PRONUNCIATION, MODULATION, EMPHASIS. 39 and over, and up and down, and puzzling his brain for some time, he at last, in a paroxysm of baffled curiosity, exclaimed, "How in the name of wonder do you count houses with this?" If his informer had rightly bestowed his emphasis, the misconception of his meaning would not have taken place. 121. Emphasis and intonation must, as Dr. Blair has remarked, be left to the good sense and feeling of the reader. Accumulations of rules on the subject are unprofitable and delusive; and the cases wherein the rules hold good are often less numerous than the exceptions. If you thoroughly understand and feel what you have to utter, and have your attention concen'trated upon it, you will emphasize better than by attempting to conform your emphasis to any rules or marks dictated by one writer, and perhaps contradicted by another. 122. A boy at his sports is never at a loss how to make his emphasis expressive. If he have to say to a companion, "I want your bat, not your ball," or, "I'm going to skate, not to coast," he will not fail to emphasize and inflect the italicized words aright. And why? Simply because he knows what he means, and attends to it. Let the reader study to know what his reading-lesson means, and he will spend his time more profitably than in pondering over marks and rules of disputed application. It is for the teacher, by his o'ral example, to instil a realization of this fact into the minds of the young. 123. Dr. Whately, in his Treatise on Rhetoric, pointedly condemns the artificial system of teaching elocution by marks and rules, as worse than useless. His objections have been disputed, but never answered. They are, first, that the proposed system must necessarily be imperfect; secondly, that, if it were perfect, it would be a circuitous path to the object in view; and, thirdly, that, even if both these objections were removed, the object would not be effectually obtained. 124. He who not only understands fully what he is reading, but is earnestly occupying his mind with the matter of it, will be likely to read as if he understood it, and thus to make others understand it; and, in like manner, he who not only feels it, but is exclusively absorbed with that feeling, will be likely to read as if he felt it, and communicate his impression to his hearers. EXERCISES ON EMPHASIS. I. In their prosperity, my friends shall never hear of me; in their adversity, always. II. There is no possibility of speaking properly the language of any passion without feeling it. III. A book that is to be read requires one sort of style; a man that is to speak may use another. IV. A sentiment which, expressed diffusely, will barely be admitted to be just, expressed concisely will be admired as spirited. V. Whatever may have been the origin of pastoral poetry, it is undoubtedly a natural and very agreeable form of poetical composition. VI. A stream that runs within its banks is a beautiful object; but when it rushes down with the impetuosity and noise of a torrent, it presently becomes a sublime one. VII. A French sermon is, for the most part, a warm, animated exhortation; an English one is a piece of cool, instructive reasoning. The French preachers address themselves chiefly to the imagination and the passions; the English, almost solely to the understanding. VIII. Those who complain of the shortness of life let it slide by them without wishing to seize and make the most of its golden minutes. The more we do, the more we can do; the more busy we are, the more leisure we have. IX. Those who, without knowing us, think ill of us, do us no wrong; it is not ourselves whom they attack, but the phantom of their imagination. X. Sound logic is the sinews of eloquence. Without solid argument, oratory is empty noise, and the orator is a declaimer or a sophist. XI. There is hardly any body good for every thing, and there is scarcely any body who is absolutely good for nothing. A good chemist will extract some spirit or other out of every substance; and a man of sagacity will elicit something worth knowing out of every person with whom he converses. XII. XIII. XIV. XV. XVI. Men write their wrongs in marble; he, more just, T Stooped down divine, and wrote his in the dust. His words come from his mouth; ours, from our breast; See the sole bliss Heaven could on all bestow! XIX. Which in the virtuous mind doth all things conquer. It bears the hero on to arduous deeds; It lifts the saint to heaven. QUESTIONS. -115. What does Pronunciation include? 116. Does colloquial pronunciation ever differ from that used in reading the Scriptures or poetry? Mention examples. 117. What is Modulation? 118. Emphasis? What is the original meaning of Emphasis? 119. To what may the misplacing of one's emphasis lead? 121. What is necessary in order to emphasize expressively? INFLECTION. 41 LESSON XI. INFLECTION. the rising and merely that in as in the utter 125. WITH regard to the Inflections of the Voice, upon which so much has been said and written, there are in reality but two the falling. The compound or circumflex inflection is which the voice both rises and falls on the same word ance of the word "What," when it is intended to convey an expression of disdain, reproach, or extreme surprise. The analysis of vocal inflection was first promulgated by Mr. John Walker, author of the dictionary bearing his name. 126. The inflections are not denominated rising or falling from the high or low tone in which they are pronounced, but from the upward or downward slide in which they terminate, whether pronounced in a high or low key. The rising inflection was marked by Mr. Walker with the acute accent ('); the falling, with the grave accent ('). The inflection mark of the acute accent must not be confounded with its use in accentuation. 127. In the utterance of the interrog'ative sentence, "Does Cæsar deserve fame' or blame?" the word fame will have the rising or upward slide of the voice, and blame the falling or downward slide of the voice. Every pause, of whatever kind, must necessarily adopt one of these two inflections, or continue in a monotone. 