lness of diagrams will then cease.

_Consonants and Articulation._

"Consonants are the bones of speech. By means of consonants we
articulate our words; that is, we give them joints. We utter vowels, we
articulate consonants. If we utter a single vowel-sound and interrupt it
by a consonant, we get an articulation. Consonants, then, not only give
speech its articulation or joints, but they help words to stand and have
form, just as a skeleton keeps the animal from falling into a shapeless
mass of flesh; therefore, consonants are the bones of speech. The
consonant is the distinguishing element of human speech. Man has been
defined in various ways according to various attributes, functions and
habits. He might well be called the consonant-using animal. He alone of
all animals uses consonants. It is the consonant which makes the chief
difference between the cries of beasts and the speech of man."
--_Richard Grant White_.

Consonants are not to be sung. The effort so common among singers to
pronounce, by sustaining consonant sounds, is entirely misdirected.
_M_, _n_ and _ng_, which are made by shutting off the escape of the
air-current at either the lips or the hard-palate, and so forcing it
through the nose, are often sustained to the detriment of beauty of tone
and clear pronunciation as well.

Articulation, which is the pronunciation of a consonantal sound, is
accomplished by interrupting the air-current, whether vibratory or not,
at certain points. The interruptions are made by the meeting of the lips
with each other or with the teeth, by the tongue with the teeth or
hard-palate, and the root of the tongue with the soft-palate. The
interruption may be complete, as in _p_ or _t_, or only partial, as in
_th_. The sound of the consonant results from the slight explosion or
puff which follows the recoil of the movable parts from the point of
contact.

All consonants may for singing purposes be considered as preceding or
following some vowel-sound. If preceding, then after the sound is made
the vocal organs must be adjusted at once for the proper formation of
the succeeding vowel. If the consonant sound follows a vowel-tone, the
movement of the vocal organs to the interrupting point must be quick and
vocalization at once cease; for if the vowel-sound is prolonged after
the production of the consonant, the effect will be an added syllable to
the word as _at-at-er_, _up-up-pah_, etc. The movements of the organs of
speec