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The Voice and Diction of Conversation - part 3
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The caution not to drop syllables requires the counter-caution not to spell out every syllable. This leads to a sort of prissy diction, a particularly painful fault. Persons who have suddenly reformed their speech habits are especially liable to this form of overdoing careful pronunciation. The point to remember is that only the accented syllables should get the full rich vowel value, and only the important words in a sentence should get any force or time. The others, while they should not be slurred or dropped, may very well be spoken rapidly and inconspicuously. Even the unimportant words should be spoken rapidly and unemphatically, with little value on the vowels. In, "What do you want for dinner?" only the words "What" and "dinner" are significant. Therefore, "do you want" must be spoken unemphatically, that is, rather quickly, without any lingering value on the vowels.
This injunction really embodies one of the most important demands of good conversation and good public speaking. It is that the significant word in a phrase and sentence must be pronounced emphatically, with force and time and pitch change, and all the others should be pronounced as if grouped around that word. In a good talker, one not only hears the meaning of the sentence, but also feels its significance. If every word is pronounced with almost the same care and tempo, the hearer loses the significance in the procession of monotonous words. If one furthermore pronounces every syllable with as much care and force as the next, then one becomes insufferable. It is the technique to use if you want to be rid of an unwelcome suitor or the bill collector, for no hearer can suffer this precision monotony very long. In some elocution courses, a student is required to underline all the significant words in a poem or article before reading the selection aloud. He is then urged to read the underlined words with special emphasis. He can do this by pronouncing them in a higher pitch or with more force, that is, with a louder, stronger tone of voice and, most effectively, by judicious timing. He will in properly regulated tempo take as much time to speak the significant words as it took him to speak three or four of the preceding words. That is the important technique for speaking interestingly, with an edge of liveliness. Nature abhors monotony. Speaking all syllables in the same measured way, pronouncing all words in the same tempo, creates monotony, blurs the true meaning, and propagates yawns. Let everyone remember that the sine qua non, the minimum essential of good talking, is to make the important, the significant words in a phrase, in a sentence, and in a paragraph stand out. If that is done, no matter how, the worst danger of tiresome diction will be by-passed. A person may well set the rule for himself to take about as much time to speak any important word as three less important ones. While the proper relation of meaning to tempo is most essential, there are many other voice and speech factors that mend or mar conversation. One of life's greatest assets, of course, is a naturally good voice. Most people instantly recognize a beautiful voice — and envy it. Unfortunately such voices are gifts of nature, which like a beautiful face, one cannot grow. But fortunately, while a good native voice is essential for public speaking, nearly any voice can be sufficient for agreeable conversation — if it is used intelligently. Proper accent on significance as indicated above is one intelligent use. There are others, among the first of which one might perhaps stress energy and vitality. Everybody knows the painfulness of a "tired" voice. A strong or a weak voice may sound tired. A person who indulges in conversation has no right to let his fatigue settle in his voice. A Christian determination to be agreeable can usually put enough life into the voice to make it acceptable.
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