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A Handbook of Diction for Singers:
Italian, German, French 3rd Edition

David Adams
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A Handbook of Diction for Singers
A HANDBOOK OF
Diction for
SINGERS
Italian, German, French
THIRD EDITION
David Adams
Oxford University Press is a department of the University of Oxford. It furthers
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address above.
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and you must impose this same condition on any acquirer.
CIP data is on file at the Library of Congress

ISBN 978–0–19–763951–1 (pbk.)
ISBN 978–0–19–763950–4 (hbk.)
DOI: 10.1093/oso/9780197639504.001.0001
9 8 7 6 5 4 3 2 1
Paperback printed by Sheridan Books, Inc., United States of America
Hardback printed by Bridgeport National Bindery, Inc., United States of America
Dedicated to the memory of my mentors in the singing of the Italian language
Italo Tajo (1917–1993)
and
Lorenzo Malfatti (1923–2007)

CONTENTS
Preface to the 3rd Edition xi

Acknowledgments xiii
List of Exercises xv
CHAPTER 1 An Introduction to Individual Sounds 1

The International Phonetic Alphabet 1
Comments about a Few IPA Symbols 2
Vowel Length 3
The Role of the Tongue in Determining Vowel Sounds 4
The Seven Vowel Sounds of Italian: /i//e//ɛ/ /a/ /ɔ/ /o/ /u/ 5
Additional Vowel Sounds for German: /ɪ/and /ʊ/ 9
The Mixed Vowels of German and French: /y//ʏ/ /ø/ /œ/ 10
Additional Vowel Sounds for French: /ɑ/ /ɑ/̃ /ɛ/̃ /õ/ /œ̃/ 12
Glides /Semiconsonants /Semivowels: /j//ʝ/ /w/ /ɥ/ 15
Diphthongs: A Brief Discussion 16
Consonant Sounds 18
Paired Consonant Sounds: /b/ /p/ /d/ /t/ /ɡ/ /k/ /v/ /f/ /z/ /s/ 18
Unpaired Consonant Sounds: /l/ /m/ /n/ /r/ 21
The Sounds of r 21
A Special Pair: /h/and /ʔ/ 23
More Consonant Sounds: /ʒ/ /ʃ/ /ʎ/ /ɲ/ /ŋ/ /ç/ /x/ 24
The Affricate Sounds: /d͡ʒ/ /t͡ʃ/ /d͡z/ /t͡s/ 28
CHAPTER 2 Italian Diction 31

International Phonetic Alphabet Symbols for Italian 32
Italian Vowel Letters: Vowels and Glides 33
Italian Diacritical Marks 34
vii
viii Contents
Italian Syllabification 37
Italian Word Stress 40
Vowel Length in Italian 42
Apocopation 44
Italian Diphthongs and Triphthongs 46
Phrasal Diphthongs and Triphthongs 51
Italian Consonants 52
Consonant Combinations and Their Sounds 64
Single and Double Consonants in Italian 68
Characteristics of Double Consonants 69
More about Vowels 71
Ambiguous Spellings: Is It a Vowel or a Glide? /i͜ːo/ /i͜ːa/ vs. /jo/ /ja/ 73
Phrasal Doubling in Italian 79
Articulating Double Consonants in Singing 81
Singing Consonant Clusters 83
Musical Settings of Italian Diphthongs 85
Italian Diphthongs: Vowel Distribution in Singing 88
Musical Settings of Italian Triphthongs 92
Vowel Distribution in Singing Phrasal Diphthongs 93
Patterns of Phrasal Triphthongs in Italian 101
Italian Text Underlay in Scores 105
Other Possible Assimilations of n 107
Resources for Italian 108
Sample Texts 110
Appendix: Guidelines for Determining Open and Close e and o in
the Stressed Syllable 115
CHAPTER 3 German Diction 131

International Phonetic Alphabet Symbols for German 132
The Umlaut 133
Eszett 134
A Note on German r Sounds 134
Word Origin: Germanic and Non-Germanic 135
German Vowel Sounds and Vowel Length 135
Word Stem, Word Stress, Vowel Length 137
Specific Vowel Sounds in German 138
German Mixed Vowels 145
Contents ix
German Diphthongs and Adjacent Vowels 148

The Glides /ʝ/ and /j/ 149
German Consonant Sounds 150
Other Consonant Combinations 164
Double Consonants in German 166
More about German Vowels—Exceptions and Irregularities 168
More about Syllabic Stress and Vowel Length 179
More about German Word Structure 181
Summary of German Suffixes 186
German Verb Endings 188
Changing Vowels in Verbs 188
Summary of Monosyllabic (and Some Polysyllabic) Words 190
Words of Non-Germanic Origin 193
Glottal Separation in German 197
Glottal Separation versus Legato Connection in Singing German 198
Phrasal Consonant Clusters in German 203
Possible Assimilation of Consonant Sounds in German 206
Resources for German 210
Sample Texts: 211
CHAPTER 4 French Diction 219

International Phonetic Alphabet Symbols for French 220
French Diacritical Marks 222
Terminology Related to the Legato Flow of French 224
A Note about the Syllabification of French Words 226
Word Stress in French 226
Vowel Length in French 227
French Vowel Sounds and How They Are Spelled 229
Mixed Vowels in French 238
Fine Points Concerning /œ/and /ø/ 242
Vocalic Harmonization and e moyen / eu moyen 245
Nasal Vowels 248
Incorrect Sounding of n and m in Nasal Vowels 249
Glides in French 253
French Consonants 258
Connecting Sounds in French: Enchaînement, Elision, Liaison 279
French Syllabification 287
x Contents
Musical Settings of Mute e 298

Tied Note Notation with Mute e 303
Musical Settings of Glides 307
Resources for French 312
Sample Texts 314
Bibliography 317
Index of Sounds by Spelling 319
General Index 323

PREFACE TO THE 3RD EDITION
The repertoire of opera houses internationally, as well as the art song repertoire explored
in music schools and conservatories, has expanded greatly over recent decades. That ex-
pansion means that singers of classical music are required to confront many more lan-
guages than in the past, particularly the Slavic languages. Nevertheless (putting aside
English for the moment), the core repertoire remains Italian, German, and French. The
English-speaking student of singing must first master the lyric diction of these three lan-
guages (as well as their own) as a first step on the way to professional competence.
The third edition of this book is the culmination of a process that began in the mid-
1990s. Although the basic content of the previous editions remains, much rewriting, re-
organizing, and reformatting will be apparent to those familiar with the earlier editions.
It is hoped that the new opening chapter, introducing the IPA symbols and describing the
sounds they represent, will make the book more useful to less experienced students. For
more advanced students already familiar with the IPA, the opening chapter may be used
as a reference.
The subsequent chapters, devoted in turn to Italian, German, and French, have many
more example words than before, most of which have been translated into English and
transcribed into the IPA, which were not features of the earlier editions. Some exercises
have been inserted throughout each chapter, another new feature. They address specifics
of pronunciation for some of the more difficult sounds and provide practice in IPA tran-
scription. The teacher is certainly encouraged to expand on these suggested exercises
according to the needs of the particular class.
The distinctive aural qualities of any language can be gleaned only imperfectly from a
book. It is crucial that students of singing hear Italian, French, and German sung by a va-
riety of native singers. It is likewise important to experience the inflections of the spoken
languages to the extent possible, and to gain at least some expertise in speaking them. It
is absolutely essential to study the grammar of each language as thoroughly as possible.
Fluency is not required, but developing an ear for the cadences, modulations, and phras-
ings of a language will make a significant difference in the authority with which it is sung.
xi
xii Preface
The study of “diction” can encompass at least three levels:
Beginning: Mastering the basic rules of pronunciation: what sounds result from what let-
ters in what contexts, such as when s is voiced or unvoiced.
Intermediate: The above, plus mastery of those characteristics of a language that are
different from one’s native language, such as purity of vowel sounds uncolored by
English diphthongs, non-aspiration of consonants in Italian and French, and relative
length of sounds (single and double consonants in Italian, vowels in any language), to
name a few of the more important examples.
Advanced: All of the above, plus a subtle understanding of stress and inflection over
longer phrase groupings.
The aim of this book, if used to the fullest extent, along with input from teachers and other
resources, is to help the student achieve an intermediate level of proficiency, as would be
expected in a graduate-level lyric diction class. For less experienced students, study of
the opening chapter followed by selective use of the subsequent chapters may get them
beyond a beginning level. All students should realize that working with languages is an
ongoing, long-term process. There is always more to learn.
ACKNOWLEDGMENTS
The original edition of this book was made possible by a sabbatical leave granted by the
University of Cincinnati. Throughout the three editions of this book, I have had input
from many colleagues. A few of them deserve special mention regarding the current edi-
tion. I would like to thank Michelle Chen, senior editor for music at Oxford University
Press, for initially contacting me about the possibility of a new edition. Michelle has
made valuable suggestions and offered welcome support throughout the process. Pierre
Vallet, from whom I have learned much over the years, brought my attention to aspects
of French that made their way into the book. Robert Barefield and Daniel Weeks read
through the manuscript and provided insightful feedback. Lyndon Meyer provided in-
dispensable help in creating the musical examples. In particular, I want to thank Quinn
Patrick Ankrum, who would not rest, and did not let me rest, until the book was as good
as it was going to be.
My thanks to all, Michelle, Pierre, Rob, Dan, Lyndon, and Quinn
xiii
LIST OF EXERCISES
Flipped /Rolled r (oral) 22

Italian Partial IPA Transcription 46
Exercise for Italian l (Oral) 53
Exercise for Italian Double ll (Oral) 54
Exercise for Italian r/rr (Oral) 55
Exercise for Italian Hard/Soft c, g (Written) 63
Italian IPA Transcription 67
Italian IPA Transcription 68
Exercise for Single/Double Consonants (Oral) 69
Exercise for Italian Final -io, ia (Oral) 74
Exercise for Italian Consonant Clusters (Oral) 83
Exercise for German Long/Short a (Oral) 138
Exercise for German Unstressed a (Oral) 139
Exercise for Sounds of German ü (Oral) 146
Exercise for German /ç/(Oral) 151
Exercise for German chs /çs/(Oral) 153
Exercise for German /sç/(Oral) 161
German IPA Transcription 168
Exercise for Vowel Length in French (Written/Oral) 228
Exercise for French o Sounds (Written/Oral) 236
Exercise for French /œ/and /ø/Sounds (Written/Oral) 243
Exercise for Determining Nasal Vowels (Written/Oral) 249
Exercise for Differentiating /ɑ/̃ and /õ/ (Oral) 253
Exercise for Differentiating /ɛ̃/ and /œ̃/ (Oral) 253
Exercise for Pronouncing the /ɥ /glide (Oral) 257
French IPA Transcription 278
French IPA Transcription 297
xv
1
An Introduction
to Individual Sounds
The International Phonetic Alphabet
The International Phonetic Alphabet (usually abbreviated to IPA) is an indispensable tool

