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mimic a young mother who says tenderly így("like that") or
mais si("yes, indeed") to her child.
However, subjects who heard the films believed they heard
an "i," despite the labialization, which ordinarily transforms [i]
into [yl (as in French sure--RT), apparently on the basis of
context and situation. Though the speakers deformed the
habitual pronunciation of these vowels, their auditors, in
decoding the phonological component of the message, re-
established the intended phonemes, interpreting the distortion as
an expressive manner of pronouncing the phoneme. In the
decoding, the sound is broken up into two elements: [y][!][i] +
expression of tenderness (Fónagy, 1971: 159).
The rounding of the lips can be considered as preparation for a kiss.
Fónagy calls this "phonetic gesture" (1971: 160). This explains in part
that the first component is perceived as a substance, the second, which
is no less substantial than the first, as a "manner of pronouncing"
(1971: 160). In this context, Fónagy speaks of "dual encodedness"
(161). My claim is that in the recitation of metered verse there is a
"triple encodedness". Sometimes, an overarticulated final stop
consonant may be decoded as [p] (or [t], or [k] etc.) + an assertive,
determined, firm attitude + the clear-cut articulation of the end of some
prosodic or syntactic unit. Even who is reluctant to accept Fónagy's
psychoanalytical explanations based on "the transfer of anal libido"
(160) or "anal-sadistic cathexis" lending an authoritarian character, may
discern some firm, determined, even authoritarian attitude in the speech
of a person who tends to over-articulate the stop consonants. Stop
consonants are abrupt, not continuous, aim at considerable accuracy, at
a circumscribed point both in time and in place of articulation. Their
overarticulation indicates control, exhibits strict, particular, and
complete accordance with a standard, is marked by thorough
consideration of minute details.
When we consider the particular articulatory gestures associated with
each stop, some additional expressive potentials may become
conspicuous. We will consider here only one of them. The
overarticulation of bilabial consonants, mainly the abrupt oral stop [p]
and affricate [pf] involves strong closure of the lips, followed by
sudden opening. This articulatory gesture is very similar to spitting,
and may be expressive of disgust or contempt. Thus, in Wittgenstein's
term, there may be "aspect switching" between a determined, or
contemptful, or disgusted attitude, depending on the semantic
component of the utterance. Even the bilabial nasal [m] can, with some
effort, be pronounced contemptfully, as when at the height of political
polemics against the Israeli left, Aric Sharon used to pronounce "smol",
the Hebrew word for "left", with extreme contempt.4
A Brief Interpretation
In his opening speech of the play, Gloucester takes the audience into
his full confidence. He tells about his treachorous plans, about his
relentless self-perception, and provides the necessary historical
background information to the play's action. He emerges as a
charismatic figure, who can evoke an immediate, personal assent of the
audiance to all his plots and villainies. This he does by his ironic
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