ORAL COMPOSITION
=37. The Great Essential.=--We have now discussed certain matters
which will be of service to you if you write your thoughts for
others to read. Will these principles still hold if you speak your
thoughts for others to hear? Yes, in the main; but you must remember
that in the one case the persons you address have simply to _read_;
if they do not understand, they can simply look back and reread. In
the other case, the persons you address are listening, and they must
understand each sentence as it comes to them, for of course any one
in an audience cannot stop a speaker because he fails to hear a word
or a phrase. A speaker must therefore, first of all, take pains that
each person in his audience hears clearly every word he says.
=38. How to be Heard.=--If you wish to speak so that every one in
your audience can hear all that you say, you must take pains about
several things:--
1. _Proper Position._--Speech is sound produced by a stream of air
forced from the lungs (as from a bellows) and striking against
certain cords in the throat. By altering the tightness of these
cords and by changing the position of the palate, tongue, and
teeth, we change the character of the sound. If we are to speak to
a considerable number of people, then, we must make sure that all
this bodily machinery works with special ease and force, and first
of all, that the lungs (the bellows) move freely. This means that
they must have space to work, and this in turn means that we must
stand erect, with the shoulders thrown back, the chest out, and
the stomach in. The body should not be held stiffly or else the
throat muscles are likely to become rigid also; but we should stand
naturally, and firmly, not as if we were about to tumble over or to
jump, but as if we were ready to speak quietly to our friends--which
is just what we are to do.
2. _Proper Breathing._--We should breathe slowly, regularly, and
deeply, from the abdomen rather than from the top of the lungs. If
we breathe too fast or too irregularly, we shall speak in a rapid,
jerky way, and find it very difficult to make ourselves understood.
3. _Proper Use of the Muscles of the Throat and Mouth._--We must
be careful not to cramp the muscles of the throat, but to let them
move easily. We can thus produce a loud clear tone without tiring
ourselves unduly. If the head does not hang down, if the mouth is
opened wide, and the throat muscles are allowed to work freely,
without rigidity, the voice will be clear and distinct.
4. _Proper Pitch._--We must be sure (particularly the girls) not to
pitch the voice too high, as if it were a siren whistle or a fife.
A clear, rather low-pitched voice is the most pleasant to hear. We
must be careful, too, not to talk (as so many of us do) through our
noses. A nasal voice is almost always a disagreeable voice.
5. _Clear Articulation._--So much for the voice in general;
now, last of all, we must be careful to pronounce clearly, to
_articulate_ distinctly, that is, to give each syllable its proper
value. Of course we do not ordinarily like to listen to a very
prim and precise speaker, who pronounces every syllable with equal
distinctness, uttering sharply, for instance, the _d_ in such an
unimportant word as _and_. It is the custom of our language to
distinguish between the accented syllables, which we pronounce
distinctly, and the unaccented syllables, over which we pass
lightly. But, on the other hand, we do not like to listen to the
slovenly speaker, who drops entirely the _d_ in _and_ and the _g_ in
_ing_, and who sounds all his vowels very much alike. In this matter
of articulation, you will do well to take some older person, a good
speaker or reader, as a model, and to imitate him or her. Practice
reading aloud to your friends, standing sometimes at the very end of
the room, or at the end of a suite of rooms, as far as possible from
your hearers, asking any one of them to interrupt you the moment
that anything you say is not distinctly heard.
=39. Pronunciation.=--As to pronunciation, you must remember that
often custom is not uniform. There are sometimes two or even more
ways of pronouncing a word, both or all of which are given in the
dictionaries; and occasionally there is a thoroughly proper way of
pronouncing a word which the men who make the dictionaries have
unfortunately omitted, but which is used by many educated and
cultivated people. In general, you should use the pronunciation
of the most intelligent and respected people you know, and in
particular that of your teacher and your school. It is quite
proper and desirable that every school or teacher should establish
its own custom for words which are usually pronounced in one of
several ways, and the pupil should do his best to conform, for the
convenience of all, to the custom of the class or the school in this
respect.
=40. A Plan Necessary.=--There is no other important difference
which you need now consider between oral composition and written
composition. In both it is better, before you begin, to think
carefully over what you have to say. In oral composition, as in
written, it is wise to make a plan, and you can make it in precisely
the same way.
NOTE FOR THE TEACHER.--It does not seem necessary to insert
special exercises in oral composition. Almost any of the
exercises from the following chapters may be used with
advantage.