The production of speech sounds

Articulators above the larynx

All the sounds we make when we speak are the result of muscles contracting. The muscles in
the chest that we use for breathing produce the flow of air that is needed for almost all speech
sounds; muscles in the larynx produce many different modifications in the flow of air from
the chest to the mouth. After passing through the larynx, the air goes through what we call
the vocal tract, which ends at the mouth and nostrils. Here the air from the lungs escapes into
the atmosphere. We have a large and complex set of muscles that can produce changes in the
shape of the vocal tract, and in order to learn how the sounds of speech are produced it is
necessary to become familiar with the different parts of the vocal tract. These different parts
are called articulators, and the study of them is called articulatory phonetics.
Fig. 1 is a diagram that is used frequently in the study of phonetics. It represents the
human head, seen from the side, displayed as though it had been cut in half. You will need to
look at it carefully as the articulators are described, and you will often find it useful to have a
mirror and a good light placed so that you can look at the inside of your mouth.

Fig. 1 The articulators

i) The pharynx is a tube which begins just above the larynx. It is about 7 cm long in
women and about 8 cm in men, and at its top end it is divided into two, one part being
the back of the mouth and the other being the beginning of the way through the nasal
cavity. If you look in your mirror with your mouth open, you can see the back of the
pharynx.
ii) The velum or soft palate is seen in the diagram in a position that allows air to pass
through the nose and through the mouth. Yours is probably in that position now, but
often in speech it is raised so that air cannot escape through the nose. The other
 important thing about the velum is that it is one of the articulators that can be touched
by the tongue. When we make the sounds k and g the tongue is in contact with the
lower side of the velum, and we call these velar consonants.
iii) The hard palate is often called the "roof of the mouth". You can feel its smooth
curved surface with your tongue.
iv) The alveolar ridge is between the top front teeth and the hard palate. You can feel
its shape with your tongue. Its surface is really much rougher than it feels, and is
covered with little ridges. You can only see these if you have a mirror small enough to
go inside your mouth (such as those used by dentists). Sounds made with the tongue
touching here (such as t and d ) are called alveolar.
v) The tongue is, of course, a very important articulator and it can be moved into
many different places and different shapes. It is usual to divide the tongue into
different parts, though there are no clear dividing lines within the tongue. Fig. 2
shows the tongue on a larger scale with these parts
shown: tip, blade, front, back and root. (This use of the word "front" often seems
rather strange at first.)

Fig. 2 Sub-divisions of the tongue

vi) The teeth (upper and lower) are usually shown in diagrams like Fig. 1 only at the
front of the mouth, immediately behind the lips. This is for the sake of a simple
diagram, and you should remember that most speakers have teeth to the sides of their
mouths, back almost to the soft palate. The tongue is in contact with the upper side
teeth for many speech sounds. Sounds made with the tongue touching the front teeth
are called dental.
vii) The lips are important in speech. They can be pressed together (when we produce
the sounds p , b ), brought into contact with the teeth (as in f , v), or rounded to
produce the lip-shape for vowels like uù. Sounds in which the lips are in contact with
 each other are called bilabial, while those with lip-to-teeth contact are
called labiodental.

The seven articulators described above are the main ones used in speech, but there are three
other things to remember. Firstly, the larynx could also be described as an articulator - a very
complex and independent one. Secondly, the jaws are sometimes called articulators; certainly
we move the lower jaw a lot in speaking. But the jaws are not articulators in the same way as
the others, because they cannot themselves make contact with other articulators. Finally,
although there is practically nothing that we can do with the nose and the nasal cavity, they
are a very important part of our equipment for making sounds (what is sometimes called
our vocal apparatus), particularly nasal consonants such as m , n . Again, we cannot really
describe the nose and the nasal cavity as articulators in the same sense as (i) to (vii) above.

Pathological aspect of speech sound production

Lips
Approximation of the lips is required for the formation of the English bilabial phonemes /b/,
/p/, and /m/; lip rounding is required for various vowels and the consonants /w/ and /ʍ/. An
impairment that would inhibit lip approximation or rounding might result in misarticulation
of these sounds. Fairbanks and Green (1950) examined measurements of various dimensions
of the lips in 30 adult speakers with superior consonant production and 30 with inferior
consonant production and reported no differences between the two groups.

Certain deformities of the lips such as the enlarged lips in Ackerman syndrome (Ackerman,
Ackerman, and Ackerman, 1973) or congenital double lips (Eski, Nisanci, Aktas, and
Sengezer, 2007) may interfere with speech production, but not in every case. Most such cases
can be corrected surgically. These findings suggest that only major deviations in lip structure
or function are likely to impact speech sound production.

Teeth
Many English consonants require intact dentition for correct production. Labiodental
phonemes (/f/ and /v/) require contact between the teeth and lower lip for their production,
and Linguadental phonemes require tongue placement just behind or between the teeth for /δ/
and /θ/ productions. The tongue tip alveolars (/s/, /z/) require that the airstream pass over the
cutting edge of the incisors.

