SOUND PRODUCTION AND SPEECH 747 



F: Lower lip against edge of upper teeth and air blown through. 



V: The same plus vocalization. 



W : Mouth not quite closed by lips and a blast of air. 



Th: Small passage between tongue and middle incisors and air 

 blown through. 



M : Uvula down, way into nose open, equals a nasal B. 



N: Equals a nasal L. 



Ng : Equals a nasal G. 



H : Blast of air through passage formed by parts about the root of 

 tongue. 



Man's power of speech depends, not on any great alteration of 

 the sound-producing mechanism, but on the perfection of the nervous 

 control over, and co-ordination of, this mechanism. The stammerer 

 lacks the power of co-ordination, and is made worse by hurry, ill-health, 

 and nervous excitement, better by slow and deliberate efforts at 

 speech. Certain initial consonants are his stumbling-block. 



In lisping one consonant is used for another for k; th for s; 

 / for th ; w for r. In the " Bread and Cheese Riots " of Richard II. 's 

 time the London mob put to death all foreign workmen from Haiise 

 towns who pronounced " biead and cheese " with an accent. " Shib- 

 boleth " was a test word used by Gilsad to identify the Ephraimites 

 who pronounced it " Sibboleth." A foreigner, particularly a German, 

 can usually be detected by the difficulty he experiences in pronouncing 

 .th in the English language. 



