Efficiency Through Inflection

Synopsis

Inflection is the upward and downward shading of the voice within words and phrases, called by Herbert Spencer 'the running commentary of the emotions upon the propositions of the intellect.' The chapter argues that inflection often communicates more truly than the bare words themselves, giving rise to the saying, 'It is not so much what you say, as how you say it.' Mrs. Siddons's three different readings of Lady Macbeth's 'We fail' — as a contemptuous question, an indignant exclamation, and a resolute statement — illustrate how the same words can carry entirely different meanings through inflection alone. There are fundamentally only two inflections, rising and falling, though these combine into many varieties; in general, a rising inflection suggests doubt or uncertainty, while a falling inflection suggests certainty and conviction. The chapter demonstrates inflection's role in emphasis, noting that a long falling inflection on an interior vowel of an emphatic word intensifies it, as shown in Webster's Dartmouth College speech. A final caution warns against over-inflecting, which produces an artificial, 'kittenish' effect; the best training is patient self-observation of one's own voice.