Phonetics

Articulatory Phonetics
We will spend the next few days studying articulatory phonetic: what is involved in the actual
movement of various parts of the vocal tract during speech. (Use transparancy to discuss organs of
speech; oral, pharyngeal and nasal cavities; articulators, lungs and diaphragm).
All speech sounds are made in this area. None are made outside of it (such as by stomping, hand
clapping, snapping of fingers, farting, etc.)
Theoretically, any sound could be used as a speech sound provided the human vocal tract is
capable of producing it and the human ear capable of hearing it. Actually only a few hundred
different sounds or types of sounds occur in languages known to exist today, considerably fewer
than the vocal tract is capable of producing.
Thus, all speech sounds result from air being somehow obstructed or modified within the vocal
tract. This involves 3 processes working together:
a) the airstream process--the source of air used in making the sound.
b) the phonation process--the behavior of the vocal cords in the glottis during the production of the
sound.
c) the oro-nasal process--the modification of that flow of air in the vocal track (from the glottis to the
lips and nose).
Let's discuss the airstream process first.
The airstream process
The first major way to categorize sounds according to phonetic features is by the source of air.
Where does the air come from that is modified by the vocal organs? Languages can use any of three
airstream mechanisms to produce sounds.
One airstream mechanism is by far the most important for producing sounds in the world's
languages. Most sounds in the world's languages are produced by manipulating air coming into the
vocal tract as it is being exhaled by the lungs, a method referred to as the pulmonic egressive
airstream mechanism. Sounds made by manipulating air as it is exhaled from the lungs are called
pulmonic egressive sounds. Virtually all sounds in English and other European languages are
produced by manipulating exhaled air. And most sounds in other languages are also pulmonic
egressive.
There is another variety of this pulmonic airstream mechanism. Inhaled air can also be modified
to produce speech sounds. This actually occurs in a few rare and special cases, such as in Tsou, an
aboriginal language of Taiwan, which has inhaled [f] and [h] ([h5/˝ps˝] ashes; [f5/tsuju], egg). Such
sounds are called pulmonic ingressive sounds, and the airstream mechanism for making such sounds
is called the ingressive rather than the egressive version of the pulmonic airstream mechanism.
Perhaps because it is physiologically harder to slow down an inhalation than an exhalation, pulmonic
ingressive sounds are extremely rare.
The majority of the sounds in all languages of the world are pulmonic egressive sounds.
However, in addition to using air being actively exhaled (or inhaled), two other airstream
mechanisms are used to produce some of the sounds in some of the world's languages.
1) To understand the second airstream mechanism, the glottalic airstream mechanism, let's first
look at a special pulmonic egressive sound, the glottal stop. Air being exhaled from the lungs may be
stopped in the throat by a closure of the glottis. This trapping of air by the glottis is called a glottal
stop. English actually has a glottal stop in certain exclamations: [u?ow], u?u], [a?a], and in certain
dialectical pronunciations: [bottle]. The IPA renders the glottal stop as a question mark without the
period.
The glottal stop itself is an example of a pulmonic egressive sound, since air from the lungs is
being stopped. However, the glottis can be closed immediately before the production of certain
other sounds, trapping a pocket of air in the vocal tract. If this reservoir of stationary air is then
manipulated in the production of a sound it yields another type of airstream mechanism, the
glottalic airstream mechanism. Here's how it works. First, the vocal cords completely close so that
for a brief moment no air escapes from the lungs and air is compressed in the throat (pharynx).
If the closed glottis is raised to push the air up and outward, an ejective consonant is produced.
The air is forced into the vocal tract and there manipulated by the organs of speech. Compare
glottalized vs. non-glottalized [k] in Georgian. Ejectives are found in the languages of the Caucasus
mountains, among many Native American languages, and among the Afroasiatic languages of north
Africa (Hausa, Amharic).
If the closed glottis is lowered to create a small vacuum in the mouth, an implosive consonant is
produced. The lowering glottis acts like the downward movement of a piston to create a brief
rarification of the air in the vocal tract. When the stricture in the mouth is released air moves into
the mouth. Swahili has three implosives: [b], [d], [g]. Implosives occur mostly in languages of east
Africa, in several Amerindian languages and in some IE languages of northern India. (Compare the
difference between implosives, using the glottalic airstream mechanism, and ingressives, which use
inhaled air.)