128. Thus it will be seen that the rising inflection is that upward turn of the voice which we use in asking a question answerable by a simple yes or no, and the falling inflection is that downward sliding of the voice which is commonly used at the end of a sentence. Lest an inaccurate ear should be led to suppose that the different signification of the opposing words is the reason of their sounding differently, we give below, among other examples, some phrases composed of the same words, which are nevertheless pronounced with exactly the same difference of inflection as the others. EXAMPLES. The Rising followed by the Falling. The Falling followed by the Rising. We should say temporary', not temporary'. 129. The rising progression in a sentence connects what has been said with what is to be uttered, or with what the speaker wishes to be implied or supplied by the hearer; and this with more or less closeness, querulousness, and passion, in proportion to the extent and force of the rise. 130. The falling progression disconnects what has been said from whatever may follow; and this with more or less completeness, exclusiveness, and passion, in proportion to the force and extent of the fall. 131. The rising inflection is thus, invariably, associated with what is incomplete in sense; or, if apparently complete, dependent on or modified by what follows; with whatever is relative to something expressed, or to be implied; and with what is doubtful, interrogative or supplicatory. 132. The falling inflection, on the contrary, is invariably associated with what is complete and independent in sense, or intended to be received as such; with whatever is positive and exclusive; and with what is confidently assertive, dogmatical or mandatory. 133. The rising inflection is thus, also, the natural intonation of all attractive sentiments; of love, admiration, pity, &c.; as in the exclamations "Beautiful! Alas! Poor thing'!" The falling inflection is the tone of repulsion, anger, hatred, and reproach, as in the exclamations "Go! Fool! Malediction'!" 134. A great number of rules are given by Mr. Walker and his followers for the inflecting of sentences or parts of sentences. To these rules there are many exceptions, not enumerated by their framers. The rules, if used at all, must therefore be used with extreme caution, or they will mislead; and the reader who undertakes to regulate his elocution by them will, in many instances, fall into error. We give below the rules that are least liable to exception; but even these must be received rather as hints to guide the reader, where he is in doubt, than rules to hold where his understanding dictates the intonation most in accordance with the sense and spirit of what he is reading. Marks of inflection, like marks of emphasis, may serve to illustrate a principle, as for instance the fact that there is a rising and falling inflection of the voice, and that the sense of a sentence often depends upon a correct emphasis and inflection. But the student who expects to attain a correct style of elocution by following inflection marks, rather than by studying the pith and catching the spirit of what he is to read, will be disappointed. I. Where the sense is complete, whether at the termination of a sentence or of a part of a sentence, use the falling inflection. II. When sentences are divisible into two parts, the commencing part is generally distinguished by the rising inflection. III. Questions commencing with an adverb or pronoun, and which cannot be answered by a simple "yes" or "no," generally terminate with the falling inflection. IV. Questions commencing with a verb, and which can be answered by a simple "yes" or "no," generally terminate with the rising inflection. V. When two or more questions in succession, the first beginning with a verb, are separated. by the disjunctive particle or, the last question requires the falling, and the preceding ones the rising inflection. VI. The general rule for the parenthesis (a Greek word signifying an insertion) is, that it must be pronounced in a lower tone and more rapidly than the rest of the sentence, and concluded with the inflection that immediately precedes it. A sim'i-le, being a species of parenthesis, follows the same rule. VII: The title echo is adopted by Walker to express a repetition of a word or phrase. The echoing word is pronounced generally with the rising inflection, followed by something of a pause. VIII. The monotone, in which neither inflection of the voice is used, may be defined to be a continuation or sameness of sound upon certain syllables of a word, or certain words, exactly like that produced by repeatedly striking a bell; such a stroke may be louder or softer, but continues exactly in the same pitch. To express this tone upon paper, a horizontal line is sometimes adopted, such as we use to designate a long vowel: thus (-). The monotone may be often appropriately employed in passages of solemnity and awe. EXAMPLES ON THE ABOVE RULES. I. It is to the unaccountable oblivion of our mortality that the world owes all its fascination'. Age, in a virtuous person, carries with it an authority, which makes it preferable to all the pleasures of youth'. II. Virtue were a kind of misery', if fame were all the garland that crowned her'. Your enemies may be formidable by their numbers', and by their power'; but He who is with you is mightier than they'. III. Who can look down upon the grave', even of an enemy', and not feel a compunctious throb' that he should ever have warred' with the poor handful of earth' that lies mouldering before him'? How many men were in that army' at the time of the victory'? What can be worse', Than to dwell here', driven out from bliss', condemned In this abhorrëd deep to utter woe', Where pain of unextinguishable fire Must exercise us without hope of end'? IV. Would a merciful Providence have given us talents', without designing that we should exert them' ? |