b Three slightly different thoughts
and pressures P m
Tongue strikes Four slightly against gum line different thoughts of upper front and pressures
1 d t n
ACTION EXPLANATION Back tongue Two slightly meets soft different thoughts palate, then and pressures relaxes
Lower lip Two slightly against upper different thoughts front teeth and pressures Blade of A buzz and tongue and a hiss hard ridge back of upper teeth LETTER PRODUCED g k v f z S
Final r's are pronounced like the er in the word ermine.
The ing sound must be executed with the nostrils open, not closed.
Wh is pronounced hoo.
Two of the actions can be combined, producing what is known as double-consonant combinations. The most common double-con- sonant combinations in the English language are: bl, br, cl, cr, dr, ft, fr, gl, gr, pi, pr, sh, zh, sm, si, sn, sp, sq, st, sw, cb, sc, tr—plus two executions of the consonant combination, th: this and thick.
There are a few consonantal diphthongs: they are the soft g, j and x.
One conso-vowel: the beginning r, and one conso-vowel com- bination: qu.
HOW TO TALK EN GUSH
In English there are very few triple consonant combinations. Some of the most common are: chr, spr, sch, scl, scr, spl, and shr. W is always pronounced do. Y is always pronounced e. In ordinary American speech:
"The" before a consonant is always pronounced thu (except for emphasis). "The" before a vowel is always pronounced the. "A" before a consonant is always pronounced u (except for emphasis). "A" before a vowel is always pronounced a.
By combining two of the ten sounds, we can produce the six "sound combinations," or diphthongs, that are most frequently used in American English.
The first sound in a diphthong is called a "prime," because it is the stronger of the two. The second sound is called the "vanish." It is the weaker of the two.
Here are the diphthongs in American English:
PRIME VANISH DIPHTHONG KEY e plus e equals a as in hate
a plus e equals i as in night
o plus oo equals o as in hope
e plus oo equals u as in cute
a plus oo equals ou as in house
a plus oo equals oi as in boil
All words are made up of single, double or triple actions (consonants) and single sounds (vowels), or combined sounds (diphthongs). If we think of the consonants as being actions, we are more
HOW TO ACT
likely to execute them completely. They should be fully executed whether they come at the beginning, in the middle or at the end of a word.
The same rule holds true for a sound, whether it's a single sound or a combination of sounds. They should be fully executed according to the pronunciation given in a reputable dictionary.
The actor must sometimes correctly speak incorrect diction. This is simply a matter of substituting sounds or actions that are com- mon to the local speech or dialect as they are needed for the characterization.
When the actor turns his attention seriously to sound, he finds he has many new concepts and tools to use.
Thousands of man hours and dollars have been spent to re- produce perfectly the voice vibrations made by the human instru- ment. Comparatively few man hours and dollars have been spent by the actor exploring the possibilities and further developing the human vibrator. The audience has spent many more man hours training its ear—and developing its emotional expectancy than the actor has in fulfilling the audience's expectations.
The actor must be understandable the first time through—the audience cannot go back and run over a difficult passage as they can in a book or a newspaper. The eye receives more quickly and retains longer than the ear. The ear is as easily tired by a monot- onous sound or speech pattern as by uninteresting dialogue.
Diction is not as difficult as it seems; it's just confusing, because in English we have two languages—the written and the spoken. Don't worry about it too much; just pronounce all the sounds and execute all the actions, then you'll be all right After all, as an actor, you have to talk
Did you ever have a friend ask: "What was that again?" as you finished telling him something?
Then you repeated exactly what you had said—this time stress- ing certain key words for emphasis, and giving them a special connotation to bring out a particular significance beyond their literal and obvious meaning.
Audiences can't ask, "What was that again?" Actors have to use stress and connotation as tools of interpretation. These tools can answer every possible question that the speech prompts in the mind of the listener.
Every sentence has several words in it which might give the answer to specific questions.
For instance, take the line, "This is Helen Hayes speaking to you."
There are at least seven questions you could answer in this simple remark.
Read the line, accenting, or stressing, the first word, "this." "This is Helen Hayes speaking to you."
You have answered the question "Who?"
Read the line again, stressing the second word, "is." "This is Helen Hayes speaking to you."
You have not only established, but emphasized the identity of the speaker.
Accent the word "Helen" and you know which member of the Hayes family is speaking.
If you accent the word "Hayes," you stress which particular Helen is speaking. Not Helen Smith, not Helen Jones, but Helen Hayes.
Stress the word "speaking" and that answers the question of what Helen Hayes is doing.
Accent the word "to" and it's clear that she's talking directly to you.
By accenting the word "you," there is no doubt to whom Helen Hayes is talking.
The variety of meanings you can acquire by the ability to stress 128