II. Faults in Quality. The following are enumerated by Murdoch as faults which impair purity of tone: 1. The guttural tone- a mode of utterance which seems to make the voice issue from an obstructed throat. 2. Nasal tone- - which makes the voice sound as if it came only through the nose. 3. The oral tone the slight, ineffective voice of indifference, feeble ness, or fatigue; or the mincing tone of false taste. 4. The pectoral tone-a fault arising from an imperfect habit of breathing, in consequence of which the lungs are not furnished with a sufficient supply of air to produce full and clear tone. *** Of course, all these "faults" in quality may become merits when appropriately used by the professional elocutionist for expressive or imitative effects. Exercise. PURE. O that this lovely vale were mine! There is a land, of every land the pride, thy country, and that spot-thy home. Thou, too, sail on, O ship of state! ASPIRATED. Speak softly! All's hushed as midnight yet. Hence, horrible shadow! Unreal mockery, hence! The citizens whispered, with white lips, VI. EMPHASIS. Emphasis is the mode of drawing attention to one or more words in a sentence. By the proper use of emphasis we impart interest and animation to reading. Emphasis, though often confounded with mere comparative force of utterance on an accented syllable, has in reality the wider scope of signification indicated in the preceding and following paragraphs. It is, therefore, not one of the simple elements of vocal expression, but the utilization of two or more of these elements to the end of calling special attention to emphatic words. Modes of Emphasis. To call special attention to a word in any way, is to emphasize it. Hence a word may be rendered emphatic by the use of extra force, by a change in the inflection, by pauses, or even by uttering it in a very low key. I. Emphasis by Force. A word may be emphasized by uttering it in a louder tone (that is, with extra "force"). Exercise. [The lowest degree of emphasis is usually marked by Italics; the next higher degree, by SMALL CAPITALS: the highest degree, by LARGE CAPITALS.] Go, ring the bells, and fire the guns, And fling the starry banners out; Come over, come OVER the river to me! Must we but weep o'er days more blest? What can alone ennoble fight? Not that I loved Cæsar LESS, but Rome MORE. And if thou saidst I am not peer Strike-till the last armed foe expires; STRIKE for the green graves of your sires, God, and your native land! An hour passed on-the Turk awoke; He woke to hear his sentries shriek, To arms they come! the Greek! the GREEK! II. Emphasis by Inflection. A word may be empha sized by the use of the suitable inflection. Exercise. Be not like dumb, driven cattle': Be a hero' in the strife. Sínk or swìm, líve or dìe, survíve or perìsh, I give my hand and my heart to this vote. Three thousand ducats': 'tis a good round sum'. I said an elder' soldier, not a better'. In the one' writer we most admire the man'; in the other', the work'. Stand! the ground's your own, my braves! He said; then full before their sight Truly, sir, all that I live by is with the aul. Is thy servant a dog, that he should do this great thing? III. Emphasis by Time. A word may be rendered emphatic by uttering it more slowly, or by pausing before or after it. Exercise. I had a brother once-a g-r-a-cious boy. H-ai-l, h-o-l-y light! His sentence was | death! A day, an hour, | of virtuous liberty is worth a whole eternity of bondage. He woke to die. The quality of mercy is not | s-t-r-ained'. He jests at scars | who never felt a wound. They show the banners | taken, they tell his battles | won. II.-DEFINITIONS IN LANGUAGE STUDY. SUGGESTIONS TO TEACHERS. If the language work in the previous numbers of this series has been faithfully attended to, the pupil will have acquired considerable knowledge in practical grammar and composition. In this Reader it is assumed that the scholar understands the meaning of ordinary grammatical terms, including the names denoting the parts of speech and their modifications, together with the classification and elements of sentences. The definitions given below are confined to the explanation of such terms as are used in the very elementary rhetorical exercises called for under the Language Studies. Language Study. The exercises under this head are presented in I. The analysis of a few Latin derivative words selected from the lesson. These derivatives, together with some hundreds of others occurring in the pieces, will be found in the Appendix, arranged under their respective Latin roots, and it will be noticed that in the case of the derivatives whose analysis is called for, the root-word is indicated in Italic in parenthesis. Teachers who appreciate the value and interest of historic etymology will, of course, add largely to the number of words called for in the exercises.1 1 The teacher is referred for many suggestive hints and much valuable material on this interesting study to Swinton's "New Word Analysis," Anderson's " Study of English Words," or Kennedy's "What Words Say," published by American Book Company. |