The Effect Of Producing Consonants In Public Speaking

 

The ability of a speaker to be understood over great distances relies on their ability to effectively enunciate and produce their consonants. Without proper production of consonants in public speaking words begin to lose their shape, and before long ordinary words become extraordinary jibberish that the audience cannot even begin to understand.

 

In order to properly produce their consonants students must learn how to use their lips, tongue and teeth, which serve to form the consonants by either checking or interrupting the breath. The lips are used to produce p, b, wh and w, while the lips and teeth are used to produce f and v. The tongue and teeth make th and dh, and the tongue and the forward portion of the hard palate work together in producing consonants t, d, s, z, r and l. The tongue and the rear portion of the hard palate form ch, j, sh, zh and a different r. The tongue, the hard palate and the soft palate all work together to make y, and the tongue and the soft palate together form k and g.

 

Strong breathing is used to create the “h” sound, and by including the nasal passages in the body’s speaking operations speakers are capable of producing consonants m, n and ng (often referred to as the nasals). The consonant sounds are grouped according to the organ involved in producing them, as shown below:

• Labials (lips)

• Dentals (teeth)

• Linguals (tongue)

• Palatals (palate)

• Nasals (nose)

The proper positioning of these organs in public speaking is vital to producing consonants correctly, providing control over many speech disfluencies that would otherwise plague the speaker. Stuttering, stammering and repeating can all be relieved, if not cured, by carefully practicing the proper positioning of the lips, teeth, tongue, palate and nose.

 

Many speakers are told that singing, an art that requires the performer to pay strict attention to the sounds, tones, projection and pronunciation of the words leaving their mouth, is the secret to producing consonants in public speaking. This isn’t always fact. Although the two do often go hand in hand not every person who has a pleasant singing voice is able to transform that voice into a forceful speaking voice.

 

Singers are also more likely to focus on the vowels to preserve the purity of musical tone, hence the endless la-la-la and ah-ah of so many vocal show-pieces. This practice leads to the repeated criticism that it makes no difference whether a song be in English or a foreign language-the listeners understand just as much in either case.

 

In public speaking utmost importance is placed on imparting the meaning of the speaker’s words to their listening audience. Many words in the English language have the same or similar vowel sounds, meaning that in order for the listener to effectively distinguish between the two the speaker must pay careful attention to properly producing their consonants. In words that contain similar vowel sounds the distinction is generally made by the consonants found at the beginning and end of the words. These consonant sounds are produced by rather sudden checks or interruptions and can produce a wave that will carry the entire through the air and to the listener’s ear.

 

Regardless of the venue, in public speaking properly producing consonants is of the utmost importance in order to ensure proper understanding. After all, the fine art of producing jibberish has already been perfected by infants and toddlers all over the world. In order to distinguish himself, man must learn to speak.

My Name Is Christopher Carlin And I Want To Give You Twenty Free Public Speaking Tips

 

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