for singers and vocal coaches who deal with many different languages. It was first developed
in the late 1880s by the newly established International Phonetic Association (primarily
French and British language teachers) as a pedagogical tool in teaching foreign languages.
The goal was to create one alphabet in which a given symbol represents the same sound
over all languages. Each symbol represents a single, distinct sound, called a phoneme.
The IPA has evolved over time, with numerous revisions throughout the course of the
20th century. Symbols were added to include sounds from non–western European lan-
guages, and some existing symbols were changed to others. The most extensive revisions
came out of a 1989 meeting of the International Phonetic Association. There have been
relatively few changes since then.
Tables of IPA symbols can easily be found through an online search. Many of the
symbols are not used in this book, because certain sounds are not used in the languages
discussed here.
Sometimes there are differences in the phonetic symbols used in diction textbooks and
other resources for singer’s diction (sometimes called lyric diction). For example, several
older texts (Colorni, Singers’ Italian; Moriarty, Diction; Siebs, Deutsche Aussprache) use
the symbol /ɑ/for the vowel sound found in Italian padre and German Vater. Today the
accepted symbol is /a/, used by most recent resources. The symbol /ɑ/is used for the
darker sound of English father and for French dark a. There are other differences to be
found, particularly when it comes to transcribing diphthongs and dealing with r sounds.
Some of those differences will be discussed in this book as the need arises.
A Handbook of Diction for Singers. David Adams, Oxford University Press (2022). © Oxford University Press.
DOI: 10.1093/oso/9780197639504.003.0001
2 A HaNDbOOK OF DICTION FOR SINGERs
Upon first learning the IPA, the student may confuse phonetic symbols with letters of
the alphabet. It is important to remember that, for instance, the symbol /e/is not the same
as the letter e and that the symbol /y/is not the same as the letter y.
Diction resources such as this book use what is called a “broad” transcription of
the IPA. Professional phoneticians and the field of linguistics employ a “narrow” tran-
scription, which has many more symbols to show subtle details of pronunciation and
inflection. Students of singing would tend to be confused by trying to decipher a narrow
transcription, so a broad transcription, combined with further explanations as needed, is
the best approach.
It must be emphasized that the IPA is just a tool—a very useful one, but still just a
tool. It is a means to an end and not an end in itself. It is possible to sing with “correct”
diction, observing the sounds indicated by the IPA, but still not sound idiomatic. One
does not sing in the IPA but in a language. Students must listen to artists who sing the
languages well and expressively and attune their ears to help them develop the skills to
do the same.
Comments about a Few IPA Symbols
Brackets and Slashes
Current practice for the IPA places individual sounds, called phonemes, within slashes, as
in /a/. Individual words or phrases are placed within brackets, as in [a.ˈmoː.ɾe].
Word Stress
The IPA symbol for syllabic stress is /ˈ/preceding the primary stressed syllable in a word,
as above in [a.ˈmoː.ɾe]. It is not used for words of one syllable.
There is another symbol, /ˌ/, which may be placed before a syllable that has a sec-
ondary stress. This text uses the secondary stress for German, as it has many compound
words, such as Liebeslieder [ˈliː.bəs.ˌliː.dɐ] (love songs). See the German chapter for
more information.
The French chapter does not use either symbol. See the French chapter for more
information.
Syllabification
Though many sources for phonetics do not indicate syllabification, others may indicate
syllabification with a hyphen or a dot between syllables. This text uses the dot. Thus
[a.ˈmoː.ɾe] has three syllables.
1. An Introduction to Individual Sounds 3
/ɡ/
This is the currently accepted IPA symbol for “hard” g, as in English get [ɡɛt]. It occurs in
all the languages discussed in this book. Many resources use the symbol /g/.
/ə/
The symbol /ə/is called schwa. It represents a short, unstressed, neutral vowel sound.
This IPA symbol is used in German, French, and English. Standard Italian does not have
such a sound, although some Italian dialects do, notably Neapolitan. A difficulty is that
schwa has different formulations in the different languages. German schwa (as in geliebt
[ɡə.ˈliːpt]) is different from French schwa (as in dessus [də.sy]), and English schwa (as
in alone [ə.ˈlo͜ʊn]) is different from those. Schwa is therefore not discussed among the
vowel sounds presented below but is addressed in the German and French chapters.
/ɐ/
This symbol is used for some situations involving the consonant letter r in German, spe-
cifically when a German word ends in unstressed -er (lieber [ˈliː.bɐ]) and when r follows
a vowel in the same syllable (mir [miːɐ]). Other than in the brief section on diphthongs
later in this chapter, it is not discussed in this introduction, but it is addressed in the
German chapter.
Vowel Length
The languages discussed in this book have both long and short vowel sounds. In English,
the length of a vowel sound in one-syllable words can often be affected by whether those
words end in a voiced or unvoiced consonant sound. Seem has a long vowel, while seek
has a short vowel; bad has a long sound, while bat has a short one.
The question might be asked why consideration of vowel length is important, when
musical settings have determined note lengths. The answer is, yes, musical notes have set
lengths, but the singer must still understand the relative lengths of vowel and consonant
sounds and perform them in proper proportion to each other within the given note values.
Such understanding comes from knowing the rules of the spoken language.
Most dictionaries that use the IPA do not indicate vowel length. Some reference books
do, using the IPA symbol /ː/following the vowel symbol. The English words above would
be transcribed [siːm] and [sik]; [bæːd] and [bæt]. The symbol is used in Siebs and Duden
for German and Warnant for French (see the descriptions of those books in the respective
chapters). This text indicates long vowels for all three languages, as in [a.ˈmoː.ɾe] above.
Some sources use this symbol for long consonant sounds, as with Italian double conson-
ants. This text does not do so, as explained in the Italian chapter. How to determine when
a vowel is long is explained in the respective chapters for each language.
The broad phonetic transcriptions used in this text show vowel length as it applies
to individual words pronounced alone. When several words are put together in a phrase
group, vowel length may be reduced or lost in some words if they are unstressed in the
phrase. The long vowel of Italian mia [miːa], for instance, is reduced in the phrase amo
mia madre (I love my mother) in which the mains stresses are on [ˈaː.mo] and [ˈmaː.dre].
Musical settings of course will determine much regarding vowel length, but the charac-
teristics of individual words must still be understood.
What follows is a description of the physical production and sound qualities of the
sounds discussed in this book, with some comparisons among the languages and addi-
tional commentary. This section may serve as a reference when reading the more de-
tailed discussion of the sounds in the respective chapters. References to English are for
American Standard English, a rather artificial concept, but nevertheless a useful one in
attempting to neutralize regional accents.
The Role of the Tongue in Determining Vowel Sounds
Vowel sounds are largely determined by the shape and position of the tongue, although
the lips (rounded or unrounded) and jaw (more open or less open) also play a role. For
descriptive purposes the tongue is divided into regions:
The tip of the tongue, also called the apex. It is the small area of the tongue just behind
the lower front teeth when the tongue is at rest. When the tongue arches forward or
back to form the different vowel sounds, the tip of the tongue tends to remain at or
near the lower front teeth. If it does not, it is indicative of tongue tension.
The front of the tongue: the area behind the tip extending to the back of the mouth
where the teeth end. This area is where the arching of the tongue happens.
The back of the tongue: most of the rest of the tongue extending down into the throat.
It is the part of the tongue that you can’t see looking into a mirror with an open mouth.
The root of the tongue: the bottommost part of the tongue, which attaches to the hyoid
bone at the top of the larynx.
The tongue can arch forward toward the hard palate, and it can arch backward toward
the soft palate. The vowel sound produced when the tongue is arched forward the most is
/i/. The vowel sound produced when the tongue is arched backward the most is /u/. All the
other vowel sounds have a tongue position somewhere in between those two extremes, as
described in what follows.
Not counting schwa and /ɐ/there are eighteen vowel sounds covered in this book. The
discussion begins with the seven vowel sounds found in Italian, namely /i//e//ɛ/ /a/ /ɔ/ /o/
and /u/. These sounds are also found in German and French, and most of them in English.
Comparisons are made among all four languages.
A word on terminology: to differentiate between /ɛ/and /e/and between /ɔ/ and /o/,
American texts for singers’ diction have traditionally used the terms open for /ɛ/and /ɔ/
and closed for /e/and /o/. Phoneticians use the term close vowel. This text follows that
practice and uses the term close vowel for /e/and /o/.
Following the first seven vowel sounds, two vowel sounds found in German (and English)
but not Italian or French are described, namely /ɪ/and /ʊ/. These are followed by the four
mixed vowels of German, three of which occur in French: /y//ʏ//ø/and /œ/. Finally, the five
additional French vowel sounds, four of which are nasal vowels: /ɑ/ /ɑ/̃ /ɛ/̃ /o/̃ and /œ/̃
The Seven Vowel Sounds of Italian: : /i//e//ɛ/ /a/ /ɔ/ /o/ /u/
/i/
The vowel sound represented by this symbol is common to all four languages:
English: key [ki] she [ʃi] team [tiːm]

Italian: chi [ki] (who) figli [ˈfiʎ.ʎi] (sons) infinito [in.fi.ˈniː.to] (infinite)
French: qui [ki] (who) ici [i.si] (here) lys [lis] (lily)
German: wie [vi] (how) ihn [iːn] (him) dieser [diː.zɐ] (this)
It is produced when the front of the tongue is arched forward, very close to but not
touching the hard palate. The sides of the tongue have gentle contact with the upper
molars. The tip of the tongue is relaxed and touching the back of the lower front teeth.
The relaxed jaw is relatively closed, and the lips and cheek muscles assume a gentle
smile position.
The native English-speaking singer must be careful that when /i/occurs in unstressed
syllables, as it often does in Italian and French, it retains its purity and does not revert to
/ɪ/or even /ə/.
This sound can be challenging to produce in the upper part of the voice. The jaw will
have to be lowered to some degree, with the tongue staying in the position described
above as much as possible.
/e/
This sound is not found as a single vowel in standard English. It is approximated as the
first sound in certain English diphthongs such as chaos [ˈke͜ɪ.ɑːs] and fate [fe͜ɪt]. The
tongue is only slightly less arched than for /i/and is still in contact with or very near the
upper molars. The jaw is very slightly lower.
Because this sound does not occur as a single, pure vowel in English, native English
speakers may have trouble with it in singing. The tendency is to sing it in too open a
manner. It must be understood that the tongue position is much closer to that of /i/than
to that of /ɛ/. If the singer is challenged by this sound, it may be helpful to sustain /i/and,
while sustaining, slightly adjust the tongue position to find /e/.
Italian: per [per] (for) fedele [fe.ˈdeː.le] (faithful)) vedere [ve.ˈdeː.ɾe] (to see)
German: der [deːɐ] (the) Seele [ˈzeː.lə] (soul) gehen [ˈɡeː.ən] (to go)
French: aller [a.le] (to go) beauté [bo.te] (beauty) léger [le.ʒe] (light—adj.)
This sound is particularly subject to inappropriate diphthongs from English speakers.

Italian se [se] (oneself) has a pure vowel, while English say (transcribed as either [se͜ɪ] or
[sɛ͜i]) has a diphthong. The same difference is found with German Fehl [feːl] (flaw, stain)
and English fail [fe͜ɪl] or [fɛ͜il]. There are many more such examples. English-speaking
singers inexperienced with other languages are susceptible to pronouncing what should
be a pure vowel with a diphthong.
See further discussion of this sound and its relation to /ɛ/in the specific chapters.
/ɛ/
The sound represented by this symbol is also common to all four languages:
English: bed [bɛd] head [hɛd] said [sɛd]

Italian: bene [ˈbɛː.ne] (well) gelido [ˈʤɛː.li.do] (icy) essere [ˈɛs.se.ɾe] (to be)
German: jetzt [ʝɛtst] (now) nennen [ˈnɛ.nən] (to name) Blätter [ˈblɛ.tɐ] (leaves)
French: mer [mɛːɾ] (sea) père [pɛː.ɾ(ə)] (father) reine [ɾɛ.n(ə)] (queen)
The front of the tongue has slightly less arching than for /e/and slightly more than
for /a/. The sides of the tongue do not have contact with the upper molars, and the jaw is
lower than for /e/but not as much as for /a/.
Notice how English has multiple spellings for this sound. In Italian this sound can
only be spelled with the letter e. German and French usually spell it with e but also have
alternate spellings.
There is a difference in how this sound is pronounced by many native English
speakers, as opposed to the native speakers of the other languages. The difference is sim-
ilar to the one between /a/and /ɑ/, but the IPA does not have different symbols for, say,
the English and Italian versions. Compare English bed with German Bett, English Ben
with Italian bene, English set with French cette. The difference may be subtle, but the
English pronunciations tend to have a slightly lower tongue position and lack of “lift” or
“smile” toward the cheekbones.
See the French chapter for information on “e moyen,” a vowel sound between /e/and
/ɛ/, with the IPA symbol /(ɛ)/.
/a/
Italian, German, and French all have this sound. English is different, as explained below.
Italian: cara [ˈkaː.ɾa] (dear) fama [ˈfaː.ma] [fame) padre [ˈpaː.dre] (father)
German: Kahn [kaːn] (boat) Mann [man] (man) Vater [ˈfaː.tɐ] (father)
French: fatal [fa.tal] (fatal) canard [ka.naːɾ] (duck) parmi [paɾ.mi] (among)
Neither British English nor American Standard English uses this sound as a single
vowel (though regional accents do; see below), although the /a/sound may be found as
the first part of English diphthongs with /a͜ɪ/as in aisle or isle. As a single vowel, English
uses the darker /ɑ/sound found in the English word father [ˈfɑ.ðɚ] It is important that
native English speakers learn to differentiate /a/from /ɑ/.
The pronunciation of /a/requires the front of the tongue (at the back of the oral cavity)
to be slightly more elevated than for /ɑ/. The muscles at the sides of the mouth gently lift
toward the cheekbones. The jaw is more open than for /ɛ/. This physical posture gives the
sound its special color.
Another way to describe the difference between /a/and /ɑ/is that /a/is oriented to-
ward the hard palate while /ɑ/is oriented toward the soft palate.
It is understood that the technical needs of singing may at times require adjustments
to the description above. That is a matter for voice teachers.
The sound /a/is found in some American regional pronunciations of words like hot,
closet, costume, on, so that English hot sounds like German hat and English on sounds
like German an.
/ɔ/
This sound is common to Italian, German, and French and is usually spelled with the
letter o (French sometimes spells this sound with au). American Standard English also
has this sound, with various spellings.
English: saw [sɔː] walk [wɔːk] daughter [ˈdɔ.tɚ]