Researchers investigating the relationship between deviant dentition and consonant

production have examined the presence or absence of teeth, position of teeth, and dental
occlusion.
Occlusion refers to the alignment of the first molar teeth when the jaws are closed, and
malocclusion refers to the imperfect or irregular position of those teeth when the jaws are
closed. In normal occlusion (also called Class I), the upper first molar is positioned half a
tooth behind the lower first molar. In a Class II malocclusion, the positions of the upper and
lower first molars are reversed (i.e., the upper is half a tooth ahead). In a Class III
malocclusion, the upper first molar is more than half a tooth behind.
Malocclusions may also affect the relative positions of the upper and lower front teeth or
incisors. Often in a Class II malocclusion, the upper incisors are too far forward relative to
the lower incisors, resulting is what is called an overjet; conversely, in a Class III
malocclusion, the upper incisors are often positioned behind the lower incisors, and the result
is called an underjet (see Figure for examples of different types of occlusions).

Another area of interest to investigators has been the influence of missing teeth on speech
sound skill. Bankson and Byrne (1962) examined the influence of missing teeth in
kindergarten and first-grade children. Initially, participants were identified as either children
who had correct articulation with their teeth intact or children who had incorrect articulation
with their teeth intact. After four months, articulation skills were reassessed, and the number
of missing central or lateral incisors was tabulated. A significant relationship was found
between the presence or absence of teeth and correct production of /s/, but not of /f/, /ʃ/, or
/z/. However, some children maintained correct production of /s/ despite the loss of their
incisors. Snow (1961) examined the influence of missing teeth on consonant production in
first-grade children. Participants were divided into two groups: those with normal incisors
and those with missing or grossly abnormal incisor teeth. Although Snow found that a
significantly higher proportion of children with dental deviations misarticulated consonants,
she also found that three-quarters of the children with defective dentition did not
misarticulate these sounds. In contrast to Bankson and Byrne, who noted significant
differences only for /s/, Snow found significant differences for all phonemes. Gable,
Kummer, Lee, Creaghead, and Moore (1995) examined 26 children whose incisor teeth had
to be extracted before age 5 years. At age 8 to 10 years, the speech sound production skills of
these children were not significantly different from those of an age-matched group of
children without the premature extractions. However, Pahkala, Laine, and Lammi (1991)
reported that earlier appearance of the permanent teeth was associated with a decreased
occurrence of SSDs in a group of children acquiring Finnish.

Overall, although dental status may be a crucial factor in speech sound productions for some
children, it does not appear to be significant for most. This is consistent with conclusions
from reviews by Johnson and Sandy (1999) and by Hassan, Naini, and Gill (2007). Many
children appear to be able to adapt to abnormal dental relationships or atypical dental
development.

Tongue
The tongue is generally considered the most important articulator for speech production.
Tongue movements during speech production include tip elevation, grooving, and protrusion.
The tongue is relatively short at birth and grows longer and thinner at the tip with age.

Ankyloglossia, or tongue-tie, is a term used to describe a restricted lingual frenum (sometimes

called the frenulum). According to Hong, Lago, Seargeant, Pellman, Magit, and Pransky
(2010), there is no consensus as to the precise definition of the term. Recently, specific
protocols for evaluating it have been proposed (Marchesan, 2012; Martinelli, Marchesan, and
Berretin- Felix, 2012). Kummer (2009) noted that clinically, it is usually defined as the
inability to protrude the tip of the tongue past the front teeth. A review by Segal, Stephenson,
Dawes, and Feldman (2007) indicated that prevalence estimates for ankyloglossia range from
4.2 to 10.7 percent of the population. The variability in these estimates is likely related to
differences in definitions for ankyloglossia .

At one time, it was commonly assumed that an infant or child with ankyloglossia should have
his or her frenum clipped to allow greater freedom of tongue movement and better
articulation of tongue tip sounds, and frenectomies (clipping of the frenum of the tongue)
were performed relatively often. However, an early study by McEnery and Gaines (1941)
recommended against surgery for ankyloglossia because of the possibility of hemorrhages,
infections, and scar tissue. Advances in surgical procedures have likely reduced such risks in
recent years (Mettias, O’Brien, Khatwa, Nasrallah, and Doddi, 2013).
Fletcher and Meldrum (1968) reported in a study of 20 sixth-grade children with uncorrected
tongue-tie, those participants with restricted lingual movement tended to have more
articulation errors than a similar group with greater lingual movement. The possibility of
some relationship between frenum length and speech sound problems is supported by a study
of 200 children aged 6 to 12 years. Ruffoli and colleagues (2005) classified the severity of
ankyloglossia based on frenum length and reported “a relationship between the presence of
speech anomalies and a decreased mobility of the tongue, but only for those subjects whose
frenulum length resulted in moderate or severe levels of ankyloglossia”

