The Speech Organs. Лекция 2

1.

The Speech
Organs

2.

Articulatory phonetics focuses on the
organs of speech and their role in
producing speech sounds, which is based
on data provided by other sciences, such as
human anatomy and physiology.

3.

• Speech is the result of neuromotor activity, thus
the sound originates in the brain.
• After the creation of the message in the mind, a
number of commands are executed by the organs
of speech to physically produce the sound.
• The physical production initiates in the lungs and
undergoes important modifications in the
respiratory tract before it is realised.

4.

• The different stages involved in this
process are referred to as a speech
chain. Clark and Yallop (1992) view
this process as a kind of speech
mechanism involving the active or
passive functioning of the organs of
speech.

5.

The stages in physical speech
mechanism are as follows:
• Initiation or Respiration (the lungs provide
the energy source);
• Phonation (the vocal folds convert the energy
into an audible sound);
• The Oronasal Process (the soft palate
distributes the audible sound into the oral
cavity or nasal cavity);
• Articulation (the organs of speech transform
the sound into an intelligible speech sound).

6.

After the initiation and phonation
processes in the larynx and the
pharynx, the audible sound is formed
into a concrete sound with the help of
the organs of speech (articulators)
situated in the oral cavity.

7.

The organs of speech
(articulators)

8.

The most important and flexible
of all the organs of speech is the
tongue, which is situated in the
oral cavity and makes the
greatest contribution to the
articulation process.

9.

10.

Active and passive organs
of speech
Active (flexible) organs of speech (because they can be moved
into contact with other articulators) are
• the lungs
• the vocal folds
• the tongue
• the soft palate (velum)
• the uvula
• the upper lip
• the lower lip
• the lower jaw
• the lower teeth

11.

Active and passive organs
of speech
• Passive (stable) organs of speech (because they are stable
(immobile) in sound production and their most important
function is to act as the place of an articulatory stricture)
• the upper teeth
• the alveolar ridge
• the hard palate
• the pharynx
• the larynx
• the vocal tract

12.

Consonants are often classified according
Voicing, Place and Manner:
• voicing means that the vocal folds are used; if
they are not, the sound is voiceless (note that
vowels always imply the use of vocal folds);
• place of articulation is the place where the air
flow will be more or less obstructed;
• manner is concerned with the nature of the
obstruction.

13.

Voicing
• In a normal position, the vocal folds are
apart and we say that the glottis is open.
• When the edges of the vocal folds touch
each other, air passing through the glottis
will usually cause vibration.
• This opening and closing is repeated
regularly and gives what is called
voicing.

14.

15.

16.

17.

[b] [p] [m]
• Bilabial sounds are produced when the lips are brought
together.

18.

[f] [v]
• Labiodental sounds are made when the lower lip is
raised towards the upper front teeth.

19.

/θ/ /ð/
• Dental sounds are produced by touching the upper front
teeth with the tip of the tongue.

20.

/t/, /d/, /n/, /l/, /s/, /z/
• Alveolar sounds are made by raising the tip of the
tongue towards the ridge that is right behind the upper
front teeth, called the alveolar ridge.

21.

/ʃ/ /ʧ/ /ʒ/ /ʤ/
• Palatoalveolar sounds are made by raising the
blade of the tongue towards the part of the
palate just behind the alveolar ridge.

22.

[ j]
• Palatal sounds are very similar to palatoalveolar ones,
they are just produced further back towards the
velum.

23.

/r/
apico-postalveolar sound is made by
upturning the tip of the tongue behind the
alveolar ridge

24.

/k/, /ɡ/, /ŋ/
Velar sounds are made by raising the back of the tongue
towards the soft palate, called the velum.

25.

[h]
• Glottal sounds are produced when the air passes
through the glottis as it is narrowed.

26.

The manner of
articulation
The manner of articulation has to do with the kind of
obstruction the air meets on its way out, after it has passed
the vocal folds.
It may meet a complete closure (plosives),
an almost complete closure (fricatives),
or a smaller degree of closure (approximants),
or the air might escape in more exceptional ways, around the
sides of the tongue (laterals), or through the nasal cavity
(nasals).

27.

• When the obstruction totally blocks the airflow, it is called a
complete or occlusive obstruction. The obstruents and
sonorants with this type of obstruction are classified under one
of two terms:
• plosive obstruents: /p/, /b/, /t/, /d/, /k/, /ɡ/;
• nasal sonorants: /m/, /n/, /ŋ/.
In the production of the plosive obstruents, the air is obstructed
and then released with a small burst of noise (plosion). They are
also defined as stops because they cannot be prolonged.

28.

• When the closure is not quite complete, it is called
constrictive. The air either escapes through a narrow passage
and makes a hissing sound for obstruents, or it penetrates
through the sides of the obstruction and escapes rather freely
through the nasal or oral cavity for sonorants. The following
sounds are produced with constriction:
• fricative obstruents: /f/, /v/, /s/, /z/, /θ/, /ð/, /ʃ/, /ʒ/, /h/;
• constrictive sonorants: /l/, /r/, /j/, /w/.

29.

A few sounds are generated with a doublesided obstruction, which may be defined as
occlusive-constrictive. Affricates are the
two sounds that are produced in this
manner: /tʃ/, /dʒ/. The initial complete
closure of the plosive sounds /t/ and /d/ is
released through a constriction for the
fricative sounds /ʃ/ and /ʒ/.

30.

• The manners of articulation can be put into two major groups,
obtruents and sonorants. The obstruents are plosives, fricatives
and affricates, all sounds with a high degree of obstruction.
Obstruents usually come in pairs, one voiceless, one voiced,
e.g. [p/b, t/d].
• Sonorants have much less obstruction and are all voiced and
therefore more sonorous. They include nasals, the lateral, and
approximants.

31.

32.

33.

Give the characteristics of consonants and sonorants in the chart
below. The first sound is done as an example.