Italian: ho [ɔ] (I have) cosa [ˈkɔː.za] (thing) nobile [ˈnɔː.bi.le] (noble)
German: von [fɔn] (from) Sonne [ˈzɔ.nə] (son) kommen [ˈkɔ.mən] (to come)
French: forêt [fɔ.ɾɛ] (forest) comme [kɔ.m(ə)] (how) dormir [dɔɾ.miːɾ] (to sleep)
The main difference in this sound from /a/is that the lips are partially rounded with
the jaw slightly less open. If /a/is sustained, then the lips are slightly rounded, the tongue
will tend to slightly reduce its arch toward the hard palate, resulting in /ɔ/.
/o/
Italian, German, and French all have this sound:
Italian: lo [lo] (the, it, him) come [ˈkoː.me] (how) voce [ˈvoː.t͡ʃe] (voice)
German: wo [vo] (where) schon [ʃoːn] (already) wohnen [ˈvoː.nən] (to dwell)
French: trop [tɾo] (too) chose [ʃoː.z(ə)] (thing) faux [fo] (false)
This sound occurs rarely in English. It may be heard in careful pronunciation of the
unstressed first syllable of obey and omit. In American Standard English it never occurs
in stressed position.
Because /o/does not occur in stressed position in English, the native English-speaking
singer must pay particular attention to it in the other languages. The tendency may be to
pronounce it almost as for /ɔ/. The tongue position of /o/is closer to /u/than it is to /ɔ/.
Lip rounding is also nearly as much as for /u/. If the vowel of the English word saw is
sustained, and then the singer slowly moves the lips toward the first syllable of obey and
sustains it, the /o/of Italian, German, and French will result.
Just as with /e/, this sound is subject to pronunciation with an inappropriate diph-
thong from English speakers. Italian lo should not sound like English low [loʊ].
German schon is different from English shown [ʃoʊn]. There must be no movement
of the jaw or lips either in the release of the vowel or in the transition of the vowel to
the next sound.
/u/
This sound is common to all four languages.
Italian: giù [ʤu] (down) tutto [ˈtut.to] (all) futuro [fu.ˈtuː.ɾo] (future)
German: gut [ɡuːt] (good) Schule [ˈʃuː.lə] (school) Musik [mu.ˈziːk] (music)
French: vous [vu] (you) doux [du] (sweet) trouver [tɾu.ve] (to find)
English too [tu] rule [ruːl] shoe [ʃu]
The lips are rounded very forward as the tongue arches back toward the soft palate.
It is always spelled with the letter u in Italian and German. French spells this sound ou.
Standard English normally spells /u/with oo as in too, fool, boot, shoot, but it
has other spellings such as two and blue. Many regional American accents (as well as
other versions of English) deviate considerably from /u/in these words, however, to the
point where many Americans do not actually use a pure /u/sound in their speech at all.
Difficulty with a pure /u/in singing is usually the result of tension in the tongue, so that
the tongue is tensed in the direction of the hard palate rather than arching back toward the
soft palate in a relaxed manner.
Additional Vowel Sounds for German: /ɪ/and /ʊ/
German employs two additional sounds that are also found in English but not in standard
Italian or French. Those sounds are /ɪ/and /ʊ/.
/ɪ/
Examples of this sound in English and German:
English: in [ɪn] mitt [mɪt] lick [lɪk]

German: in [ɪn] (in) mit [mɪt] (with) Blick [blɪk] (glance)
It is the open version of /i/. The tongue is slightly less arched than for /e/(but more
arched than for /ɛ/), and the jaw is somewhat more open.
There is a slight difference between the German and English versions of this sound,
though both use the same IPA symbol. English mitt or the first syllable of mitten has
a lower tongue position than the slightly more arched tongue shape of German mit.
A careful pronunciation of the German version also has more of a gentle smile around the
lips than the English version.
A feature of this sound in speech in both languages is that it is short in duration.
Singing often requires this sound to be sustained. If the singer is too concerned with
differentiating /ɪ/from /i/on a sustained note, the result may be an overly open vowel
that lacks core in the tone. In sustaining this vowel sound in singing, it may be advisable
to “cheat” toward /i/. The ear of the voice teacher or vocal coach will help the singer find
the best solution.
/ʊ/
Examples of this sound in English and German:
English: book [bʊk] could [kʊd] woman [ˈwʊ.mən]

German: Kuss [kʊs] (kiss) um [ʊm] (around) Nummer [ˈnʊ.mɐ] (number)
It is the open version of /u/. The differences from /u/are that the lips are less rounded
(though still somewhat rounded), the jaw is more open, and the back arching of the tongue
is slightly less. Like /ɪ/, the sound /ʊ/is short in duration in speech.
There is essentially no difference between the English and German versions of this
sound, but notice that German always spells it with u, while English has various spellings.
The same advice presented above for singing /ɪ/also applies to /ʊ/. If the sustained vowel
is sung in too open a manner, the tone may lack core. A slight shaping in the direction of
/u/is usually appropriate, under the guidance of the voice teacher /vocal coach.
The Mixed Vowels of German and French
In addition, German has four “mixed” vowels: /y/, /ʏ/, /ø/, and /œ/. A mixed vowel com-
bines the tongue position of one “pure” vowel with the lip position of another “pure”
vowel. The specific positions of the tongue and lips are explained for each sound below.
Three of the four mixed vowel sounds are also are found in French. These sounds do not
occur in standard English or Italian.
/y/
This symbol represents a mixed vowel sound that is a version of /i/in that the tongue po-
sition is the same but the lips are rounded well forward as for /u/. So, tongue /i/—lips /u/.
German: für [fyːɐ] (for) müde [ˈmyː.də] (tired) süss /süß [zyːs] (sweet)
French: une [y.n(ə)] (one, a) cruel [kɾy.ɛl] (cruel) aigu [(ɛ).ɡy] (acute)
Bear in mind that the tongue position is the most important aspect of /y/. Sustain the
vowel /i/, and while maintaining that tongue position, round the lips to an /u/position.
Since it is not a sound that occurs in standard English, it may take some practice to find
it correctly and consistently.
In German this sound is spelled with ü (although the spelling ue is sometimes seen).
With rare exceptions, it is always in the stressed syllable and is always long in duration. In
French it is almost always spelled with u as the only vowel letter in the syllable (excluding
mute e). It is irregularly spelled eu in forms of the verb avoir [a.vwaːɾ] (to have): past
tense forms eu, eus, eut are all pronounced /y/.
/ʏ/
This sound is unique to German. It does not occur in French. In German it is always
spelled with ü, just as /y/is. It is the open version of /y/. Tongue /ɪ/—lips /ʊ/.
Glück [ɡlʏk] (happiness, luck) zurück [t͡su.ˈɾʏk] (back)

drücken [ˈdɾʏ.kən] (to press) müssen [ˈmʏ.sən] (to have to, must)
dürfen [ˈdʏɾ.fən] (to be allowed, may) flüstern [ˈflʏs.tɐn] (to whisper)
The relationship of /y/to /ʏ/is analogous to that of /i/to /ɪ/. To find /ʏ/sustain /ɪ/ and
then somewhat round the lips to /ʊ/. Of course, the difficulty with that solution is that
neither of those sounds is sustained in speech (they are always short in duration), so the
result will sound and feel a little artificial. Singing of course often requires it to be more
sustained, in which case it may have to modify somewhat in the direction of /y/. See the
German chapter for information regarding when the letter ü is pronounced /y/or /ʏ/.
/ø/
To make this close vowel sound, the tongue is in the position of close /e/, as in German sehr
(very) or French léger (light). The lips assume the rounded position of /o/, maintaining
the tongue position of /e/. Tongue /e/—lips /o/.
German: schön [ʃøːn] (beautiful) Flöte [ˈfløː.tə] (flute) hören [ˈhøː.ɾən] (to hear)
French: peu [pø] (a little) joyeux [ʒwa.jø] queue [kø] (tail)
In German, the sound represented by this symbol is always spelled with ö (although
the alternate spelling of oe is possible, as in the name of the poet Goethe [ˈɡøː.tə]). In
French this sound is usually spelled eu but may also be spelled oeu or ueu.
The symbol is sometimes called “o-slash.” More information is found in the German
and French chapters.
/œ/
This sound is the open version of /ø/. The tongue is positioned as for /ɛ/and the lips round
as for /ɔ/, that is, not as rounded as /o/. Tongue /ɛ/—lips /ɔ/.
German: können [ˈkœ.nən] (to be able, can) Götter [ˈɡœ.tɐ] (gods)

Österreich [ˈœs.tə.ɾa͜iç] (Austria) Wölken [ˈvœl.kən] (clouds)
French: coeur [kœːɾ] (heart) fleur [flœːɾ] (flower) seul [sœːl] (alone)
peuple [pœ.pl(ə)] (people) oeil [œj] (eye) deuil [dœj] (mourning)
German spells this sound with ö and French with eu and variations. These are the
same spellings as for the corresponding close sound. The “openness” or “closeness” is
determined by what follows the vowel, as explained in those chapters.
A trap for American singers with both /ø/and /œ/is to substitute the American r-
colored vowel /ɝ/. This is the vowel sound heard in words such as earth, bird, work,
girl. The extra tongue tension of the American sound is not appropriate to the German
and French sounds.
See the French chapter for information on “œ moyen,” a vowel sound between /ø /and
/œ/, with the IPA symbol /(œ)/.
̃ /ɛ̃/ /õ/ /œ̃/

Additional Vowel Sounds for French: /ɑ/ /ɑ/
/ɑ/
This sounds is called “dark /ɑ/” by Thomas Grubb in his book Singing in French, to con-
trast with the brighter sound of /a/. It is the vowel sound in the first syllable of the English
word father. In French it is spelled the same as /a/but occurs much less often. The tongue
is barely arched at all, while /a/has slightly more arching to it. Examples are pas [pɑ]
(not) and bas [bɑ] (low). It is often pointed out that the difference between /a/and /ɑ/ is
slight and that many French speakers no longer use /ɑ/. Information about when /ɑ/ may
occur is found in the French chapter.
The French Nasal Vowels
The remaining vowel sounds are the four French nasal vowels. The nasal resonance of
these vowels is created by the lowering of the velum, or soft palate. One can feel the dif-
ference between a raised and lowered velum by slowly speaking the English words cat
[kæt] and can [kæn]. In saying cat, the anticipation of the unvoiced sound /t/causes the
velum to raise so that nasal quality is shut off. In saying can, the anticipation of the voiced
nasal consonant /n/causes the velum to lower so that nasal quality is accessed.
Such nasality in standard English is very slight. Some accents of English are charac-
terized by greater nasality. Even though the French nasal vowels clearly have the nasal
color, the amount of nasality should not be overdone.
/ɑ/̃
This sound is primarily spelled four ways: an, am, en, em. Examples:
sans [ʃɑ̃] (without) champ [ʃɑ̃] (field) lent [lɑ̃] (slow) temps [tɑ̃] (time)
(See the French chapter for additional spellings that are essentially variations of
these.) As the IPA symbol indicates, it is the darker sound /ɑ/that is nasalized. Some
older resources used the symbol /ã/, but it is now outmoded. If you say or sing the English
word dawn, sustaining the vowel and anticipating but not pronouncing the n, the result
will be the French word dans [dɑ̃] (in, among).
/ɛ̃/
See the French chapter for the numerous possible spellings of this sound. Some examples:
vin [vɛ̃] (wine) mien [mjɛ̃] (mine) plein [plɛ̃] (full) faim [fɛ̃] (hunger)
The symbol suggests that it is the vowel /ɛ/that is nasalized, but, according to Glanville
Price in his book An Introduction to French Pronunciation, it “is a more open vowel
than . . . /ɛ/—its degree of aperture corresponds more to that of English /æ/as in . . . cat.”
Thomas Grubb in his Singing in French has this to say: “In nasalizing /ɛ/̃ the singer must
soften the basic vowel-sound by resonating it in the ‘uh.’ ” Other sources simply say that
the foundation of /ɛ/̃ is /ɛ/.
Price’s description may be confirmed by comparing the following difference: say or
sing the English name Ben [bɛn] and sustain the vowel, not saying but anticipating the n.
Then say or sing the English word ban [bæn] and sustain the vowel, not saying but an-
ticipating the n. The latter is closer to the French word bain [bɛ̃] (bath) than is the former.
Care must be taken to keep space and roundness in the sound.
/õ/
This sound is always spelled either on or om, as in
onde [õ.d(ə)] (wave) tomber [tõ.be] (to fall)
It is rendered as /ɔ/̃ in many resources. Singer’s diction texts have traditionally used
/õ/as the more accurate symbol, and this text does also. Using the same procedure as
above, if one says the English word moan [mo͜ʊn] sustaining the principal vowel before
the diphthong, anticipating but not pronouncing the n, the result is French mon [mõ] (my).
/œ̃/
This sound is spelled either un or um:
lundi [lœ̃.di] (Monday) parfum [paɾ.fœ̃] (perfume)
Of all the nasal vowels, this one seems to be the most difficult for students to master.
The procedure used above is not really possible, since the vowel /œ/does not occur in
standard English. There are two ways to find it. One is to sustain the nasal vowel /ɛ/̃ (once
it is understood and mastered) as in the French word lin [lɛ̃] (flax, linen). Then simply
round the lips. The result is l’un [lœ̃] (the one) as in the phrase l’un ou l’autre [lœ̃ u
lo.tɾə] (the one or the other).
The other way is to sustain /œ/(once it is understood and mastered) as in the word
leur [lœːɾ] (their) without pronouncing the r. Then add nasal resonance. The result once
again is l’un [lœ̃].
A number of resources, including Warnant and Price (see the description of these
books in the French chapter), discuss the fact that many French speakers do not use this
sound but use /ɛ/̃ instead. Nevertheless, using /œ̃/appropriately is considered a require-
ment of “elevated” French pronunciation and should be used in classical singing.
Glides /Semiconsonants /Semivowels: /j//ʝ/ /w/ /ɥ/
These three terms are synonymous. The term glide has traditionally been used in singer’s dic-
tion texts, and this one does so as well. A glide is a very short vowel sound that quickly gives
way to a longer vowel sound in the same syllable. Such a combination may also be called
a rising diphthong. Usually a glide follows a consonant, but it may come between vowel
sounds, and it may begin a word. The four glide sounds discussed in this book are: /j//ʝ/ /w/ /ɥ/
/j/
The IPA symbol must not be confused with the letter j, which in English and French
makes a completely different sound. The glide /j/is the glide version of the vowel /i/.
English: yet [jɛt] young [jʌŋ] future [ˈfju.t͡fɚ] music [ˈmju.zɪk]

