ARTICULATORS AND SOME BASIC CONCEPTS

1. Phonetics 2. Speech sounds 3. Articulation 4. Airstream mechanism 5. Vocal tract 6. Articulators and places of articulation 7. Vowels vs. Consonants

1. PHONETICS
The study of speech sounds is called phonetics.
[Fromklin and Rodman, 1993:232]

The study of how sounds are produced and how the position of the mouth can be changed to produce different sounds is called phonetics.
[Avery & Ehrlich, 1995:11]

1. PHONETICS
The study of the production and perception of speech sounds is phonetics. There are two branches of the study of phonetics: articulary phonetics deals primarily with the production of speech sounds; acoustic phonetics deals with the perception of speech sounds.
[Buchanan, 1963: 17]

The study of them (articulators) is called articulatory phonetics.

[Roach, 2000:8]

1. PHONETICS
Three subfields of phonetics are:
- Articulatory phonetics deals with the way sounds are produced. - Acoustic phonetics deals with the transmission of speech sounds through the air. - Auditory phonetics deals with the way speech sounds are perceived by listeners (are heard through the physiological organs of hearing).

2. SPEECH SOUNDS
Vocal sounds are produced in the human body by the organs of what is called the vocal tract. Vocal sounds which are organized to communicate information are called speech sounds.
[Buchanan, 1963:18]]

3. ARTICULATION

The formation of discrete (individual) speech sounds is called articulation.

[Buchanan, 1963:38]]

4. AIRSTREAM MECHANISIM
The production of any speech sound (or any sound at all) involves the movement of an airstream. Most speech sounds are produced by pushing lung air out of the body through the mouth and sometimes through the nose.

Since lung air is used, these sounds are called pulmonic (belonging/related to the lung) sounds; since the air is pushed out, they are call egressive (e-: out; gress: go).
The majority of sounds used in languages of the world are thus produced by pulmonic egressive airstream mechanisms. All the sounds in English are produced in this manner.
[Fromklin and Rodman, 1993:186-187]

7. VOWELS VS. CONSONANTS

Vowels and consonants can be distinguished thank to the two following criteria. 1. The way they are produced (phonetically): + All vowels are vocoids sounds in forming which the air issues in a continuous stream from the larynx to the lips; there is no obstruction and no narrowing that could cause audible friction. + Consonants are generally contoids sounds that do obstruct or interfere with the egressive pulmonic airflow at some place in the vocal tract.

VOWELS VS. CONSONANTS

Vowels and consonants can be distinguish thank to the two following criteria. 2. Their distribution in English (phonologically): Consonants usually occupy the initial position in English words and are frequently follow by vowels. Unfortunately, there are many cases where the decision is not easy to make. For example, the /j/ in yet, the /w/ in wet and the /h/ in hay do not obstruct the airflow more than some vowels do. However, they are typically consonantal in English they usually occur in the initial position and are always followed by vowels. Phonetically, they are like vowels; phonologically, they function as consonants.