Voice Analysis and Improvement

Pronunciation and Articulation

Chapters 3 & 4

Learning is not attained bychance; it must be sought forwith ardor and attended to with diligence.

Abigail Adams

I. Pitch A. Low-Pitched Voices Most Pleasant B. Determining Pitch 1. Speak in the lower half of available pitch range 2. Speaker needs to be relaxed

II. Inflection A. Altering the Pitch or Tone of the Voice B. Necessary to Avoid Being Monotone

III. Volume A. Seldom a Problem in a Studio B. An Increase in Volume Raises Pitch C. Other Problems Created with Higher Volume 1. Popping 2. Sibilance 3. Aspirate

IV. Tempo A. Most Commonly Determined by Mood of the Copy B. A Variety in Speed is Necessary to Give Meaning

V. Vitality A. Vitality or Enthusiasm is not Necessarily Created by Rapid Speaking B. Use of Vitality 1. Gear it to your personality 2. Gear it to the mood of the event being described

VI. Pronunciation A. Announcers Favor General American Speech B. Problems Which Cause Mispronunciation 1. Sloppy or incorrect articulation 2. Physical impairment

3. Misreading 4. Affectation 5. Ignorance of correct pronunciation 6. Vowel and diphthong distortion

C. Speech Sounds of the American English Language 1. Vowels a. definition 1. a pure tone that can be held indefinitely 2. English has 12 vowel sounds (phonemes)

b. vowel distortion 2. Diphthongs a. a combination of two vowel sounds spoken in rapid order b. regionalism in the United States give problems

VII. Voice Quality And Articulation A. Problems of Voice Quality 1. Nasality 2. Huskiness 3. Thinness or lack of resonance

B. Improving Articulation 1. Commonly caused by improper placement or use of articulators 2. Consonants a. classified by how sound is formed i. plosives ii. fricatives

iii. nasals iv. semivowels v. affricates b. classified by place of articulation i. labial or bilabial ii. labiodental

iii. interdental or linguadental iv. lingua-alveolar v. linguapalatal vi. linguavelar vii. glottal