Italian: fiume [ˈfjuː.me] (river)
chiesa [ˈkjɛː.za] (church) bianco [ˈbjaŋ.ko] (white)
gioia [ˈd͡ʒɔː.ja] (joy)
aiuto [a.ˈjuː.to] (help) buio [ˈbuː.jo] (darkness)
German (only non-Germanic words): Nation [naˈt͡sjoːn] (nation) Lilie [ˈli.ljə] (lily)
French: ciel [sjɛl] (sky, heaven) fierté [fjɛɾ.te] (pride) premier [pɾə.mje] (first)
yeux [jø] (eyes) travailler [tɾa.va.je] (to work)
Although Italian, German, and French usually spell /j/with the letter i, there are other
possible spellings, as discussed in those chapters.
/ʝ/
This symbol, only added to the IPA in 1989, represents a glide sound unique to German
(among the languages discussed here). It is spelled with the letter j and almost always
comes at the beginning of a word, as in ja [ʝa] (yes) and jung [ʝʊŋ] (young). It is described
by Siebs (see the end of the German chapter concerning this reference book) as a voiced
/ç/, the ich-Laut, described below in the section about consonants. The fricative quality of
/ç/is combined with the vocal folds vibrating.
Both Siebs and Duden, the two standard resources for German pronunciation, use
the symbol /j/for this sound. For non-Germanic words using the similar glide found in
Italian and French, those resources use the symbol /ĭ/as in Nation [naˈt͡sĭoːn] (nation). To
maintain consistency among all the languages, this text uses /ʝ/for the fricative sound in
German words with the letter j, while /j/is used for the non-fricative glide sound found in
the other languages and German words where it is spelled with i, derived from Latin and
Greek, as in Familie [fa.ˈmi.ljə] (family). See the German chapter for more information.
/w/
This sound is the glide version of the vowel /u/.
English: await [ə.ˈwe͜ɪt].

twenty [twɛn.tɨ] quick [kwik] was [wʌz]
Italian: guerra [ˈɡwɛr.ra] (war) cuore [ˈkwɔː.ɾe] (heart) qui [kwi] (here)
acqua [ˈak.kwa] (water) uomo [ˈwɔː.mo] (man) uovo [ˈwɔː.vo] (egg).
German: does not occur, except in borrowed words
French: oui [wi] (yes) fouet [fwɛ] (whip) oiseau [wa.zo] (bird)

foi [fwa] (faith) noir [nwaːɾ] (black) voir [vwaːɾ] (to see).
Note the spellings of this sound: always u in Italian, ou or oi in French, w or qu in

English.
/ɥ/
The unique French glide is /ɥ/. It is the glide version of the vowel /y/. Both vowel and
glide are only spelled with the letter u. Usually, but not always, if the letter u is followed
by another vowel letter, the u will function as the glide /ɥ/.
nuit [nɥi] (night) lui [lɥi] (he, him) nuage [nɥaː.ʒ(ə)] (cloud)
See the French chapter for a complete presentation.

This sound is often difficult for English speakers, who tend to substitute the /w/glide.
In the brief duration of the glide the tongue must be arched as for /y/, with lips puckered.
The French chapter has suggestions for acquiring consistency with this glide.
Diphthongs: A Brief Discussion
A diphthong is the occurrence of two adjacent vowel sounds in the same syllable. The
tongue moves to effect the change from one vowel to the next, and other articulators
(jaw, lips) may move as well. There are different terms to describe different types of
diphthongs, the most common being rising and falling. A rising diphthong is the same as
a glide-to-vowel sequence. A falling diphthong is one in which the first vowel is longer
and “falls” to the second, shorter vowel. When this text refers to a diphthong, a falling
diphthong is meant. Phonetic transcriptions employ various possible symbols to indicate
diphthongs. Many transcriptions use no special symbol at all, just the vowel symbols
alone. This text uses the ligature symbol /͜ /under the two vowel symbols, indicating the
smooth transition from one vowel sound to the next.
English is different from the other languages discussed in this book in that many
words have single vowel letters that are pronounced as diphthongs:
by [ba͜ɪ] go [ɡɔ͜ʊ] take [te͜ɪk] night [na͜ɪt]
English has five diphthongs, not including r- colored diphthongs. The matter of
English diphthongs is too extensive to discuss in detail here. A complete presentation is
provided in Kathryn LaBouff’s book Singing and Communicating in English, as well as
other sources.
Italian has many diphthongs. They must be spelled with two vowel letters. Most broad
phonetic transcriptions of Italian diphthongs do not use any additional symbol. Some use
the colon /ː/after the first, longer vowel. This text uses the colon as well as the ligature
mark / ͜ /.
voi [vo͜ːi] (you) mai [ma͜ːi] (never) mio [mi͜ːo] (my) lei [lɛ͜ːɪ] (she)
See the Italian chapter for a complete presentation, which also includes Italian
triphthongs.
German has three diphthongs:
/a͜i/ mein [ma͜in] (my) /a͜u/ auch [a͜ux] (also) /ɔy͜ / neun [nɔ͜͜yn] (nine)
They occur frequently, and there are additional spellings. Since it is not standard to
use the IPA colon in German diphthongs, this text follows that practice. More informa-
tion is found in the German chapter, including the Siebs variation of phoneticizing these
diphthongs.
German also has a situation similar to English relating to the letter r, using the symbol
/ɐ/, mentioned above near the beginning of this chapter. In a word such as der (the) the r
may be pronounced, as in [deːɾ], or it may become vocalized (that is, turned into a vowel
sound), resulting in a diphthong [de͜ːɐ]. Other examples:
mir [miːɾ] or [mi͜ːɐ] (me dative case) ihr [iːɾ] or [i͜ːɐ] (you plural)
vor [foːɾ] or [fo͜ːɐ] (before) nur [nuːɾ] or [nu͜ːɐ] (only)
The symbol /ɐ/may also be used for final -er in German words, as in Vater [ˈfaː.tɐ]
(father). In such cases, it is the only vowel sound in the syllable, so no diphthong is in-
volved. See the German chapter for a complete explanation.
French has only one spelling resulting in a diphthong, when a word ends in a /j/
sound, as in soleil [sɔ.lɛːj] (sun) and travail [tɾa.vaːj] (work) (note that the ligature is not
used in this case). Otherwise, adjacent vowel letters that take different sounds are always
in separate syllables.
Consonant Sounds
Consonant sounds are characterized and described by the ways in which the articulators
are used in pronouncing them. Some are pronounced with the tongue touching various
parts of the palate or teeth, some with the lips closed, some with lower lip contacting the
upper teeth. In addition, some consonant sounds are voiced, and some are unvoiced. The
presentation below provides the description of the sounds as well as the phonetic termi-
nology for these various characteristics.
Paired Consonant Sounds: /b/ /p/ /d/ /t/ /ɡ/ /k/ /v/ /f/ /z/ /s/
A useful way to think about some consonant sounds is to group them in pairs, in which
each sound is articulated in the same way, but one sound is voiced, and the other is
unvoiced:
/b/ and /p/ /d/ and /t/ /ɡ/ and /k/ /v/ and /f/ /z/ and /s/
In pronouncing the first sound in each of these pairs, the vocal cords are vibrating.
In pronouncing the second, they are not vibrating. As can easily be seen, the IPA sym-
bols for the above sounds correspond, for the most part, to consonant letters in the Latin
alphabet used to write the languages discussed in this book. (The symbol /ɡ/is the
currently preferred IPA symbol to what many sources have as /g/. They represent the
same sound.) It is important, however, to keep in mind that IPA symbols are different
from alphabet letters, even though they may look the same. The actual spelling of the
sounds may vary from language to language, and often a sound may be spelled more
than one way.
/b/ and /p/
These two sounds are called bilabial: bi –two, labial –lips. The lips come together to
make the sounds. They are also called plosive consonants, because to complete the sound,
the lips open to release a certain amount of air. The release of air is particularly impor-
tant for /p/. When a word begins with the letter p followed by a vowel, Italian and French
release very little air, while English and German release air more forcefully. English and
German /p/sounds are called aspirated, and Italian and French /p/sounds are called un-
aspirated. Practice unaspirated /p/sounds by holding your hand in front of your mouth as
you say them, feeling more or less air striking your hand.
English: bell [bɛl] English: pot [pɑt]

Italian: bella [ˈbɛl.la] (beautiful) Italian: padre [ˈpaː.dre] (father)
German: bellen [ˈbɛ.lən] (to bark) German: Paar [paːɾ] (pair)
French: belle [bɛ.l(ə)] (beautiful) French: pas [pɑ] (not)
/d/ and /t/
These two sounds are called lingua-alveolar. The alveolar ridge is the front part of the
hard palate, just behind the upper front teeth. Lingua refers to the tongue. To make these
sounds the tongue makes contact with the front of the hard palate. They are also plosive.
As the tongue releases, a certain amount of air follows. Both of these sounds are unas-
pirated in Italian and French but aspirated in German and English. As above, to find the
unaspirated sounds, hold your hand in front of your mouth as you say these sounds, to the
point where you feel little or no air on your hand.
English: Dee [di] English: tea [ti]

Italian: di [di] (of) Italian: te [te] (you)
German: die [di] (the) German: Tee [te] (tea)
French: dire [diː.ɾ(ə)] (to say) French: thé [te] (tea)
/ɡ/ and /k/
These two sounds are called lingua-velar. The velum is the soft palate. To produce these
sounds the tongue arches to touch the soft palate area. They are also plosive: air is released
as the tongue releases contact with the soft palate. Once again, the Italian and French ver-
sion of both sounds is unaspirated; the German and English version is aspirated.
English: got [ɡɑt] English: card [kɑɚd]

Italian: gatto [ˈɡat.to] (cat) Italian: carta [ˈkar.ta] (paper, card)
German: Gatte [ˈɡa.tə] (husband) German: Karte [ˈkaɾ.tə] (card)
French: gateau [ɡa.to] (cake) French: carte [kaɾ.t(ə)] (card)
/v/ and /f/
These two sounds are called labio-dental: labio –lip, dental –teeth. The lower lip has
contact with the upper front teeth. They are also fricative, as there is friction with air
passing through the lip/teeth position. They are essentially the same in all four languages.
Note the German spellings of these sounds: the letter w sounds as /v/, and the letter v
sounds as /f/.
English: veer [vɪ͜ɚ] English: fear [fɪ͜ɚ]

Italian: via [vi͜ːa] (way, road) Italian: firma [ˈfir.ma] (signature)
German: wie [vi] (how, as) German: vier [fi͜ːɐ] (four)
French: vie [vi] (life) French: firme [fiɾ.m(ə)] (firm –n.)
/z/ and /s/
These two sounds are lingua-alveolar fricatives. The tongue has near contact with the
hard palate, with the sides of the tongue touching the upper molars. The lips are in a
gentle smile position. Air passes over the tongue. The sounds are the same for all four
languages, but spellings vary.
English: dizzy [ˈdɪ.zɨ] English: pass [pæs]

Italian: desio [de.ˈzi͜ːo] (desire) Italian: passare [pas.ˈsaː.ɾe] (to pass)
German: diese [ˈdiː.zə] (this) German: passen [ˈpa.sən] (to fit, match)
French: désir [de.ziːɾ] French: passer [pa.se] (to pass)
Unpaired Consonant Sounds: /l/ /m/ /n/ /r/
There are four additional consonant sounds that are not paired (they are all voiced without
an unvoiced counterpart) and are also represented by IPA symbols that correspond to let-
ters of the Latin alphabet (r is a special case; see below): /l/ /m/ /n/ /r/
/l/
This sound is classified as a lateral consonant, in which the tip of the tongue touches the
alveolar ridge (the hard palate behind the front teeth), and airflow is along the sides of the
tongue. It is voiced, without an unvoiced counterpart.
Standard English has two l sounds. One is the “clear l” that is found in Italian, German,
and French. It is found when l precedes a vowel in an English word, as in late, flee, alone.
The “dark l” occurs when l is front of another consonant, as in cold, or at the end of a word,
as in call. The back of the tongue is pulled down in dark l, a feature that is not present in
clear l. Although there is a symbol for the dark l in narrow IPA transcriptions, namely, /ɫ/,
broad transcriptions do not differentiate between them, using the single symbol /l/.
Since Italian, German, and French do not have the dark l sound, English speakers
must be careful that it does not creep into their diction of those languages. Compare
English all [ɔl] with Italian altro [ˈal.tro] (other), German alt [alt] (old), and French
alterner [al.tɛɾ.ne] (to alternate). The difference is in both the vowel and the l sound.
/m/ and /n/
These two sounds are called nasal consonants, because they require the soft palate (the
velum) to be lowered, thus accessing nasal resonance. They are both voiced, with no un-
voiced counterpart. The sound /m/is bilabial, just as /b/and /p/, but those sounds are
pronounced with the soft palate raised, shutting off nasal resonance. The sound /n/is
lingua-alveolar, just as /d/and /t/, but with the same difference that /d/and /t/have no nasal
resonance. There is no difference in the /m/and /n/sounds among the four languages.
The Sounds of r
Uniquely, there is a letter of the Latin alphabet, namely, r, that has several pronunciations
in the different languages, requiring different IPA symbols:
/r/ /ɾ/ /ʀ/ /ʁ/ /ɹ/

