NEW ZEALAND VOICES
Sir-The timely and « stimulating articles and letters you have printed lately on speech, accent, and pronunciation could have gone a little further with profit to us all. What about New Zealand voices? Afte? twenty yeats working in drama I find that the deterioration is progressive as far as clarity, audibility, and please-ingness ate concerned. Children grow increasingly raucous, the male adult foggier and foggier, and female voice flatter and flatter. A teacher of speech production — has stated that the prevalence -of catarrh is responsible for the fogginess and lack of resonance, and perhaps the hationwide use of artificial dentures adds ta the flatness! With this I cannot agree. And T take as’ exhibition, the radio sessions known as the "Boys Overseas," where the average voice is thi¢k, monotonous, and unmusical until an officer speaks, when one gets a reasonably pleasing delivery, with musical intonations and plenty of resonance. Whether this difference is due to additional education provided by the secondary schools or to a more "refined" home environment doesn’t matter. The fact that it exists is proof that all citi« zens of this democratic country can be trained to speak reasonably well,
JUDITH
TERRY
(Auckland).
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https://paperspast.natlib.govt.nz/periodicals/NZLIST19470905.2.14.10
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New Zealand Listener, Volume 17, Issue 428, 5 September 1947, Page 5
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198NEW ZEALAND VOICES New Zealand Listener, Volume 17, Issue 428, 5 September 1947, Page 5
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