{{Short description|Intentionally lowering the volume of one's voice for emphasis}} {{About||the musical usage|Sotto voce (music)}} {{italic title}} {{Rhetoric}} {{Use dmy dates|date=April 2024}} '''''Sotto voce''''' ({{IPAc-en|ˈ|s|ɒ|t|oʊ|_|ˈ|v|oʊ|tʃ|i|,_|-|tʃ|eɪ}},<ref>{{Cite web|url=https://www.ahdictionary.com/word/search.html?q=sotto+voce|title=The American Heritage Dictionary entry: sotto voce|first=HarperCollins|last=Publishers|website=www.ahdictionary.com|access-date=18 April 2024|archive-date=10 April 2020|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20200410205822/https://www.ahdictionary.com/word/search.html?q=sotto+voce|url-status=live}}</ref><ref>{{Cite web|url=http://www.collinsdictionary.com/dictionary/english/sotto-voce|title=SOTTO VOCE definition and meaning | Collins English Dictionary|access-date=28 August 2016|archive-date=21 September 2016|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20160921105344/http://www.collinsdictionary.com/dictionary/english/sotto-voce|url-status=live}}</ref> {{IPA|it|ˈsotto ˈvoːtʃe|lang}}; literally 'under the voice')<ref>{{cite book |last1=Brown |first1=Emily Freeman |title=A Dictionary for the Modern Conductor |date=2015 |publisher=Rowman & Littlefield Publishers |location=Lanham, MD |page=319 |quote=sotto voce. (It., lit. “under the voice.”)}}</ref><ref>{{cite book |last1=Harnsberger |first1=Lindsey C. |title=Essential Dictionary of Music Definitions |date=1997 |publisher=Alfred Pub. Co. |location=Los Angeles |page=54 |quote=sotto voce ... Under the voice, in soft voice}}</ref> means intentionally lowering the volume of one's voice for emphasis. The speaker gives the impression of uttering involuntarily a truth which may surprise, shock, or offend. Galileo Galilei's (probably apocryphal) utterance "{{lang|it|Eppur si muove}}" ("[[And yet it moves|And yet [the Earth] moves]]"), spoken after deciding to recant his heliocentric theory, is a legendary example of a ''sotto voce'' utterance.<ref>[https://blogs.scientificamerican.com/observations/did-galileo-truly-say-and-yet-it-moves-a-modern-detective-story/ Did Galileo Truly Say, 'And Yet It Moves?' A Modern Detective Story] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20220125183612/https://blogs.scientificamerican.com/observations/did-galileo-truly-say-and-yet-it-moves-a-modern-detective-story/ |date=25 January 2022 }}, ''Scientific American''. Mario Livio, 6 May 2020. Retrieved 25 January 2022.</ref>
==Uses== ===Law=== In law, "sotto voce" on a transcript indicates a conversation heard below the hearing of the court reporter.<ref>{{cite web|title=Uniform Format Manual for Texas Reporters' Records|url=http://www.txcourts.gov/media/244178/Uniform-Format-Manual-20100701.pdf|website=Uniform Format Manual|publisher=State of Texas Judicial Branch|accessdate=18 April 2018|pages=8, 17–18|archive-date=19 June 2018|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20180619025726/http://www.txcourts.gov/media/244178/Uniform-Format-Manual-20100701.pdf|url-status=live}}</ref>
===Drama, literature, and rhetoric=== In drama, literature, and rhetoric, ''sotto voce'' is used to denote emphasis attained by lowering one's voice rather than raising it, similar to the effect provided by an aside. Also similar to an aside, ''sotto voce'' can be used to express a character's thoughts out loud. For example, in Chapter 4 of ''Jane Eyre'', Charlotte Brontë uses the term ''sotto voce'' to describe Mrs. Reed's manner of speaking after arguing with Jane: {{Blockquote| :'I am not your dear; I cannot lie down. Send me to school soon, Mrs. Reed, for I hate to live here.'
:'I will indeed send her to school soon', murmured Mrs. Reed, ''sotto voce''; and gathering up her work, she abruptly quitted the apartment.|''Jane Eyre''<ref>{{cite book |last=Brontë |first=Charlotte |title=Jane Eyre |location=London |publisher=Penguin Classics |edition=3rd |year=2008 |page=45}}</ref>}}
==References== {{Reflist}}
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{{DEFAULTSORT:Sotto Voce}} Category:Acting techniques Category:Rhetorical techniques