OF ARTICULATION 



To excel as an orator, it is not only necessary to be a 

 perfect master of language, but to possess a fluency of 

 utterance, and an elegant and forcible delivery with 

 suitable action and gesture. It is true tbat some per- 

 sons are peculiarly gifted with a flow of language ; also 

 that some have powers better calculated for speaking 

 than others, their voices are more flexible, powerful, 

 and harmonious ; yet when it is recollected what De- 

 mosthenes effected with every physical disadvantage, 

 no one need despair of becoming, by care and diligence, 

 if not an eminent speaker, at least a respectable one. 



It is not the province of the present work, to give 

 rules for composition, or precepts for obtaining a fluency 

 of elegant language ; but to offer the juvenile speaker 

 such directions as may lead to the attainment of a 

 graceful and appropriate delivery, witheut which, the 

 finest and most nervous language will be tame and 

 unimpressive. 



OF ARTICULATION AND PRONUNCIATION J WITH AN 

 ANATOMICAL DESCRIPTION OF THE ORGANS OF 

 SPEECH. 



Good reading and speaking very particularly depend 

 upon a just and clear articulation.* Articulation and 

 Pronunciation, although sometimes confounded, are, to 

 a considerable extent, dissimilar. Articulation is the 

 linking together of the elementary sounds, so as to form 

 them into syllables and words. Pronunciation refers to 

 the vocal sound produced ; and is either correct or in- 

 correct, according as it conforms with, or deviates from, 

 that which is considered the true standard. Unless the 

 organs of speech are perfect, a person cannot articulate 

 well : if his tongue is too large or too small, if his lips 

 are too thick or too thin, if his teeth are too closely set 

 or too few in number, his articulation will not be 

 perfect. Before entering more particularly into the 



* The power of articulation constitutes the chief difference between 

 men and brutes ; the latter, being unable to articulate, can only utter 

 indistinct sounds. 



