This article was originally written in Turkish and has been translated into English with the help of artificial intelligence (AI). The translation may contain errors; the original Turkish version is the authoritative text.
Once we have correct diaphragmatic breathing and have shaped the inside of the mouth as I described earlier, the intelligibility of the sound that comes out becomes the priority. When the person we are speaking to understands clearly what we are saying, this has a positive effect on how our personality is perceived, and we also reach our goals more easily with what we say. The organs that affect this are our lips. If we cannot make our lips work well, the person in front of us has difficulty understanding what we are saying, or understands some of the words and not others; after a while they stop listening and simply nod as if they were. Of course, intonation is also important in speech. I will discuss this subject in detail later.
In this article I want to talk about the exercises to be done for lip laziness. From years of observation I have concluded that our people are not careful about speaking well. Especially in our country, where regional accents are dominant, when the Istanbul accent is taken as the standard, I found that this shortcoming is extreme. It truly saddened me to see people trying to speak without moving their lips at all. Words could not be understood; I met people whose facial features were very tense, or who smiled in every setting while trying to speak (even at a funeral or a condolence visit). What is more, I have witnessed people who, for this reason alone, became all too familiar with diseases of the vocal cords (the vocal folds).
So what should we do to get rid of the problems I have described above?
First of all, we need to learn diaphragmatic breathing very well. After practising the diaphragmatic breathing exercises many times and making sure we have learned them, you should remember how the soft palate attached to the uvula is used, think about it, and then do the exercises I give below with great patience.
After a deep diaphragmatic breath, until your breath runs out:
Mini mini mini mini mini…
Without tensing your lips at all, very slowly at first and then gradually faster. After completing this exercise, do the following in the same way, in this order:
Mene, mene, mene, mene…
Mana, mana, mana, mana…
Mono, mono, mono, mono…
The hardest of these exercises is “mono, mono, mono…”. Even if working the lips on the vowel “o” feels difficult at first, you will easily overcome this difficulty over time. After doing these exercises without mistakes and very fast, repeat the vowels mentioned above, again paying attention to diaphragmatic breathing, this time as:
Mini mini, mene mene, mana mana, mono mono
First at a slow tempo and then gradually faster, without tensing the lips and without shouting, in your speaking voice. After doing this exercise, repeat the last one this time as:
Mini, mini, mini – mene, mene, mene – mana, mana, mana – mono, mono, mono
After doing this exercise quickly and without mistakes, rest a little, and finally perform the exercise above as:
Mini, mini, mini, mini – mene, mene, mene, mene – mana, mana, mana, mana – mono, mono, mono, mono
With this we have completed the first stage of the lip laziness work.
In the second stage, somewhat harder exercises await us. In this stage we will do the sequences above in mixed order. Because we are doing them in mixed order, a new function will also come into play: mental exercise. We will have to push our minds quite hard so as not to mix them up, especially when doing the exercises fast. Here are the next exercises:
1. Mini mini – mene mene – mana mana – mono mono…
2. Mene mene – mini mini – mana mana – mono mono…
3. Mana mana – mene mene – mono mono – mini mini…
4. Mono mono – mana mana – mene mene – mini mini…
5. Mana mana – mini mini – mono mono – mene mene…
6. Mono mono – mene mene – mini mini – mana mana…
7. Mene mene – mono mono – mini mini – mana mana…
8. Mini mini – mana mana – mene mene – mono mono…
You can then complete the second stage by doing these exercises just like the earlier ones, first repeating each unit three times and finally doing each unit four times.
In the third stage, considering that our lips have gained some mastery and relaxed by doing the exercises above, I believe they should be challenged a little more. In this stage we will do six more exercises, first at a slow tempo and then gradually faster, but always keeping diaphragmatic breathing in mind.
1. Mini mene mini / mene mini mene / mana mono mana / mono mana mono
2. Mono mana mono / mana mono mana / mene mini mene / mini mene mini…
3. Mini mene mana / mene mini mana / mana mini mene / mono mana mono…
4. Mono mana mono / mene mini mana / mana mini mene / mana mene mini…
5. Mini mene mana mono / mene mini mana mono / mana mini mono mene / mono mini mana mene…
6. Mene mana mini mono / mene mono mini mana / mono mana mini mene / mono mana mene mini…
Please note that the last two exercises are made up of four syllables.
My dear readers, after doing all these exercises, let us finally reinforce our lips, which are now well on their way, together with the tongue inside our mouth and our jaw, with tongue twisters so that they all work well.
Many of our tongue twisters have no particular meaning, but they are of great benefit to the organs I have mentioned above.
The tongue twisters should be read slowly at first and then gradually faster, giving every letter its full value without swallowing any.
(The tongue twisters are given in the original Turkish, as the exercise depends on Turkish sounds.)
1. Bir berber bir berbere bre berber gel beraber bir berber dükkânı açalım demiş.
2. Şu köşe yaz köşesi bu köşe kış köşesi ortada su şişesi.
3. Barınaksız baykuşların bağırdığı bakir ormanlarda bakkallar baş başa sallandılar.
4. Karamürselli kara kaptan kadehiyle kasabanın kaynağından kana kana su içti.
5. Al şu takatukaları takatukacıya götür. Takatukacı takatukaları takatukalamam derse takatukaları takatukalatmadan al da gel.
6. Çatalca’da topal çoban çatal yapıp çatal satar. Nesi için Çatalca’da topal çoban çatal yapıp çatal satar. Karı için Çatalca’da topal çoban çatal yapıp çatal satar.
7. Şu karşıdaki kara kuru kavak, karardın mı ey kara kuru kavak, sarardın mı ey kara kuru kavak.
8. Kar kalkar karakartal kalkar, karakartal kalkar kar kalkar.
9. Ocak kıvılcımlandırıcılarından mısınız, kapı gıcırdatıcılarından mısınız? Ne ocak kıvılcımlandırıcılarındanım ne de kapı gıcırdatıcılarındanım.
10. Üç tunç tas kaysı hoşafı.
11. Kırk kırık küp, kırkının da kulpu kırık kara küp.
12. A be kuru dayı ne kuru sarı darı bu darı a be kuru dayı.
13. Elâlem aladana aldı aladanalandı da biz bir aladana alıp aladanalanamadık.
14. Çarık çorap dolak, ben sana çarık çorap dolak mı dedim.
15. Gül dibi bülbül dili gibi, gül dibi bülbül dili gibi.
16. Değirmene girdi köpek, değirmenci çaldı kötek, hem kepek yedi köpek hem kötek yedi köpek.