Chapter - 20

How To Talk En Gush

Scientific improvement in the acoustics of legitimate theaters, and the development of electronic sound systems in film and television, have made it possible for audiences to hear the performer more clearly than ever before.

In motion pictures and television, the actor's speech can now be directed intimately to each one in an audience.

Each individual in the audience likes to understand what he's hearing; and make up his own mind as to the truth and realism of it

The actor's problem is greater because he no longer performs for an audience as a group. He performs for a group of individual thinkers. Each of these individuals bases his critical judgment, either consciously or subconsciously, (audible or not) on remembered experiences of his own or someone else.

Words—their use, meaning, sound and cleanness of delivery —are tools of the actor. The actor's responsibility is to execute these words cleanly and clearly: to do this with such ease and dexterity that they sound pleasing and natural—and above all, so that they produce excitement.

Words—like everything else—are made up of something: they have two parts, sound and action. They also have a beginning and an end. Each sound and action, each beginning and end are of equal importance to every word.

The separate parts of each word must be executed with balanced vitality. In the theater this is necessary to propel the vibrations of sound to each individual ear in the audience. In motion pictures and television this balanced vitality is necessary to energize the sound system.

Balanced vitality is not to be confused with accent and stress.

With a few exceptions, the "parts" of words can—for all practical purposes— be reduced to ten sounds and five actions.

Ten Sounds with.
Diacritical Marks                                                          Key Word
ä                                        as in                                   father
ô                                        as in                                   so
oo                                      as in                                   soon
ë                                        as in                                   see
Y                                       as in                                   hit
e                                        as in                                   deck
ä                                        as in                                   had
oo                                      as in                                   hook
ŭ                                        as in                                   luck
a                                        as in                                   law

The actions are:

ACTION                     EXPLANATION                  LETTER PRODUCED
Lips together,               Three slightly                         b
then opened                  different thoughts                   p
                                    and pressures                        m
Tongue strikes              Four slightly 1
against gum line             different thoughts d
of upper front               and pressures t
teeth—then                                                                n
relaxes
Back tongue                 Two slightly                           g
meets soft                     different thoughts                   k
palate, then                   and pressures
relaxes
Lower lip                      Two slightly                           v
against upper                different thoughts                   f
front teeth                     and pressures
Blade of                       A buzz and                            z
tongue and                    a hiss                                     s
hard ridge
back of upper
teeth

Final r's are pronounced like the er in the word mnine.

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-consonant combinations in the English language are: bl, br, cl, cr, dr, fl, †r, gl, gr, pi, pr, s ,zh, sm, si, sn, sp, sq, s‡, sw, ch, 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 combination: qu.

In English there are very few triple consonant combinations. Some of the most common are: cbr, spr, sch, scl, scr, spl, and sht. W is always pronounced o¯ø. Y is always pronounced ë. In ordinary American speech:

"The" before a consonant is always pronounced thü (except for emphasis). "The" before a vowel is always pronounced the. "A" before a consonant is always pronounced ü (except for emphasis). "A" before a vowel is always pronounced ã.

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 WORD

All words are made up of single, double or triple actions (consonants) and single sounds (vowels), ort combined sounds (diphthongs).

If we think of the consonants as being actions, we are more 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 common 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 reproduce perfectly the voice vibrations made by the human instrument 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 monotonous 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.

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