Clear, precise articulation comes only with practice. The following factors should be kept in mind throughout.
Sufficient Muscle Tensions
Don’t let the articulation become flabby, loose, and inexact. To avoid this there must be a certain amount of muscular alertness in all the articulator organs of speech. Some j people describe this as a kind of “crispness” that gives the speech a clean character. Avoid any sluggishness of the muscles. But don’t make the tensions too great or else over-precision will result. Watch the tongue especially since it is a most important organ in this process. Be sure that the t, d, I, s, the and ng sounds are made accurately with the proper portion of the tongue—the tip in the case of the first five sounds mentioned and the back in the ng sound.
The lips must also be used to form sounds clearly. How many people have you seen who speak most of the time with their lips in exactly the same position all the time? Watch carefully the way you make the p, b, m, f, v, and w sounds. There must be muscular tension in the labial or lip muscles to form these sounds clearly.
The jaw is important as well. You can, if you wish, put a pencil between the teeth and speak with fair clarity, but as a speaker before people you want to show some speech animation. You should assist the sounds in their articulation by using your jaw with some looseness.
The soft palate is the rear part of the roof of the mouth which, when you touch it with your finger, gives way to the pressure. In the articulation of the sounds of speech this soft palate moves towards and away from the back of the tongue. It is not so easy to control as the lips and the tongue, and consequently a great many people speak without sufficient movement of the palate in articulation. The result is that many of the sounds which should come through the mouth cavity go through the nose, and sounds are nasalized which should not be nasalized. If, when you are making the sound of py you hold the lips together, air pressure builds up behind the lips. The soft palate is then forced upward and away from the base of the tongue. So also in making the t sound, which has pressure to it as well, you will find the soft palate raised. But in making the sound of m with the lips closed you will feel that the passage between the soft palate and the nasal opening is free for the sound to proceed into the nasal passage. It is clear then that some muscular tension is present in the soft palate when you form certain sounds of speech.
Proper Rate of Utterance
No one can tell you how many words to say per minute in order to be well understood. The rate varies, but one thing is certain: it should not be too fast for intelligible listening or too slow for interesting listening. A rate of about 160-180 words a minute is generally satisfactory. The speed of 100 words per minute is too slow, and 200 is too great You may recall some rapid radio speakers, many of whose listeners fail to get all that is said. It is safe to assume that their rate was over 200 words per minute.
You will not deliver a prepared speech with the same speed as an impromptu speech you might make to a small group. Your prepared speech will be more tightly written and you will have more complicated thought in it. You will have to deliver it slowly enough to let your thought sink in. But whatever the rate at which you speak, it is necessary to have the organs of speech form the sounds so that the articulation is made with sharpness and clarity.