The last symbol, /ɹ/, is used for the retroflex r sound that is particularly characteristic
of American English, but also found in British English, as exemplified in the words red
[ɹɛd] and rain [ɹe͜ɪn]. This sound is not used in the other three languages, so the symbol
will not be used in this book.
The sounds /ʀ/and /ʁ/are closely related. The first represents a uvular trill and the
second a uvular fricative, involving the uvula, the fleshy extension of the soft palate. Both
are often called “guttural” r sounds. They are found in German and French speech. They
traditionally are not used in classical singing, so IPA transcriptions in this book will not
use these symbols.
For the symbol /ɐ/as it relates to the letter r, see the German chapter.
/r/ and /ɾ/
That leaves /r/and /ɾ/. The first symbol represents a trilled or rolled r sound, called an
alveolar trill, in which the airflow causes the tongue to vibrate against the hard palate.
The second represents what is called by phoneticians a flap or tap. More colloquially, it
is called a flipped r. It results from one quick movement of the tongue against the alve-
olar ridge, the most forward part of the hard palate, just behind the upper teeth. They are
voiced sounds and are used in the singing of Italian, German, and French.
It is not uncommon for English speakers to have trouble with these sounds. A possible
cause is tongue-tie, but usually it is a matter of learning the tongue coordination of sounds
not used in everyday English.
EXERCISES FOR FINDING FLIPPED R AND ROLLED R

If one has difficulty with /ɾ/, a good place to start is to say a light /d/sound. Repeat it sev-
eral times, as in dadadadada, at different speeds. The point of contact for the /d/sound is
almost the same as for /ɾ/, so that dadadada can become ɾaɾaɾaɾa. To get to the proper
pronunciation of Italian cara, repeat cada, cada, cada multiple times. Be sure that the
vowel is bright /a/, the jaw and lips do not move, and the /d/is a light brushing of the
tongue against the hard palate.
Learning the rolled r can be more difficult. It is often easier to find in blends such as br,
pr, tr, dr. Initially, insert a brief shadow vowel between the first consonant and a flipped /ɾ/,
using the /d/substitute if necessary. Increase the speed with which you say the blend with
the inserted shadow vowel. The energy of the release of the first consonant through the
shadow vowel may enable the tongue to find vibration. With practice the shadow vowel
may be eliminated. Make sure the tongue is not tensed in the effort to find the sound.
Patience
and practice are required.
Excluding the use of /ɐ/in German, most diction/pronunciation resources for singers
that use the IPA use the symbol /r/for the sounds of r, though there are exceptions. Since
the IPA symbols are specific as to the sounds they represent, and most of the time classical
singing of Italian, German, and French employs the single-flip r, most r sounds in this text
are represented by /ɾ/. The exceptions are found in Italian, where double rr must be rolled,
and the traditional symbol /rr/is used. When r is part of an Italian consonant cluster or
begins or ends a word, /r/is used, indicating that either a tongue flip or a brief tongue roll
may be employed. The French chapter uses /r/in the rare instances when classical singing
calls for the tongue roll. The German chapter uses /ɾ/exclusively, with the caveat that
sometimes a rolled r is appropriate in German, depending on context.
A Special Pair: /h/and /ʔ/
The IPA symbols /h/and /ʔ/represent another pair that is often not included (at least as a
pair) in discussions of consonant sounds. These symbols and sounds are used in English
and German but not in Italian or French.
/h/
This is another phonetic symbol that is the same as the letter that represents the sound.
It is familiar from English words such as hello and how. This sound is called a glottal
fricative. The voiceless airflow receives friction in the area between the vocal cords,
which is called the glottis. The other articulators are shaped for whatever vowel sound
follows /h/. This sound is spelled with the letter h in English (high [ha͜ɪ]) and German
(hoch [hoːx]). Italian and French have the letter h in their alphabets, and it is found in
the spelling of some words in those languages, but it is always silent, never pronounced
as a sound.
/ʔ/
This symbol represents the glottal plosive sound, familiarly called the glottal stop. Just
as the glottal fricative /h/is created at the glottis with a slight constriction of the airflow
by the vocal cords, /ʔ/is created by blocking the airflow completely, by closing the glottis
and then releasing it. It is analogous to the lips stopping the airflow and then releasing it
in pronouncing /b/and /p/. The usual English example that is given to demonstrate this
sound is “uh-oh.” Both /h/and /ʔ/are considered voiceless, but they usually both release
into a vowel sound, which obviously is voiced.
Unlike /h/, the glottal stop /ʔ/does not have a letter of the alphabet that represents it
in European languages (it does in some other languages). Nevertheless, it functions like
a consonant. In English and German, it is articulated within a sequence of sounds when a
word or word element within that sequence begins with a vowel letter. In careful pronun-
ciation of phrases such as:
the artist [ði ˈʔɑɚ.tɪst] and large elephant [lɑɚd͡ʒ ˈʔɛ.lə.fənt]
the second word receives the glottal stop. In rapid speech they are often omitted.
In German, a glottal separation may occur within a phrase, or even within a word,
such as: wir arbeiten [viːɐ ˈʔaɾ.ba͜i.tən] (we work) verabreden [fɛɐ.ˈʔap.ɾeː.dən] (to ar-
range). German speech does not omit glottal stops to the extent that English can.
Italian and French do not articulate glottals at all (or very rarely); speech is charac-
terized by what the French call enchaînement, the continuous linking of words within the
phrase.
Singers are taught the coordinated onset, so that a word at the beginning of a
phrase after a pause is not initiated with a glottal or aspirated onset. A similar articu-
lation may also happen within a phrase. See the German chapter for a more extended
discussion.
More Consonant Sounds: /ʒ/ /ʃ/ /ʎ/ /ɲ/ /ŋ/ /ç/ /x/
There are additional consonant phonemes that are represented by symbols that do not
correspond to letters of the Latin alphabet (except for the last one).
/ʒ/ /ʃ/ /ʎ/ /ɲ/ /ŋ/ /ç/ /x/
/ʒ/and /ʃ/
These two sounds form another voiced–unvoiced pair. They are called lingua-palatal
fricatives. They are palatalized forms of /z/and /s/. A palatalized consonant sound is
one in which the tongue contacts the palate further back on the hard palate than the non-
palatalized version. The tip of the tongue is pointed lower than for /z/and /s/, so that the
friction point is further back on the tongue and the hard palate.
The /ʒ/sound occurs in the English word pleasure.

The /ʃ /sound occurs in the word pressure.
Hold the /ʒ/sound, then change to a /z/sound.
Hold an /ʃ/sound, then change to an /s/sound.
Feel how the tongue moves as you switch back and forth between the sounds.
Feel the engaging and disengaging of the vocal cords as you switch between /ʒ/and /ʃ/.

The sound /ʒ/ occurs in French, but not in standard Italian or German. Examples in
French:
je [ʒə] (I) jour [ʒuːɾ] (day) bijou [bi.ʒu] (jewelry)

gentil [ʒɑ̃.ti] (kind) givre [ʒiː.vɾ(ə)] (frost) gymnaste [ʒim.nas.t(ə)] (gymnast)
In French, the sound /ʒ/is spelled with the letter j, or g followed by e or i.
The sound /ʃ/, usually spelled in English with sh as in ship [ʃɪp], occurs in all the
languages.
Italian: pesce [ˈpeʃ.ʃe] (fish) lasciare [laʃ.ˈʃaː.ɾe] guscio [ˈɡuʃ.ʃo] (shell).

scendere [ˈʃɛn.de.ɾe] (to descend) scivolare [ʃi.vo.ˈlaː.ɾe] (to slip)
In Italian, the sound /ʃ/is spelled sci or sce.
German: scheinen [ˈʃa͜i.nən] (to seem) Fisch [fɪʃ] (fish) waschen [ˈva.ʃən] (to wash)
In German, the sound /ʃ/is spelled sch. It is also found it the clusters sp and st
when they begin a word stem, as in spielen [ˈʃpiː.lən] (to play) and stehen [ˈʃteː.ən]
(to stand).
French: chez [ʃe] (at, at home) chaise [ʃɛː.z(ə)] (chair) riche [ɾi.ʃ(ə)] (rich)
In French, the sound /ʃ/is spelled ch.
/ʎ/and /ɲ/
These sounds are both voiced but form a pair in the sense that they are also both palatal-
ized versions of other consonant sounds. As stated in the previous section, a palatalized
consonant sound is one in which the tongue contacts the palate further back on the hard
palate than the non-palatalized version. The front part of the tongue (not the tip) is spread
against the hard palate instead of the tip touching the alveolar ridge. The tip remains be-
hind the lower teeth. These and other palatalized consonant sounds are used extensively
in Slavic languages such as Russian.
The sound /ʎ/is a palatalized version of /l/. Sustain an /l/sound, then lower the tip of
the tongue and feel the area behind the tip spread against the roof of the mouth. Among
the languages discussed in this book it occurs only in Italian, where it is spelled gli. When
medial, the sound is lengthened, indicated by doubling the symbol:
figlio [ˈfiʎ.ʎo] (son) orgoglio [or.ˈɡɔʎ.ʎo] (pride) luglio [luʎ.ʎo] (July)

meglio [ˈmɛʎ.ʎo] (better) tagliare [taʎ.ˈʎaː.ɾe] (to cut)
The sound is approximated in English in words like million and stallion. The differ-
ence is that in English there are two movements of the tongue making two sounds, an /l/
plus the glide /j/, as in [ˈmɪl.jən]. The two sounds are in two different syllables. In Italian
it is one movement of the tongue. Even though the sound is usually lengthened in Italian,
it is still one movement of the tongue.
The sound /ɲ/is a palatalized version of /n/. Sustain an /n/sound, then lower the
tip of the tongue and feel the area behind the tip spread against the roof of the mouth.
Maintain nasal resonance. This sound occurs in Italian and French, but not German
or English.
In both languages it is spelled gn. Once again Italian lengthens the sound when medial:
bagno [ˈbaɲ.ɲo] (bath) legno [ˈleɲ.ɲo] (wood) sogno [ˈsoɲ.ɲo] (dream)

pugno [ˈpuɲ.ɲo] (fist), ignoto [iɲ.ˈɲɔ.to] (unknown).
French words do not lengthen the sound:
agneau [a.ɲo] (lamb) digne [di.ɲ(ə)] (worthy) rogner [ɾɔ.ɲe] (to trim)
cygne [si.ɲ(ə)] (swan).
Just as with /ʎ/, English has words that approximate /ɲ/, as in canyon and onion. The
difference is the same as described above. English uses two movements of the tongue, as
in [ˈkæn.jən]. Italian and French use one movement of the tongue, as in bagno [ˈbaɲ.ɲo]
and French agneau [a.ɲo].
/ŋ/
This sound is familiar from English, as in sing [sɪŋ]. The tongue makes contact with the
hard palate in the same place it does for /k/and /ɡ/, but nasal resonance is present with a
raised velum. English also spells it nk as in bank [bæŋk].
It is quite prevalent in Italian, but for some reason Italian resources that use the IPA
do not use this symbol. They simply use /n/plus whatever consonant sound follows in the
word. In Italian the /ŋ/sound is always followed by the normal sound of the following
consonant, which is either hard c (/k/), hard g (/ɡ/), or q (/k/). It never stands alone inter-
vocalically, as can happen in English, as in singer [ˈsɪ.ŋɚ]. Italian words include:
anche [ˈaŋ.ke] (also) ancora [aŋ.ˈkoː.ɾa] (again, yet) dunque [ˈduŋ.kwe]

(therefore) cinque [ˈt͡ʃiŋ.kwe] (five) languire [laŋ.ˈɡwiːɾe] (to languish).
The sound is also common in German, where it is spelled ng and nk:
Finger [ˈfɪŋ.ɐ] (finger) denken [ˈdɛŋ.kən] (to think) singen [ˈzɪŋ.ən]
Note the difference between English finger [ˈfɪŋ.ɡɚ] and the German word, which has
no /ɡ/.
Sometimes n occurs next to g or k in a German word, but they are in different word
elements, so the sounds are pronounced separately. For example, the word Angebot
(offer) is pronounced [ˈan.ɡə.boːt] with no /ŋ/, because an is a prefix. See the German
chapter for more information.
The sound /ŋ/does not occur in French, since such spellings would always result in
a nasal vowel.
/ç/ and /x/
Of the languages discussed in this book, these sounds occur only in German. They are
the two pronunciations of the ch spelling. One is called the “ich-Laut” because it occurs
in the word ich [ɪç]. The other is called the “ach-Laut” because it occurs in the word ach
[ax]. The German word Laut means “sound.” See the German chapter for an explanation
of when these sounds occur.
The ich-Laut /ç/ is a voiceless palatal fricative. Shape the tongue as for /i/. Feel the
arching of the tongue where it would contact the back of the hard palate to say /k/. Release
the tongue enough that you can send a concentrated airstream through that space forward
to the hard palate. The airstream will deflect off the hard palate and strike the lower lip.
Examples:
dich [dɪç] (you, acc. case) Milch [mɪlç] (milk) euch [ɔ͜͜yç] (you, plural, acc./dat. case)
Recht [ɾɛçt] (right) Nächte [ˈnɛç.tə] (nights) leicht [la͜içt] (easy, light)
The ach-Laut /x/ is a voiceless velar fricative. Because the mouth is open as for /a/
or /ɑ/, the aperture for the airstream is between the tongue and soft palate. The airstream
is more diffuse than for /ç/as it moves through the mouth. It is the same sound as in the
Scottish word loch (lake) as in Loch Lomond. Examples:
Bach [bax] (brook) doch [dɔx] (but, however) auch [a͜ux] (also)
The Affricate Sounds: /d͡ʒ/ /t͡ʃ/ /d͡z//t͡s/
Then there are the consonant sounds called affricates. An affricate is considered a single
sound unit, or phoneme, but it is made up of two sounds pronounced at the same point
of articulation, a plosive sound which is then released through a fricative sound. The IPA
symbol reflects this by having two characters connected by a ligature tie. The two pairs
are voiced/voiceless counterparts.
Some other combinations are considered by some to be affricates, such as ps (Italian
psicologia), ks (German Hexe), kv (German Quelle), but in those combinations the con-
sonants are not articulated at the same point. The combination pf (German Pferd) could
be considered an affricate, but this text does not include it as one.
/d͡ʒ/ and /t͡ʃ/
The first sound /d͡ʒ/is spelled in English with the letter j as in jump [d͡ʒʌmp] and some-
times with g as in cage [ke͜ɪd͡ʒ]. The tongue stops in the position for /d/and releases
through /ʒ/, maintaining voicing throughout.
The sound /d͡ʒ/is common in Italian. Examples:
gelato [d͡ʒe.ˈlaː.to] (ice cream) giocare [d͡ʒo.kaː.ɾe] (to play)

maggio [ˈmad.dʒ͡ o] (May) legge [led.dʒ͡ e] (law).
Italian spells /d͡ʒ/with the letter g or double gg followed by e or i.

