is formed on the two or three last syllables of a sentence, and is 

 effected by a descent of radical pitch through three conjoint degrees, 

 with a downward concrete always on the last, and frequently on the 

 preceding. One form of the cadence has been illustrated in the 

 sentence, the notation of which has been given above ; but there are 

 various forms according to the component parts olid the sense. 



Plain declarative sentences generally take one form or other of the 

 cadence, in order to mark the satisfactory close of the period ; and 

 downward concrete* ore also frequently introduced into what are called 

 loose sentences, to denote that the sense is complete, and that the 

 succeeding clause does not modify that which precedes it. Where, on 

 the contrary, the sense is suspended, as it most commonly U in 

 the middle of a sentence, the concretes must have an upward direction. 



For conveying the peculiarities of sentiment or feeling, or, in other 

 words, for the crprettion of itpeech, a much more varied apparatus is 

 necessary. This expression is effected by quality, time, pause, melody, 

 pitch, the waves, the semitone*, the tremor, force, and rhythm, all 

 which are only so many forma of the four general divisions of vocal 

 sound above specified. 



I. Most of the elements which range under the general head of 

 Quality have already been enumerated. It must, however, bo remarked 

 that they are susceptible of combination with the various modes and 

 degrees of force, time, and pitch. In short, quality of voice must 

 necessarily ) united with some of the degrees of the other j: 

 for, whatever be the kind, it will be either strong or weak : iw time 

 imixt be long or short; and it must be of some definite radical or 

 concrete pitch. Certain qualities of the voice are, however, exclu- 

 sively congenial with particular conditions of these other accidents ; 

 thus smoothness will more generally affect the moderate degrees of 

 force. 



