Introduction to Linguistics - Organs of Speech

ORGANS OF SPEECH

The organs of the speech produce almost all the sounds needed for language. These organs are divided in 2:

1. Passive articulators: those which remain static during the articulation of sound. (Upper lips, upper teeth, alveolar ridge, hard palate, etc.)
2.  Active articulators: those which move towards these passive articulators to produce various speech sounds in a different way. (Uvula, lower jaw, lower teeth, lower lips, etc, the most important active articulator is the tongue).

Explanation of Pictures.

1. Nasal - Cavity

   The nasal cavity conditions the air to be received by the other areas of the respiratory tract. Owing to the large surface area provided by the nasal conchae, the air passing through the nasal cavity is warmed or cooled to within 1 degree of body temperature. In addition, the air is humidified, and dust and other particulate matter is removed by vibrissae, short, thick hairs, present in the vestibule. The cilia of the respiratory epithelium move the particulate matter towards the pharynx where it passes into the esophagus and is digested in the stomach. 

2.      Lips: Labials

Lips form different shapes, such as an oval, and movements in order to make different sounds. Sounds can be formed by using the teeth to shape the lips, in combination with the tongue, or to block air from escaping the mouth.

They serve for creating different souds – mainly the labial, bilabial (e.g. /p/ /b/ /m/ /hw/ and /w/) and labio-dental consonant sounds (e.g. /f/ and /v/) and thus create an important part of speech apparatus.

3.      Teeth: Dentals

Most speakers have teeth to the sides of their mounth. The back is almost to the soft palate. The tongue is in contact for many speeh sounds. Dental sounds; /t/ , /d/ , /n/ , /l/. Responsible for creating sounds mainly the labio-dental (e.g. /f/ and /v/) and lingua-dental (e.g. /ᶞ/ and /ᶿ/).

4.      Alveolar Ridge: Alveolars

The alveolar ridge helps us to make different sounds, known as alveolar sounds, the tongue touches the ridges found on this organ. Hard ridge behind the upper front teeth. It is between the roof of the mouth and the upper teeth. The sound produced is called alveolar /t/ and /d/.

5.      Glottis: Glottals

The glottis is used in controlling the vibration made by the vocal chords, in order to make different sounds.

·      Combination of vocal folds and space in between the folds

·     As the vocal folds vibrate, the resulting vibration produces a “buzzing” quality to the speech called voice or voicing or pronunciation.

·     Sound production Involving only the glottis is called glottal. Example is the sound /h/.

6.      Hard Palate

Hard palate, like the alveolar ridge, is the organ of speech where the tongue touches and taps the palate when articulating speech.

·           A thin horizontal bony plate of skull, located in the roof of the mounth.

·      The interaction between the tongue and the hard palate is essential in the formation of certain speech sounds, notably /t/, /d/, /j/.

7.      Velum: Velars (Soft Palate)

The movable velum can retract and elevate in order to separate the mouth from the nasal cavity, helping to make speech less nasally. When the tongue hits the velum, it also makes a special sound called the velar consonant. Often in speech, the velum is raised so that air can not escape through the nose. When the /k/ and the /g/ (velar consonants) sound is produced, the tongue is in contact with the lower side of the velum.

8.    Uvula: Uvurals

The uvula is used to make guttural sounds. It helps to make nasal consonants by stopping air from moving through the nose.

·       It functions in tandem with the ack of the throat, the palate, and air coming up from the lungs to create a number of guttural and other sounds.

·       In many languages, it closes to prevent air escaping through the nose when making some sounds. 

9.      Pharynx: Pharyngeals

·           A very complex and dependent articulators

·           The vibration of larynx can be detected while producing the sounds /z/. 

10.  Tongue

The tongue moves throughout the mouth and with many of the other organs, as well as making shapes like the lips, in order to formulate speech. With its wide variety in forming the sounds of speech.

Table of Consonant

Mode of Production / Manner of Articulation	Viceless	Voiced	Place of Articulation	Keywords
Plosives or stops	p	b	bilabial	pin	bin
	t	d	alveolar	tin	din
	k	g	velar	cap	gap
Fricatives	-	w	bilabial	-	west
	f	v	labio-dental	fan	van
	q	ð	intra-dental	thin	then
	s	z	alveolar	sue	zoo
	-	l	alveolar		leaf
	-	r	alveolar		red
	ʃ / š	Ӡ / ž	alveo palatal	shoe	measure
	-	J / y	palatal		yes
	h	-	glottal	hat
Affricates	tʃ / ǰ	dʒ / č	alveo palatal	chew	jew
Nasals		m	bilabial		man
		n	alveolar		name
		ŋ	velar		song

Place of Articulation

1. Bilabials. Bilabials are produced through upper and lower lips.
2. Labiodentals. Labiodental sounds are produced through the upper teeth and the lower lip.
3. Dentals. Dental sound is produced by placing the tongue tip behind the upper front teeth.
4. Interdental or intra-dental   is sometimes applied to describe a manner of pronunciation with the tongue tip between the upper and lower teeth.
5. Alveolars. Alveolar sound is produced through the front part of the tongue placed on the alveolar ridge.
6. Alveo-palatals. These are produced by placing the tongue at the very front of the palate, which is near the alveolar ridge.
7. Velars. The production of velar sound is done by placing the back of the tongue against the velum
8. Glottal. This is produced without the active of the tongue and other parts of the mouth. This sound is produced in the glottis- a space between the vocal cords and the larynx.