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for a greater sin. The magistrates firmly asserted in court and out
that “meekness is ye chojsest orniment for a woman.”
Joane Andrews sold in York, Maine, in 1676, two stones in a firkin
of butter. For this cheatery she “stood in towne meeting at York and
at towne meeting at Kittery till 2 hours bee expended, with her
offense written upon a paper in capitall letters on her forehead.” The
court record of one woman delinquent in Plymouth, in 1683, is grimly
comic. It seems that Mary Rosse exercised what was called by the
“painful” court chronicler in a triumph of orthographical and
nomenclatory art, an “inthewsiastickall power” over one Shingleterry,
a married man, who cringingly pleaded, as did our first father Adam,
that “hee must doo what shee bade him”—or, in modern phrase, that
she hypnotized him. Mary Rosse and her uncanny power did not
receive the consideration that similar witches and works do
nowadays. She was publicly whipped and sent home to her mother,
while her hypnotic subject was also whipped, and I presume sent
home to his wife.
It should be noted that in Virginia, under the laws proclaimed by
Argall, women were in some ways tenderly regarded. They were not
punished for absenting themselves from church on Sundays or
holidays; while men for one offence of this nature had “to lie neck
and heels that night, and be a slave to the colony for the following
week; for the second offence to be a slave for a month; for the third,
for a year and a day.”
It is curious to see how long and how constantly, in spite of their
severe and manifold laws, the pious settlers could suffer through
certain ill company which they had been unlucky enough to bring
over, provided the said offenders did not violate the religious rules of
the community. We might note as ignoble instances, Will Fancie and
his wife, of New Haven, and John Dandy and his wife, of Maryland.
Their names constantly appear for years in the court records, as
offenders and as the cause of offences. John Dandy at one time
swore in court that all his “controversies from the beginning of the
World to this day” had ceased; but it would have been more to the
purpose had he also added till the end of the world, for his violence
soon brought him to the gallows. Will Fancie’s wife seemed capable
of any and every offence, from “stealing pinnes” to stealing the
affections of nearly every man with whom she chanced to be thrown;
and the magistrates of New Haven were evidently sorely puzzled
how to deal with her.
I have noted in the court or church records of all witch-ridden
communities, save in the records of poor crazed and bewildered
Salem, where the flame was blown into a roaring blaze by “the
foolish breath of Cotton Mather,” that there always appear on the
pages some plain hints, and usually some definite statements, which
account for the accusation of witchcraft against individuals. And
these hints indicate a hated personality of the witch. To illustrate my
meaning, let me take the case of Goody Garlick, of Easthampton,
Long Island. In reading the early court records of that town, I was
impressed with the constant meddlesome interference of this woman
in all social and town matters. Every page reeked of Garlick. She
was an ever-ready witness in trespass, boundary, and slander suits,
for she was apparently on hand everywhere. She was present when
a young man made ugly faces at the wife of Lion Gardiner, because
she scolded him for eating up her “pomkin porage;” and she was
listening when Mistress Edwards was called a base liar, because she
asserted she had in her chest a new petticoat that she had brought
from England some years before, and had never worn (and of
course no woman could believe that). In short, Goody Garlick was a
constant tale-bearer and barrator. Hence it was not surprising to me
to find, when Mistress Arthur Howell, Lion Gardiner’s daughter, fell
suddenly and strangely ill, and cried out that “a double-tongued
naughty woman was tormenting her, a woman who had a black cat,”
that the wise neighbors at once remembered that Goody Garlick was
double-tongued and naughty, and had a black cat. She was speedily
indicted for witchcraft, and the gravamen appeared to be her
constant tale-bearing.
In 1706 a Virginian goody with a prettier name, Grace Sherwood,
was tried as a witch; and with all the superstition of the day, and the
added superstition of the surrounding and rapidly increasing negro
population, there were but three Virginian witch-trials. Grace
Sherwood’s name was also of constant recurrence in court annals,
from the year 1690, on the court records of Princess Anne County,
especially in slander cases. She was examined, after her indictment,
for “witches marks” by a jury of twelve matrons, each of whom
testified that Grace was “not like yur.” The magistrates seem to have
been somewhat disconcerted at the convicting testimony of this jury,
and at a loss how to proceed, but the witch asserted her willingness
to endure trial by water. A day was set for the ducking, but it rained,
and the tenderly considerate court thought the weather unfavorable
for the trial on account of the danger to Grace’s health, and
postponed the ducking. At last, on a sunny July day, when she could
not take cold, the witch was securely pinioned and thrown into Lyn
Haven Bay, with directions from the magistrates to “but her into the
debth.” Into the “debth” of the water she should have contentedly
and innocently sunk, but “contrary to the Judgments of all the
spectators” she persisted in swimming, and at last was fished out
and again examined to see whether the “witches marks” were
washed off. One of the examiners was certainly far from being
prepossessed in Grace’s favor. She was a dame who eight years
before had testified that “Grace came to her one night, and rid her,
and went out of the key hole or crack in the door like a black cat.”
Grace Sherwood was not executed, and she did not die of the
ducking, but it cooled her quarrelsome temper. She lived till 1740.
The point where she was butted into the depth is to this day called
Witches Duck.
Grace Sherwood was not the only poor soul that passed through
the “water-test” or “the fleeting on the water” for witchcraft. In
September, 1692, in Fairfield, Conn., the accused witches “Mercy
Disburrow and Elizabeth Clauson were bound hand and foot and put
into the water, and they swam like cork, and one labored to press
them into the water, and they buoyed up like cork.” Many cruel
scenes were enacted in Connecticut, none more so than the
persistent inquisition of Goodwife Knapp after she was condemned
to death for witchcraft. She was constantly tormented by her old
friends and neighbors to confess and to accuse one Goody Staples
as an accomplice; but the poor woman repeated that she must not
wrong any one nor say anything untrue. She added:—
The truth is you would have me say that goodwife Staples
is a witch but I have sins enough to answer for already, I know
nothing against goodwife Staples and I hope she is an honest
woman. You know not what I know. I have been fished withall
in private more than you are aware of. I apprehend that
goodwife Staples hath done me wrong in her testimony but I
must not return evil for evil.
Being still urged and threatened with eternal damnation, she finally
burst into bitter tears, and begged her persecutors to cease, saying
in words that must have lingered long in their memory, and that still
make the heart ache, “Never, never was poor creature tempted as I
am tempted! oh pray! pray for me!”
The last scene in this New England tragedy was when her poor
dead body was cut down from the gallows, and laid upon the green
turf beside her grave; and her old neighbors, excited with
superstition, and blinded to all sense of shame or unwomanliness,
crowded about examining eagerly for “witch signs;” while in the
foreground Goodwife Staples, whose lying words had hanged her
friend, kneeled by the poor insulted corpse, weeping and wringing
her hands, calling upon God, and asserting the innocence of the
murdered woman.
It is a curious fact that, in an era which did not much encourage
the public speech or public appearance of women, they should have
served on juries; yet they occasionally did, not only in witchcraft
cases such as Grace Sherwood’s and Alice Cartwright’s,—another
Virginia witch,—but in murder cases, as in Kent County, Maryland;
these juries were not usually to render the final decision, but to
decide upon certain points, generally purely personal, by which their
wise husbands could afterwards be guided. I don’t know that these
female juries shine as exemplars of wisdom and judgment. In 1693 a
jury of twelve women in Newbury, Mass., rendered this decision,
which certainly must have been final:—
Wee judge according to our best lights and contients that
the Death of said Elizabeth was not by any violens or wrong
done to her by any parson or thing but by some soden stoping
of hir Breath.
In Revolutionary days a jury of “twelve discreet matrons” of
Worcester, Mass., gave a decision in the case of Bathsheba
Spooner, which was found after her execution to be a wrong
judgment. She was the last woman hanged by law in Massachusetts,
and her cruel fate may have proved a vicarious suffering and means
of exemption for other women criminals.
Women, as well as men, when suspected murderers, had to go
through the cruel and shocking “blood-ordeal.” This belief, supported
by the assertions of that learned fool, King James, in his
Demonologie, lingered long in the minds of many,—indeed does to
this day in poor superstitious folk. The royal author says:—
In a secret murther, if the dead carkas be at any time
thereafter handled by the murtherer, it will gush out of blood.
Sometimes a great number of persons were made to touch in turn
the dead body, hoping thus to discover the murderer.
It has been said that few women were taught to write in colonial
days, and that those few wrote so ill their letters could scarce be
read. I have seen a goodly number of letters written by women in
those times, and the handwriting is comparatively as good as that of
their husbands and brothers. Margaret Winthrop wrote with precision
and elegance. A letter of Anne Winthrop’s dated 1737 is clear,
regular, and beautiful. Mary Higginson’s writing is fair, and Elizabeth
Cushing’s irregular and uncertain, as if of infrequent occurrence.
Elizabeth Corwin’s is clear, though irregular; Mehitable Parkman’s
more careless and wavering; all are easily read. But the most
beautiful old writing I have ever seen,—elegant, regular, wonderfully
clear and well-proportioned, was written by the hand of a woman,—a
criminal, a condemned murderer, Elizabeth Attwood, who was
executed in 1720 for the murder of her infant child. The letter was
written from “Ipswitch Gole in Bonds” to Cotton Mather, and is a most
pathetic and intelligent appeal for his interference to save her life.
The beauty and simplicity of her language, the force and directness
of her expressions, her firm denial of the crime, her calm religious
assurance, are most touching to read, even after the lapse of
centuries, and make one wonder that any one—magistrate or priest,
—even Cotton Mather—could doubt her innocence. But she was
hanged before a vast concourse of eager people, and was declared
most impenitent and bold in her denial of her guilt; and it was
brought up against her, as a most hardened brazenry, that to cheat
the hangman (who always took as handsel of his victim the garments
in which she was “turned off”), she appeared in her worst attire, and
announced that he would get but a sorry suit from her. I do not know
the estate in life of Elizabeth Attwood, but it could not have been
mean, for her letter shows great refinement.
CHAPTER IV.
BOSTON NEIGHBORS.
Accounts of isolated figures are often more interesting than

