Lecture 17
I have made a decision to skip to Chapter 8 and I would like for us to pick up on page
183
Chapter 8 deals with the articulatory system
What does the word articulation mean to you?
Keep in mind that speech is an overlaid function
We have a system in place whereby we classify sounds.
You should know that sounds are divided into two classes, those being consonants and
vowels.
We will start with consonants.
There are three major dimensions of consonants, what are they?
Manner of articulation
Place of articulation
Voicing
We will follow the book and look at place of articulation first.
For English sounds there are seven places of articulation.
What are they
Lips
Lips and teeth
Tongue and Teeth
Tongue and Alveolar
Tongue and palate
Tongue and velum
Voval folds
Bilabial
Labiodental
Linguadental Sometimes called interdental
Linguaalveolar
Linguapalatal
Linguaaveolar
Glottal
We will come back to these and give examples later
Now manner of articulation.
What does that mean?
It has to do with the manipulation of the airstream and the production of sound
There are six manners of articulation
What are they?
Stops or plosives
Fricatives
Affricatives
Nasals
Glides
Liquids
Lets do a little review
Speech production can be divided into three parts.
1.
2.
3.
Respiration
Phonation
Articulation
We do not have the vocal organ. Instead we borrow from other biological systems to
produced speech so speech is said to be borrowed or overlaid.
An overview
Starting with the respiratory system.
The biological purpose of the respiratory system is concerned with the inhalation of air
for oxygen needed by the body and the exhalation of air to remove carbon dioxide.
With the English language, all of our sounds are made during the exhalation phase of
respiration.
Respiration requires the use of bones, muscles, and tissues of the thorax and abdomen.
Skeletal framework of respiration
Vertebral column
Rib cage including ribs and sternum
Muscles of respiration
Muscles of inspiration
Intercostals
Diaphragm
Muscles of exhalation primarily abdominal
Lungs
They are cone-shaped and consist of millions of tiny air sacs. They adhere to the skeletal
walls of the thorax and move in conjunction with them.
The air sacs feed into tubes called bronchioles, which in turn feed into a larger tube called
the bronchial tube, which in turn feeds into the trachea.
Trachea
It is a muscular cartilaginous tube that ascend upward from the lungs and lies just below
the larynx.
Larynx
It is at the larynx that the second part of speech, phonation, occurs.
The larynx is a muscular cartilaginous and membranous structure located in the anterior
portion of the neck.
It is essentially a small tube that can be totally constricted at one point along its length.
The biological function of the larynx is to protect the lungs.
A horseshoe shaped bone called the hyoid bone, which lies just inside the mandible,
suspends the larynx from above.
The base of the larynx is the cricoid cartilage.
Resting on the cricoid cartilage are two arytenoid cartilages.
A thyroid cartilage is shield-shaped.
The epiglottis is a leaf-shaped cartilage that extends from the thyroid cartilage to the back
of the tongue.
There are numerous intrinsic and extrinsic muscles associated with the larynx.
The intrinsic muscles position the various laryngeal cartilage’s relationships with one
another and control vocal folds.
The extrinsic laryngeal muscles effect the larynx position within the neck.
The vocal folds are positioned in such a way that there is a triangular space between
them, which is called the glottis.
The vocal folds can be made to vibrate by pressure from the respiratory system and they
will typically vibrate at a rate from 60 – 350 Hz. The sound resulting from this vibration
is the basis for voicing in speech production.
Pharynx
The third part of speech is articulation and it is associated with the structures which lie
immediately above the larynx.
The cavities associated with articulation are collectively called the pharynx, which is
divided into the laryngeal pharynx (throat), the oral pharynx immediate behind the
mouth, and the nasal pharynx immediately behind the nose.
Nose, Jaw, and Mouth
The oral cavity is referred to as the mouth and the nasal pharynx is referred to as the
nose.
Movement/Articulation
Each of these cavities and structures within them can change their shape or come into
contact with each other to convert the sound from the lungs and larynx into speech
sounds. This process is called articulation.
The structures that produce sounds are called articulators and they include the lips, the
teeth, the tongue, the alveolar ridge (gums), the hard palate, the soft palate (velum), and
the pharynx.
The primary articulator is the tongue. It is essentially a large muscle that comprises the
majority of the floor of the mouth. The tip of the tongue is thin and is important for the
production of numerous sounds of English including /t, d, n, s, z, l, th/.
The lips make up the opening between the oral cavity and the outside world.
They are primarily muscular and very mobile and associated with the production of the
sounds /p, b, m, w/. These sounds appear to be learned early in the developmental
sequence probably because of their visibility and the sensory readiness of the oral region
shortly after birth.
The lips can also be combined with the teeth to form the labial-dental sounds /f, v/.
The teeth are important articulators because they serve as contacts for both the lips and
tongue.
It is possible to talk without the teeth but the production of the /s/ sound may not be
precise.
We (humans) get two sets, deciduous or baby teeth, and permanent teeth.
The alveolar ridge or gums is a narrow, bony shelf and is an important contact for many
tongue tip sounds including /t, d, s, z, w, n/.
The hard palate extends from the alveolar ridge back to an area that is called the soft
palate and makes up the major portion of the roof of the mouth. It is an important contact
point for lingual-palate sounds /dg, sh/.
The velum is the soft palate and is a muscular protrusion that extend backward from the
hard palate. Its free end is called the uvula. During respiration, the uvula is positioned
downward so that the nasal cavity is unobstructed.
It is also typically down for the production of most speech sounds with the exception as
the three nasal sounds /m, n, ng/.