mouth, and proceeding to those which have the most anterior formation.

152. The student should be able to enounce the sounds of these Articulations independently, and exactly as heard in words. The following Table exhibits all the English Articulations in each of the four positions: initial, final, medial before a vowel, medial before an articulation.

* For a minute description of each of the English Articulations, the defects to which they are liable, and the means of correcting them, see "Dictionary of English Sounds," in the work referred to in note, par. 69.

+ See par. 71.

XIII. PRINCIPLE OF DISTINCTNESS.

154. Every ARTICULATION Consists of two parts-a position and an action. The former brings the organs into approximation or contact, and the latter separates them, by a smart percussive action of recoil, from the articulative position. This principle is of the utmost importance to all persons whose articulation is imperfect. Distinctness entirely depends on its application. Let it be carefully noted:-audibly percussive organic separation is the necessary action of every articulation.

155. The Breath Obstructives, P-T-K, have no sound in their POSITION, and thus depend, for all their audibility, on the puff that accompanies the organic separation. This therefore must be clearly heard, or the letters are

*These articulations do not occur in this position in English.

practically lost. The Voice Obstructives, B-D-G, have a slight audibility in their "positions," from the abrupt murmur of voice which distinguishes them from P, T, and K ; but they are equally imperfect without the organic "action" of separation and its distinctive percussiveness. All the other elements being Continuous, have more or less audibility in their "positions;" but in every case distinctness and fluency depend on the disjunctive completion of the articulative "action."

XIV. DEFECTS OF ARTICULATION.

156. Various faulty formations of the elements of articulation are extremely common. The Obstructives become mere stops, and lack the necessary percussive termination ; the voice articulations are deficient in throat-sound, and thus not sufficiently distinguished from their breath correspondents; the Continuous elements are formed by a faulty disposition of the organs, or by the wrong organs; or their "positions" are not sufficiently firm, and their "actions" altogether wanting or indistinctly languid. The motions of the tongue and the lips are tremulous or indefinite, too feebly or too strongly conjunctive, too rapid or too tardy, &c., &c.

157. LISPING consists in partially obstructing the hissing stream of air, by contact of the point of the tongue with the teeth, or by elevation of the lower lip to the upper teeth.

158. BURRING consists in quivering the uvula instead of the point of the tongue, or approximating the soft palate and back of the tongue instead of raising the tip of the tongue to the anterior rim of the palatal arch.

159. THICKNESS of articulation consists in the action of the middle instead of the point of the tongue in the various lingual articulations. This last very common kind of imperfection sometimes arises from congenital inability to raise the tip of the tongue to the palate-removable by a simple operation--but most frequently, it is the result merely of a bad habit, perfectly removable by energetic and careful application of lingual exercises.

160. In the work referred to in the note, par. 69, the various errors of articulation-including Stuttering and

Stammering—are the subjects of a more elaborate treatThe following is a summary of the correct—

ment.

RELATIVE POSITIONS OF THE ORAL ORGANS.
The Tongue.

161. The TONGUE should be held back from the lower teeth, in order that its actions may be independent of the motion of the jaw: the tip should never be pressed into the bed of the lower jaw; the tongue should never touch the lips, or be protruded between the teeth: it should be rarely seen, and, when visible, the less the better. The root of the tongue should be depressed as much as possible, to expand the back part of the mouth and give fulness to the vowel sounds :-this is the chief source of the mellow" orotund" quality which distinguishes the voices of well-practised speakers. The tongue should not be pushed from point to point without disengagement in passing from word to word: but it should sharply finish the articulations by a perfect recoil of the organ :--this insures distinctness.

The Faw.

162. The lower JAW should not, in speaking, fall behind the upper, but the two ranges of teeth should be kept as nearly in a line as possible. The teeth should never come in contact: even when the lips are closed, the teeth should not clash. The lower jaw should descend freely for every vowel utterance, and, preparatorily, before the commencement of articulation: its motions must be without jerking, equable, easy, and floating.

The Lips.

163. The LIPS should never hang loosely away from the teeth, or be pursed, pouted, or twisted, but they should maintain the form of the dental ranges as nearly as possible, lying equally and unconstrainedly against the teeth. The habits of licking or biting the lips are offensive, and should be carefully guarded against by public speakers. The lips should be used as little as possible in articulation; the upper lip should remain almost quiescent, safe for emotive expression; the articulative action being confined to the lower lip.

Labial Expressiveness.

164. Habits of speech are so peculiarly operative in giving character to the lips, that an acute observer may generally tell by their aspect whether a person's articulation is good or bad; and there are few stammerers who do not show, to the practised eye, an indication of their infirmity in the lips. The soft and pliant texture of the lips is easily impressed by any habit; and even a passing emotion will mould their plastic substance to express it. Habitual ill-nature everybody looks for and recognizes on the lips; and there sweet temper and cheerfulness have their calm abode. Thus we generally find fixed on these portals of the mouth a legible summary of the man. The lips of the vulgar and ignorant are 66 arrant tell-tales,” which there is no belying; and mental superiority cannot conceal itself from labial disclosure. The lips refuse to screen the lie they may be forced to speak. It may be said, indeed, that falsehood cannot utter itself by these "miraculous organs" of truth; but conscious rectitude, integrity, and virtue shine through the lips, and give irrefragable evidence there, when other testimony is absent or doubtful.

XV. ANGLICISMS OF ARTICULATION.

165. The leading Anglicism of Articulation has been already pointed out in remarks on the letter R (par. 71, et seq.) This element is distinctly articulated only before a vowel; but less with a trill, than a smooth buzzing vibration of the tongue. In other positions, the letter R is faintly, or not at all articulated. R has a vOWEL

sound (No. 10) after any long vowel, before any articulation, and when final.

166. When final R is followed by a word beginning with a vowel, the R is articulated, to avoid hiatus between the words. But the Cockney custom of interposing R between two vowels, as in the sentences," Is Papa r at home?"--" What an idea r it is!" &c., is not to be countenanced. This vulgarism is confined to words ending with the open vowels, Nos. 8, 9, and sometimes 13; the formative apertures of which are of nearly the same expansion as that of the English (R=) 10.