chapters of general history, and biographies more attractive than
state records, because more petty details of vivid human interest can
be learned; so, in order to present clearly a picture of the social life
of women in the earliest days of New England, I give a description of
a group of women, contiguous in residence, and contemporary in
life, rather than an account of some special dame of dignity or note;
and I call this group Boston Neighbors.
If the setting of this picture would add to its interest, it is easy to
portray the little settlement. The peninsula, but half as large as the
Boston of to-day, was fringed with sea-marshes, and was crowned
with three conical hills, surmounted respectively with the windmill,
the fort, and the beacon. The champaign was simply an extended
pasture with few trees, but fine springs of water. Winding footpaths—
most interesting of roadways—connected the detached dwellings,
and their irregular outlines still show in our Boston streets. The
thatched clay houses were being replaced by better and more
substantial dwellings. William Coddington had built the first brick
house.
On the main street, now Washington Street, just east of where the
Old South Church now stands, lived the dame of highest degree,
and perhaps the most beautiful personality, in this little group—
Margaret Tyndal Winthrop, the “loving faythfull yoke-fellow” of
Governor John Winthrop. She was his third wife, though he was but
thirty when he married her. He had been first married when but
seventeen years old. He writes that he was conceived by his parents
to be at that age a man in stature and understanding. This wife
brought to him, and left to him, “a large portion of outward estate,”
and four little children. Of the second wife he writes, “For her
carriage towards myselfe, it was so amiable and observant as I am
not able to expresse; it had only this inconvenience, that it made me
delight in hir too much to enjoy hir long,”—and she lived with him but
a year and a day. He married Margaret in 1618, and when she had
borne five children, he left her in 1630, and sailed to New England.
She came also the following year, and was received “with great joy”
and a day of Thanksgiving. For the remaining sixteen years of her
life she had but brief separations from her husband, and she died, as
he wrote, “especially beloved of all the country.” Her gentle love-
letters to her husband, and the simple testimony of contemporary
letters of her relatives and friends, show her to have been truly “a
sweet gracious woman” who endured the hardships of her new
home, the Governor’s loss of fortune, and his trying political
experiences, with unvarying patience and “singular virtue, modesty
and piety.”
There lived at this time in Boston a woman who must have been
well known personally by Madam Winthrop, for she was a near
neighbor, living within stone’s throw of the Governor’s house, on the
spot where now stands “The Old Corner Bookstore.” This woman
was Anne Hutchinson. She came with Rev. John Cotton from
Boston, England, to Boston, New England, well respected and well
beloved. She went an outcast, hated and feared by many she left
behind her in Boston. For years her name was on every tongue,
while she was under repeated trials and examinations for heresy. In
the controversy over her and her doctrines, magistrates, ministers,
women, soldiers, the common multitude of Boston, all took part, and
took sides; through the pursuance of the controversy the government
of the colony was changed. Her special offences against doctrines
were those two antiquated “heresies,” Antinomianism and Familism,
which I could hardly define if I would. According to Winthrop they
were “those two dangerous errors that the person of the Holy Ghost
dwells in a justified person, and that no sanctification can help to
evidence to us our justification.” Her special offences against social
and religious routines were thus related by Cotton Mather:—
At the meetings of the women which used to be called
gossippings it was her manner to carry on very pious
discourses and so put the neighborhood upon examining their
spiritual estates by telling them how far a person might go in
“trouble of mind,” and being restrained from very many evils
and constrained into very many duties, by none but a legal
work upon their souls without ever coming to a saving union
with the Lord Jesus Christ, that many of them were convinced
of a very great defect in the settlement of their everlasting
peace, and acquainted more with the “Spirit of the Gospel”
than ever they were before. This mighty show and noise of
devotion made the reputation of a non-such among the
people until at length under pretence of that warrant “that the
elder women are to teach the younger” she set up weekly
meetings at her house whereto three score or four score
people would report....
It was not long before it was found out that most of the
errors then crawling like vipers were hatch’d at these
meetings.
So disturbed was the synod of ministers which was held early in
the controversy, that this question was at once resolved:—
That though women might meet (some few together) to
pray and edify one another, yet such a set assembly (as was
then the practice in Boston) where sixty or more did meet
every week, and one woman (in a prophetical way by
resolving questions of doctrines and expounding scripture)
took upon her the whole exercise, was agreed to be
disorderly and without rule.
As I read the meagre evidences of her belief, I see that Anne
Hutchinson had a high supernatural faith which, though mystical at
its roots, aimed at being practical in its fruits; but she was critical,
tactless, and over-inquisitive, and doubtless censorious, and worst of
all she “vented her revelations,” which made her seem to many of
the Puritans the very essence of fanaticism; so she was promptly
placed on trial for heresy for “twenty-nine cursed opinions and falling
into fearful lying, with an impudent Forehead in the public assembly.”
The end of it all in that theocracy could not be uncertain. One
woman, even though her followers included Governor Sir Henry
Vane, and a hundred of the most influential men of the community,
could not stop the powerful machinery of the Puritan Church and
Commonwealth, the calm, well-planned opposition of Winthrop; and
after a succession of mortifying indignities, and unlimited petty
hectoring and annoying, she was banished. “The court put an end to
her vapouring talk, and finding no hope of reclaiming her from her
scandalous, dangerous, and enchanting extravagancies, ordered her
out of the colony.”
In reading of her life, her trials, it is difficult to judge whether—to
borrow Howel’s expression—the crosier or the distaff were most to
blame in all this sad business; the preachers certainly took an over-
active part.
Of the personal appearance of this “erroneous gentlewoman” we
know nothing. I do not think, in spite of the presumptive evidence of
the marked personal beauty of her descendants, that she was a
handsome woman, else it would certainly be so stated. The author of
the Short Story of the Rise Reigne and Ruine of the Antinomians,
Familists, and Libertines that infected the Churches of New England
calls her “a woman of a haughty and fierce carriage, of a nimble wit
and active spirit, and a very voluble tongue, more bold than a man,
though in understanding and judgment inferior to many women.” He
also termed her “the American Jezebel,” and so did the traveller
Josselyn in his Account of Two Voyages to New England; while
Minister Hooker styled her “a wretched woman.” Johnson, in his
Wonder-Working Providence, calls her the “masterpiece of woman’s
wit.” Governor Winthrop said she was “a woman of ready wit and
bold spirit.” Cotton Mather called her a virago, cunning, canting, and
proud, but he did not know her.
We to-day can scarcely comprehend what these “double weekly
lectures” must have been to these Boston women, with their extreme
conscientiousness, their sombre religious belief, and their timid
superstition, in their hard and perhaps homesick life. The materials
for mental occupation and excitement were meagre; hence the
spiritual excitement caused by Anne Hutchinson’s prophesyings
must have been to them a fascinating religious dissipation. Many
were exalted with a supreme assurance of their salvation. Others,
bewildered with spiritual doubts, fell into deep gloom and depression;
and one woman in utter desperation attempted to commit a crime,
and found therein a natural source of relief, saying “now she was
sure she should be damned.” Into all this doubt and depression the
wives—to use Cotton Mather’s phrase—“hooked in their husbands.”
So; perhaps, after all it was well to banish the fomenter of all these
troubles and bewilderments.
Still, I wonder whether Anne Hutchinson’s old neighbors and
gossips did not regret these interesting meetings, these exciting
prophesyings, when they were sternly ended. I hope they grieved for
her when they heard of her cruel death by Indian massacre; and I
know they remembered her unstinted, kindly offices in time of
sickness and affliction; and I trust they honored “her ever sober and
profitable carriage,” and I suspect some of them in their inmost
hearts deplored the Protestant Inquisition of their fathers and
husbands, that caused her exile and consequent murder by the
savages.
Samuel Johnson says, “As the faculty of writing is chiefly a
masculine endowment, the reproach of making the world miserable
has always been thrown upon women.” As the faculty of literary
composition at that day was wholly a masculine endowment, we
shall never know what the Puritan women really thought of Anne
Hutchinson, and whether they threw upon her any reproach.
We gain a slight knowledge of what Margaret Winthrop thought of
all this religious ecstasy, this bitter quarrelling, from a letter written by
her, and dated “Sad-Boston.” She says:—
Sad thoughts possess my sperits, and I cannot repulce
them; wch makes me unfit for anythinge, wondringe what the
Lord meanes by all these troubles among us. Shure I am that
all shall worke to the best to them that love God, or rather are
loved of hime, I know he will bring light out of obcurity and
make his rituusnesse shine forth as clere as the nounday; yet
I find in myself an aferce spiret, and a tremblinge hart, not so
willing to submit to the will of God as I desyre. There is a time
to plant, and a time to pull up that which is planted, which I
could desyre might not be yet.
And so it would seem to us to-day that it was indeed a doubtful
beginning to tear up with such violence even flaunting weeds, lest
the tender and scattered grain, whose roots scarce held in the
unfamiliar soil, might also be uprooted and wither and die. But the
colony endured these trials, and flourished, as it did other trials, and
still prospered.
Though written expression of their feelings is lacking, we know
that the Boston neighbors gave to Anne Hutchinson that sincerest
flattery—imitation. Perhaps her fellow-prophets should not be called
imitators, but simply kindred religious spirits. The elements of society
in colonial Boston were such as plentifully to produce and stimulate
“disordered and heady persons.”
Among them was Mary Dyer, thus described by Winthrop:—
The wife of William Dyer, a milliner in the New Exchange, a
very proper and fair woman, notoriously infected with Mrs
Hutchinsons errors, and very censorious and troublesome.
She being of a very proud spirit and much addicted to
revelations.
Another author called her “a comely grave woman, of a goodly
personage, and of good report.”
Some of these Boston neighbors lived to see two sad sights. Fair
comely Mary Dyer, after a decade of unmolested and peaceful
revelations in Rhode Island, returned to her early home, and
persistently preached to her old friends, and then walked through
Boston streets hand in hand with two young Quaker friends,
condemned felons, to the sound of the drums of the train band,
glorying in her companionship; and then she was set on a gallows
with a halter round her neck, while her two friends were hanged
before her eyes; this was witnessed by such a multitude that the
drawbridge broke under the weight of the returning North-enders.
And six months later this very proper and fair woman herself was
hanged in Boston, to rid the commonwealth of an intolerable plague.
A letter still exists, written by William Dyer to the Boston
magistrates to “beg affectionately the life of my deare wife.” It is most
touching, most heart-rending; it ends thus, “Yourselves have been
husbands of wife or wives, and so am I, yea to one most dearlye
beloved. Oh do not you deprive me of her, but I pray you give me her
out againe. Pitye me—I beg it with teares.”
The tears still stain this poor sorrowful, appealing letter,—a
missive so gentle, so timid, so full of affection, of grief, that I cannot
now read it unmoved and I do indeed “pitye” thee. William Dyer’s
tears have not been the only ones to fall on his beautiful, tender
words.
Another interesting neighbor living where Washington Street
crossed Brattle Street was the bride, young Madam Bellingham,
whose marriage had caused such a scandal in good society in
Boston. Winthrop’s account of this affair is the best that could be
given:—
The governour Mr Bellingham was married. The young
gentlewoman was ready to be contracted to a friend of his
who lodged in his house, and by his consent had proceeded
so far with her, when on a sudden the governour treated with
her, and obtained her for himself. He excused it by the
strength of his affection, and that she was not absolutely
promised to the other gentleman. Two errors more he
committed upon it. 1. That he would not have his contract
published where he dwelt, contrary to the order of court. 2.
That he married himself contrary to the constant practice of
the country. The great inquest prosecuted him for breach of
the order of the court, and at the court following in the fourth
month, the secretary called him to answer the prosecution.
But he not going off the bench, as the manner was, and but
few of the magistrates present, he put it off to another time,
intending to speak with him privately, and with the rest of the
magistrates about the case, and accordingly he told him the
reason why he did not proceed, viz., that being unwilling to
command him publicly to go off the bench, and yet not
thinking it fit he should sit as a judge, when he was by law to
answer as an offender. This he took ill, and said he would not
go off the bench except he were commanded.
I think the young English girl, Penelope Pelham, must have been
sadly bewildered by the strange abrupt ways of the new land, by her
dictatorial elderly lover, by his autocratic and singular marriage with
her, by the attempted action of the government against him. She had
a long life thereafter, for he lived to be eighty years old, and she
survived him thirty years.
A very querulous and turbulent neighbor who lived on Milk Street
was Mistress Ann Hibbins, the wife of one of Boston’s honored
citizens. Her husband had been unsuccessful in business matters,
and this “so discomposed his wife’s spirit that she was scarce ever
well settled in her mind afterwards,” and at last was put out of the
church and by her strange carriage gave occasion to her
superstitious neighbors to charge her with being a witch. She was
brought to trial for witchcraft, convicted, sentenced, and hung upon a
Thursday lecture day, in spite of her social position, and the fact that
her brother was Governor Bellingham. She had other friends, high in
authority, as her will shows, and she had the belongings of a colonial
dame, “a diamond ring, a taffety cloke, silk gown and kirtle, pinck-
colored petticoat, and money in the deske.” Minister Beach wrote to
Increase Mather in 1684:—
I have sometimes told you your famous Mr Norton once
said at his own table before Mr Wilson, Elder Penn and
myself and wife who had the honour to be his guests—that
the wife of one of your magistrates, I remember, was hanged
for a witch only for having more wit than her neighbors. It was
his very expression; she having as he explained it, unhappily
guessed that two of her prosecutors, whom she saw talking in
the street were talking about her—which cost her her life,
notwithstanding all he could do to the contrary.
It would naturally be thought, from the affectionate and intense
devotion of the colonists to the school which had just become
“Harvard-Colledge,” that Mr. Nathaniel Eaton, the head-master of the
freshly established seat of learning, would be a citizen of much
esteem, and his wife a dame of as dignified carriage and honored
station as any of her Boston and Cambridge neighbors. Let us see
whether such was the case. Mr. Eaton had had much
encouragement to continue at the head of the college for life; he had
been offered a tract of five hundred acres of land, and liberal support
had been offered by the government, and he “had many scholars,
the sons of gentlemen and of others of best note in the country.” Yet
when he fell out with one of his ushers on very slight occasion, he
struck the usher and caused two more to hold the poor fellow while
he beat him two hundred stripes with a heavy walnut cudgel; and
when poor Usher Briscoe fell a-praying, in fear of dying, Master
Eaton beat him further for taking the name of God in vain. When all
this cruelty was laid to him in open court “his answers were full of
pride and disdain,” and he said he had this unvarying rule, “that he
would not give over correcting till he had subdued the party to his
will.” And upon being questioned about other malpractices,
especially the ill and scant diet provided by him for the students,
though good board had been paid by them, he, Adam-like, “put it off
to his wife.”
Her confession of her connection with the matter is still in
existence, and proves her accomplishments as a generous and tidy
housewife about equal to his dignity and lenity as head of the
college. It is a most curious and minute document, showing what her
duties were, and the way she performed them, and also giving an
interesting glimpse of college life in those days. It reads thus:—
For their breakfast that it was not so well ordered, the
flower not so fine as it might, nor so well boiled or stirred at all
times that it was so, it was my sin of neglect, and want of care
that ought to have been in one that the Lord had intrusted
with such a work.
Concerning their beef, that was allowed them, as they
affirm, which I confess had been my duty to have seen they
should have had it, and continued to have had it, because it
was my husbands command; but truly I must confess, to my
shame, I cannot remember that ever they had it nor that ever
it was taken from them.
And that they had not so good or so much provision in my
husbands absence as presence, I conceive it was, because
he would call sometimes for butter or cheese when I
conceived there was no need of it; yet for as much as the
scholars did otherways apprehend, I desire to see the evil that
was in the carriage of that as in the other and to take shame
to myself for it.
And that they sent down for more, when they had not
enough, and the maid should answer, if they had not, they
should not. I must confess that I have denied them cheese,
when they have sent for it, and it have been in the house, for
which I shall humbly beg pardon to them, and own the shame,
and confess my sin.
And for such provoking words which my servants have
given, I cannot own them, but am sorry any such should be
given in my house.
And for bad fish, they had it brought to table, I am sorry
there was that cause of offence given; I acknowledge my sin
in it.... I am much ashamed it should be in the family, and not
prevented by myself or my servants, and I humbly
acknowledge my negligence in it.
And that they made their beds at any time, were my straits
never so great, I am sorry they were ever put to it.
For the Moor, his lying in Sam Hough’s sheet and pillow-
bier, it hath a truth in it; he did so at one time and it gave Sam
Hough just cause for offence; and that it was not prevented by
my care and watchfulness I desire to take the shame and the
sorrow for it.
And that they eat the Moor’s crusts, and the swine and they
had share and share alike; and the Moor to have beer, and
they denied it, and if they had not enough, for my maid to
answer they should not, I am an utter stranger to these things,
and know not the least foot-steps for them so to charge me;
and if my servants were guilty of such miscarriages, had the
boarders complained of it unto myself, I should have thought
it my sin, if I had not sharply removed my servants and
endeavored reform.
And for bread made of sour heated meal, though I know of
but once that it was so since I kept house, yet John Wilson
affirms that it was twice; and I am truly sorry that any of it was
spent amongst them.
For beer and bread that it was denied them by me betwixt
meals, truly I do not remember, that ever I did deny it unto
them; and John Wilson will affirm that, generally, the bread
and beer was free for the boarders to go to.
And that money was demanded of them for washing the
linen, tis true that it was propounded to them but never
imposed upon them.
And for their pudding being given the last day of the week
without butter or suet, and that I said, it was a miln of
Manchester in old England, its true that I did say so, and am
sorry, that had any cause of offence given them by having it
so.
And for their wanting beer betwixt brewings, a week or half
a week together, I am sorry that it was so at any time, and
should tremble to have it so, were it in my hands to do again.
And whereas they say, that sometimes they have sent
down for more meat and it hath been denied, when it have
been in the house, I must confess, to my shame, that I have
denied them oft, when they have sent for it, and it have been
in the house.
Truly a pitiful tale of shiftless stinginess, of attempted extortion, of
ill-regulated service, and of overworked housewifery as well.
The Reverend Mr. Eaton did not escape punishment for his sins.
After much obstinacy he “made a very solid, wise, eloquent, and
serious confession, condemning himself in all particulars.” The court,
with Winthrop at the head, bore lightly upon him after this
confession, and yet when sentence of banishment from the college,
and restriction from teaching within the jurisdiction, was passed, and
he was fined £30, he did not give glory to God as was expected, but
turned away with a discontented look. Then the church took the
matter up to discipline him, and the schoolmaster promptly ran away,
leaving debts of a thousand pounds.
The last scene in the life of Mrs. Eaton may be given in Winthrop’s
words:—
Mr. Nathaniel Eaton being come to Virginia, took upon him
to be a minister there, but was given up to extreme pride and
sensuality, being usually drunken, as the custom is there. He
sent for his wife and children. Her friends here persuaded her
to stay awhile, but she went, notwithstanding, and the vessel
was never heard of after.
So you see she had friends and neighbors who wished her to
remain in New England with them, and who may have loved her in
spite of the sour bread, and scant beer, and bad fish, that she doled
out to the college students.
There was one visitor who flashed upon this chill New England
scene like a brilliant tropical bird; with all the subtle fascination of a
foreigner; speaking a strange language; believing a wicked Popish
faith; and englamoured with the romance of past adventure, with the
excitement of incipient war. This was Madam La Tour, the young wife
of one of the rival French governors of Acadia. The relations of
Massachusetts, of Boston town, to the quarrels of these two
ambitious and unscrupulous Frenchmen, La Tour and D’Aulnay, form
one of the most curious and interesting episodes in the history of the
colony.
Many unpleasant and harassing complications and annoyances
had arisen between the French and English colonists, in the more
northern plantations, when, in 1643, in June, Governor La Tour
surprised his English neighbors by landing in Boston “with two friars
and two women sent to wait upon La Tour His Lady”—and strange
sights they truly were in Boston. He came ashore at Governor
Winthrop’s garden (now Fort Winthrop), and his arrival was heralded
by a frightened woman, one Mrs. Gibbons, who chanced to be
sailing in the bay, and saw the approach of the French boat, and
hastened to warn the Governor. Perhaps Mrs. Gibbons had a
premonitory warning of the twenty-five hundred pounds her husband
was to lose at a later date through his confidence in the persuasive
Frenchman. Governor and Madam Winthrop and their two sons and
a daughter-in-law were sitting in the Governor’s garden in the
summer sunshine, and though thoroughly surprised, they greeted
the unexpected visitor, La Tour, with civilities, and escorted him to
Boston town, not without some internal tremors and much deep
mortification of the Governor when he thought of the weakness and
poverty of Boston, with Castle Island deserted, as was plainly shown
to the foreigner by the lack of any response to his salute of guns;
and the inference was quick to come that the Frenchman “might
have spoiled Boston.”
But La Tour’s visit was most friendly; all he wished was free
mercature and the coöperation of the English colony. And he desired
to land his men for a short time, that they might refresh themselves
after their long voyage; “so they landed in small companies that our
women might not be affrighted with them.” And the Governor dined
the French officers, and the New England warriors of the train-band
entertained the visiting Gallic soldiers, and they exercised and
trained before each other, all in true Boston hospitable fashion, as is
the custom to this day. And the Governor bourgeoned with as much
of an air of importance as possible, “being regularly attended with a
good guard of halberts and musketeers;” and thus tried to live down
the undignified heralding of a fellow-governor by a badly scared
woman neighbor. And the cunning Frenchman, as did another of his
race, “with sugared words sought to addulce all matters.” He
flattered the sober Boston magistrates, and praised everything about
the Boston army, and “showed much admiration professing he could
not have believed it, if he had not seen it.” And the foreigners were
so well treated (though Winthrop was blamed afterwards by stern
Endicott and the Rome-hating ministers) that they came again the
following summer, when La Tour asked material assistance. He
received it, and he lingered till autumn, and barely eight days after
he left, Madam La Tour landed in Boston from London; and strange
and sad must the little town have seemed to her after her past life.
She was in a state of much anger, and at once brought suit against
the master of the ship for not carrying her and her belongings to the
promised harbor in Acadia; for trading on the way until she nearly fell
into the hands of her husband’s enemy, D’Aulnay. The merchants of
Charlestown and Salem sided with the ship’s captain. The solid men
of Boston gallantly upheld and assisted the lady. The jury awarded
her two thousand pounds damages, and bitterly did one of the jury—
Governor Winthrop’s son—suffer for it, for he was afterwards
arrested in London, and had to give bond for four thousand pounds
to answer to a suit in the Court of Admiralty about the Boston
decision in favor of the Lady La Tour.
In the mean time ambassadors from the rival Acadian governor,
D’Aulnay, arrived in New England, and were treated with much honor
and consideration by the diplomatic Boston magistrates. I think I can
read between the lines that the Bostonians really liked La Tour, who
must have had much personal attraction and magnetism; but they
feared D’Aulnay, who had brought against the Massachusetts
government a claim of eight thousand pounds damages. The
Governor sent to D’Aulnay a propitiatory gift of “a very fair new
sedan chair (of no use to us),” and I should fancy scarcely of much
more use in Acadia; and which proved a very cheap way of staving
off paying the eight thousand pounds.
Madam La Tour sailed off at last with three laden ships to her
husband, in spite of D’Aulnay’s dictum that “she was known to be the
cause of all her husband’s contempt and rebellion, and therefore
they could not let her go to him.” La Tour’s stronghold was captured
shortly after “by assault and scalado” when he was absent, and his
jewels, plate, and furniture to the amount of ten thousand pounds
were seized, and his wife too; and she died in three weeks, of a
broken heart, and “her little child and gentlewomen were sent to
France.”
I think these Boston neighbors were entitled to a little harmless
though exciting gossip two or three years later, when they learned
that after D’Aulnay’s death the fascinating widower La Tour had
promptly married Widow D’Aulnay, thus regaining his jewels and

