Powerful and persuasive voices require precise pronunciation.
Learn to articulate properly. It is simple and interesting. Tongue twisters are excellent for sharpening enunciation. They make your lips, jaw and tongue exercise and help people understand what you are saying.
Practice these continually. Concentrate on your particular articulation problems.
Tongue Twisters for B, P, M and W
These consonants demand active lips. Say “Boom.” Explode that b. Bring those lips down hard, quickly and sharply for B, P, M. For the W, pucker the lips.
For B: A big black bug bit a big black bear, made a big black bear bleed.
For P: Peter Piper picked a peck of pickled peppers. If Peter Piper picked a peck of pickled peppers, where is the peck of pickled peppers Peter Piper picked?
For M: Military malarkey makes monstrous madmen into maligned martyrs.
For W:If a woodchuck would chuck wood, how much wood would a woodchuck chuck, if a woodchuck would chuck wood?
Th (thing) and TH (that)
Touch the tip of the tongue to the rim of the upper teeth. The tongue tip should protrude ever so slightly.
For Th: Theophilus Thistle, the thistle sifter, sifted a sieve of unsifted thistles. If Theophilus the thistle sifter sifted a sieve of unsifted thistles, where is the sieve of sifted thistles Theophilus the thistle sifter sifted?
For TH: What dost thou think of those that go thither?
S, Z and WH
These sounds require coordination. To pronounce S you raise your tongue, groove it and arch it toward the hard palate. Force the breath through the narrow fissure between your teeth. The same for the Z – except it is vocalized.
For Sh and Zh the fissure is broader. For Wh purse the lips as you blow through the opening.
For S: The sixth sick sheik’s sheep’s sick.
Suzy Schell sells sea shells on the seashore.
For Z: Moses supposes his toes are roses, but Moses supposes amiss. For Moses knows his toes aren’t roses as Moses supposes.
For WH: What whim led Whitey White to whittle near a wharf where a whale might wheel and whirl?
T, D, N, L and R
A lazy tongue will get you in trouble with these twisters. The first four of these consonants are made alike. On the first two, your tongue should snap as a whip. The tip of your tongue should touch the hard palate just above the upper teeth.
On the R, the tongue arches itself along the roof of the mouth without touching it.
For T: Thomas Tattertoot took taut twine to tie ten twigs to two tall trees.
For D: Double-bubble gum bubbles double. Dud double-bubble gum doesn’t bubble double.
For N: A snifter of snuff is enough snuff for a sniff for the snuff-sniffer.
For L: Likable Lillian loves lovely luminous aluminum linoleum.
For R: Around the rugged rock the ragged rascal ran.
F and V
Both F and V are formed by pressing the upper teeth lightly on the lower inside lip. The word fife is an example.
F is unvocalized and the breath is merely allowed to escape. But V is vocalized.
For F: I never felt felt feel flat like that felt felt.
For V: Vern Verve is well versed in very wordy verb verse.
H, K, NG, SK and Q
H is simply made by breathing out through the mouth.
K requires the back of the tongue to touch the soft palate. The breath is then released sharply. G is the vocalized form of this sound.
When sounding NG (sing), arch the tongue, but force the voice through the nasal passage.
For H: Harry Hugh hid the heel behind the high hill. If Harry Hugh hid the heel behind the high hill, where is the heel Harry Hugh hid?
For K: Cass Cash can catch a check casher to cash his uncashed check.
For NG: The ringing, swinging, singing singers sang winning songs.
For SK: Ask an Alaskan skier to ski askew his skis.
For Q: Quigley Quagmire requested sequentially created quite quick quality crackers.