Hard Palate
Variations in hard palate dimensions relative to speech have also received some study.
Brunner, Fuchs, and Perrier (2009) examined palatal shapes and acoustic output from 32
adult speakers with normal speech representing five different languages and found that those
with flat-shaped palates showed less variability in tongue height than those with dome-shaped
palates. Despite this finding, both groups showed similar acoustic variability in their
production of vowels, suggesting that compensation for different palatal shapes is quite
possible for normal speakers. On the other hand, differences were noted in a study of Arabic
speakers by Alfwaress and colleagues (2015). They compared 30 individuals aged 15 to 20
years with a consistent substitution of /j/ for the Arabic trilled /r/ against an age-matched
control group of 30 speakers with no errors. The experimental group had significantly shorter
maxillary length and dental arch lengths as well as narrower intercanine widths compared to
the control group.

Removal of any part of the maxilla has the potential to create a serious problem for the
speaker because it may result in a situation similar to a congenital cleft of the palate where air
escapes through the nose. This may lead to excessive nasality during speech as well as
difficulty with the production of obstruent consonants (stops, fricatives, and affricates).
Medical intervention is often quite successful in terms of speech improvement. In a review of
96 patients who underwent surgical reconstruction, Cordeiro and Chen (2012) reported that
84 percent had normal or “near normal” speech outcomes. Likewise, the use of prostheses
such as obturators to fill in the missing structure has been shown to significantly improve
overall intelligibility to near normal in many cases (Sullivan et al., 2002).

Oral Sensory Function

Oral sensory feedback plays a role in the development and ongoing monitoring of articulatory
gestures, and thus the relationship between oral sensory function and speech sound
productions has been of interest. Some treatment approaches include the practice of calling
the client’s attention to sensory cues. Bordon (1984) indicated the need for awareness of
kinesthesis (sense of movement) and proprioception (position) during therapy. Almost any
phonetic placement technique used to teach speech sounds typically includes a description of
articulatory contacts and movements necessary for the production of the target speech
sound(s).

The investigation of somesthesis (sense of movement, position, touch, and awareness of

muscle tension) has focused on (1) overall oral sensitivity, (2) temporary sensory deprivation
during oral sensory anesthetization (nerve block anesthesia) to determine the effect of sensory
deprivation on speech production, and (3) assessment of oral sensory perception such as two-
point discrimination or oral form discrimination to see whether such sensory perception was
related to articulatory skill. Considerable research has been conducted in this area.

Childhood apraxia of speech (CAS) is a motor speech disorder. Children with CAS have
problems saying sounds, syllables, and words. This is not because of muscle weakness or
paralysis. The brain has problems planning to move the body parts (e.g., lips, jaw, tongue)
needed for speech. The child knows what he or she wants to say, but the brain has difficulty
coordinating the muscle movements necessary to say those words.

Dysarthria is a motor speech disorder. The muscles of the mouth, face, and respiratory
system may become weak, move slowly, or not move at all after a stroke or other brain
injury. The type and severity of dysarthria depend on which area of the nervous system is
affected. Some causes of dysarthria include stroke, head injury, cerebral palsy, and muscular
dystrophy.

Oromyofunctional Disorder (OMD)/ Tounge Thrust causes the tongue to move forward in
an exaggerated way during swallowing and/or speech. The tongue may lie too far forward
during rest or may protrude between the upper and lower teeth during speech and
swallowing. Some children with OMD produce sounds incorrectly, while in others speech
may not be affected at all. OMD most often causes sounds produced with the tongue tip to
sound differently. For example, the child may say "thumb" instead of some because the
tongue tip is too far forward.

At birth, all infants are tongue thrusters because the tongue fills the oral cavity, making
tongue fronting obligatory. Sometime later, the anterior tongue-gums/teeth seal during
swallowing is replaced with a superior tongue-palate seal. There is some debate about when
most children make this change. Hanson (1988b) suggested that this happens by age 5 years.
A review of published studies by Lebrun (1985), however, concluded that “tongue thrust
swallowing is the rule rather than the exception in children under 10 years of age” (p. 307).
This is supported by Bertolini and Paschoal (2001), who examined a random sample of 100
Brazilian children aged 7 to 9 years and reported that only 24 percent of them presented with
a normal adult like swallow.

Tongue thrust during swallow and/or tongue fronting at rest can usually be identified by
visual inspection. Mason (1988, 2011) has pointed out that two types of tongue fronting
should be differentiated. The first is described as a habit and is seen in the absence of any
abnormal oral structures. The second is obligatory and may involve factors such as airway
obstruction or enlarged tonsils, with tongue thrusting being a necessary adaptation to
maintain the size of the airway to pass food during swallow.