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A Handbook of Diction for Singers:

Italian, German, French 3rd Edition

Published in the United States of America by Oxford University Press

© Oxford University Press 2022

All rights reserved. No part of this publication may be reproduced, stored in

You must not circulate this work in any other form

CIP data is on file at the Library of Congress

Italo Tajo (1917–​1993)

Lorenzo Malfatti (1923–​2007)

Preface to the 3rd Edition xi

CHAPTER 1 An Introduction to Individual Sounds 1

CHAPTER 2 Italian Diction 31

CHAPTER 3 German Diction 131

German Diphthongs and Adjacent Vowels 148

CHAPTER 4 French Diction 219

Musical Settings of Mute e 298

Index of Sounds by Spelling 319

General Index 323

The study of “diction” can encompass at least three levels:

Flipped /​Rolled r (oral) 22

The International Phonetic Alphabet

The International Phonetic Alphabet (usually abbreviated to IPA) is an indispensable tool

Comments about a Few IPA Symbols

Brackets and Slashes

The Role of the Tongue in Determining Vowel Sounds

English: key [ki] she [ʃi] team [tiːm]

This sound is particularly subject to inappropriate diphthongs from English speakers.

English: bed [bɛd] head [hɛd] said [sɛd]

English: saw [sɔː] walk [wɔːk] daughter [ˈdɔ.tɚ]

Italian, German, and French all have this sound:

This sound is common to all four languages.

Additional Vowel Sounds for German: /​ɪ/​and /​ʊ/​

Examples of this sound in English and German:

English: in [ɪn] mitt [mɪt] lick [lɪk]

Examples of this sound in English and German:

English: book [bʊk] could [kʊd] woman [ˈwʊ.mən]

The Mixed Vowels of German and French

Glück [ɡlʏk] (happiness, luck) zurück [t͡su.ˈɾʏk] (back)

German: können [ˈkœ.nən] (to be able, can) Götter [ˈɡœ.tɐ] (gods)

̃ ​ /​ɛ̃/​ /​õ/​ /​œ̃/​

The French Nasal Vowels

This sound is always spelled either on or om, as in

onde [õ.d(ə)] (wave) tomber [tõ.be] (to fall)

This sound is spelled either un or um:

lundi [lœ̃.di] (Monday) parfum [paɾ.fœ̃] (perfume)

Glides /​Semiconsonants /​Semivowels: /​j/​/​ʝ/​ /​w/​ /​ɥ/​

English: yet [jɛt] young [jʌŋ] future [ˈfju.t͡fɚ] music [ˈmju.zɪk]

This sound is the glide version of the vowel /​u/​.

English: await [ə.ˈwe͜ɪt].

German: does not occur, except in borrowed words

French: oui [wi] (yes) fouet [fwɛ] (whip) oiseau [wa.zo] (bird)

Note the spellings of this sound: always u in Italian, ou or oi in French, w or qu in

See the French chapter for a complete presentation.

Diphthongs: A Brief Discussion

by [ba͜ɪ] go [ɡɔ͜ʊ] take [te͜ɪk] night [na͜ɪt]

/​b/​ and /​p/​

English: bell [bɛl] English: pot [pɑt]

/​d/​ and /​t/​

English: Dee [di] English: tea [ti]

/​ɡ/​ and /​k/​

English: got [ɡɑt] English: card [kɑɚd]

/​v/​ and /​f/​

English: veer [vɪ͜ɚ] English: fear [fɪ͜ɚ]

Italo Tajo (1917–1993)

Lorenzo Malfatti (1923–2007)

CHAPTER 1 An Introduction to Individual Sounds 1

CHAPTER 2 Italian Diction 31

CHAPTER 3 German Diction 131

CHAPTER 4 French Diction 219

Flipped /Rolled r (oral) 22

Additional Vowel Sounds for German: /ɪ/and /ʊ/

̃ /ɛ̃/ /õ/ /œ̃/

Glides /Semiconsonants /Semivowels: /j//ʝ/ /w/ /ɥ/

This sound is the glide version of the vowel /u/.

/b/ and /p/

/d/ and /t/

/ɡ/ and /k/

/v/ and /f/

/z/ and /s/

Unpaired Consonant Sounds: /l/ /m/ /n/ /r/

/m/ and /n/

/r/ /ɾ/ /ʀ/ /ʁ/ /ɹ/

/r/ and /ɾ/

A Special Pair: /h/and /ʔ/

/ʒ/ /ʃ/ /ʎ/ /ɲ/ /ŋ/ /ç/ /x/

The /ʒ/sound occurs in the English word pleasure.

In French, the sound /ʒ/is spelled with the letter j, or g followed by e or i.

/ç/ and /x/

The Affricate Sounds: /d͡ʒ/ /t͡ʃ/ /d͡z//t͡s/

/d͡ʒ/ and /t͡ʃ/

Italian spells /d͡ʒ/with the letter g or double gg followed by e or i.