Page images
PDF
EPUB
[blocks in formation]

II. save, all, old, fair, praise, wo, move, arm, roll.

CHAPTER VI.

ON DISCRETE OR RADICAL PITCH.

IN explaining what was meant by pitch, as an element of expression, it was shown that there were two kinds of pitch used in speaking, the first being the change of pitch or slide made between the beginning and the end of each syllable, and the second being the pitch on which the beginning of the successive syllables is made. The first of these two kinds of pitch has been explained in the two preceding chapters. We have now to consider the second.

If we say, as a pettish child would do, the words, 'I WON'T,' we shall notice that the second word begins a good deal higher than the first. This distance or interval between the two is much greater in this case, than it was between any two of the syllables in the example given in the fourth chapter, I am coming to see you today.' We have then, in this chapter, to see what different intervals of this kind may be made, and what are their uses.

Let the sentence, I am coming to see you to-day,' be repeated, taking great care not to make any word in

it emphatic. Two things may be observed in the way of uttering it. 1. As was shown in the last chapter but one, there will be no slides of more than a tone on any of the syllables in it. 2. Though the syllables do not all begin on the same note, yet no two of them have any great difference in radical pitch between them, such as was observed in the other example between the words 'I' and 'won't.' The slight difference, which is made between some of them, has been found to be the same with what we have called a tone. 'The first rule then to be remembered in reference to Radical Pitch is, that an interval of a tone between two syllables gives no emphasis to either of them.

"You dare tell me so?" If this sentence be read as it would be commonly spoken, the word 'dare' would be emphasized by having its radical pitch a third lower than that of the word before it. It would have also, as was explained in the last chapter, an upward slide of a third, in order to give it the intonation of a simple question.

[ocr errors]

I dare tell you so.' Here we should give an upward interval of a third in discrete pitch, between the words 'I' and dare.' There should be also a downward slide of the same length on the latter word, to give it a somewhat positive expression.

• You

Repeat the question with more earnestness. DARE?' Here we shall have the downward interval of the fifth, with an upward slide of the same length.

'I DARE. This repeated answer would exemplify the upward interval of the fifth with its downward slide.

In the same way the corresponding octaves may be made, but, as was before observed, they are of little use, except for acting.

In all the above examples of emphatic discrete intervals, it will be seen that, by adding them to their corresponding slides, a word is emphasized in a much more lively manner than it would have been by the slides alone. Let the sentence, 'Sir, I thank the government for this measure,' be read, first, in the solemn and dignified tone of a man quite confident of being in the right, and then in a more lively manner, and it will be seen, that the difference between the two readings will be, that in the former case we have a downward slide on the word 'thank' without any upward discrete interval, while in the latter we use both together. In the same way, taking any of the examples which have been given in the fourth chapter for the slides, their emphasis may be made more or less lively, simply by adding or not adding a discrete interval in the opposite direction.

The emphasis, then, which is given by the use of discrete pitch, is always lively. In all the examples which have yet been given, the emphatic discrete interval has been accompanied by an equally long slide running the other way; but this, it should be understood, is not always the case. The rule for the employment of discrete pitch is, to make the interval wider, according as we would have the emphasis more lively: the slides and waves must then be added according to their own rules. An example will be sufficient to explain this.

'A pretty fellow you are, to be sure.' This sentence is one which requires no emphatic slides. There is no interrogation to require an upward slide, and nothing positive, to need a downward one. If therefore we wish to read it as an angry taunt, we must give to it the lively

emphasis of the wide discrete intervals combined with the unemphatic slide of the tone. Between the syllable

'pret-' therefore, and the one before it, there will be an upward interval of a fifth or a third, according as the taunt is made more or less severe. A downward interval of corresponding length will then be made between ‘ty' and 'fel-.' The voice may perhaps rise a second time in radical pitch, on 'you.'

We have stated it as a general rule, that this kind of emphasis may be used, at any time when we want to give a lively expression. There are some particular cases in which it is almost necessary to use it. These may be best shown by examples.

Had I been his slave, he could not have used me worse.' We have here between the words 'his' and 'slave,' an upward discrete interval of a third or fifth, according to the degree of violence with which we suppose the sentence to be spoken. There is, in addition to this, a downward slide of the same length on the latter word. On the second emphatic word, 'worse,' we shall probably give only the downward slide, without any upward interval. On both words we require a lively emphasis. Why then do we not give the upward interval on the second, as well as on the first? The reason is this. The first clause is conditional: If I had been &c.:' the second is not. We give to the emphatic words in the conditional clause the upward interval, in order to keep the sense suspended, and to make the hearer constantly expect a second clause. When we come to the second clause, we commonly cease to use it, that we may mark out clearly the transition. This will be found to be a rule of almost universal application.

6

It

may

be remarked that in this mode of applying the upward intervals, it is by no means necessary to have a corresponding downward slide joined with them, though this is certainly the most common usage. The sentence 'If he did hate me, what then?' will perhaps explain this. Let it be read with such eagerness and haste as to give an upward fifth between 'he' and 'did :' the downward slide on the word 'did' would hardly ever be made more than a third in length.

[ocr errors]

'He thought so, and therefore he said it.' In this example there is an antithesis between the two words thought and said.' In order to give the right expression to the sentence, it will be found necessary to give the wide radical interval on the one, and not on the other. Both of them will receive an emphatic downward slide. The most natural way of reading the sentence will be, to put an upward discrete third or fifth on the word 'thought,' and not on 'said.'

One more case may as well be mentioned. When we are asking questions with a great deal of anger, or surprise, we very commonly give to the emphatic syllables long upward slides, and then run along the other syllables which come between them, on the high pitch where the slide left off. This may be seen in the question ALL of them drowned?'

[ocr errors]
« PreviousContinue »