The third and final airstream mechanism used by human language is confined to certain
languages of southwest Africa. It is called the velaric airstream mechanism. There is regular oral
articulation, while the back of tongue seals off air from the lungs and creates a relative vacuum. Air
in the mouth is rarified by backward and downward movement of the tongue. When the stricture is
released the air rushes in, creating a click. Although we think of such sounds as exotic, English uses a
few of them for quasi-linguistic sound gestures: 'grandmother's kiss' (bilabial click), encouraging a
horse (lateral click), tisk-tisk (actually a dental or alveolar click). Some Khoisan languages have over a
dozen clicks. (release of click can be supplemented by additional features: aspirated, nasal/ non-
nasal). One Khoisan language !Xung has 48 different click sounds. A few of the Bantu languages of
South Africa, such as Zulu, have clicks; presumably, these sounds were borrowed from the San
(Bushmen) and Khoikhoi (Hottentot) peoples who originally lived throughout all southern Africa.
Zulu and the other Bantu languages that use clicks spell them with the letters c, x, q. (cf. the name of
the tribe Xhosa). Notice that clicks stop up the air only in the oral cavity; pulmonic air continues
through the nose (one can produce a nasal hum while producing clicks).
For the sake of completeness, it should be said that at least one other airstream mechanism
could possibly be used for producing sounds in human language. A puff of air could be trapped in
either cheek, then released to be manipulated by the speech organs. This is the airstream
mechanism employed by the Walt Disney character Donand Duck and could be called the buccal
airstream mechanism. So far as we know, Donald Duck is unique in using it. And no language uses a
gastric airstream mechanism, which would be modifying air burped up from the stomach.
The phonation process
The vocal cords can be in one of several positions during the production of a sound. The muscles
of the vocal cords in the glottis can behave in various ways that affect the sound. The effect of this
series of vocal cord states is called the phonation process.
Voicing. Vocal cords can be narrowed along their entire length so that they vibrate as the air
passes through them. All English vowels are voiced. Voiceless vowels also occur but are far rarer
than voiceless consonants are much more common than voiceless vowels. Voiceless vowels usually
occur between voiceless consonants, as in Japanese. No language has only voiceless vowels; a
language has either only voiced vowels or voiced and a few voiceless vowels.
There are also several other vocal cord states that are used to modify sound in the world's
languages. None is used as a regular feature of English.
Laryngealization. The posterior (artenoid) portion of the vocal cords can be closed to produce a
laryngealized or creaky sound. This doesn't play a meaningful role in English phonology, althoght we
might use a creaky voice to imitate an old witch when reading fairy tales. Some languages of
Southeast Asia and Africa have creaky vowels and consonants, as in Margi, a Nigerian language: ja to
give birth/ laryngealized ja thigh; or in Lango a Nilotic language: man this/ laryngealized man
testicles.
Murmur. The anterior (ligamental) portion of the vocal cords can be closed, with the vocal cords
vibrating. This produces murmured or breathy sounds. Murmured or breathy vowels occur in some
languages of Southeast Asia. We make murmured sounds to imitate the Darth Vader voice. In many
Indo-European languages of India the stop consonants have a murmured release; in other words the
anterior portion of the vocal cords remain closed after the stop has been produced during part of
the time the vowel is pronounced: bh, dh, gh, Buddha.
Whisper. A similar vocal cord state is used to produce the whisper. The vocal chords are
narrowed but not vibrated, narrowing is more complete at the anterior end, less so at the posterior
end. Whispered sounds do not contrast with non-whispered sounds to produce differences of
meaning in any known language, but the whispered voice is common as a speech variant across
languages. There is no IPA symbol for a whispered sound.
The oro-nasal process
Regardless of which airstream mechanism is used, speech sounds are produced when the moving
air is somehow obstructed within the vocal tract. The vocal tract consists of three joined cavities:
the oral cavity, the nasal cavity, and the pharyngeal cavity. The surfaces and boundaries of these
cavities are known as the organs of speech. What happens to the air within these cavities is known
as the oro-nasal process.
Let's talk first about the oro-nasal process in the articulation, or production, of consonants.
There are two major ways to classify the activity of the speech organs in the production of
consonants: place of articulation and manner of articulation.
Consonantal place of articulation
The place of articulation is defined in terms of two articulators These may be: lips, teeth, alveolar
ridge, tongue tip (apex), tongue blade (laminus), or back of the tongue (dorsum), hard palate, soft
palate (velum), uvula, glottis, pharynx, glottis (the "voice box," or cartilaginous structure where the
vocal cords are housed).
bilabial [b, p, m, w]
labiodental, [f, v]
interdental, [T, D]
(apico)-dental the tip (or apex) of the tongue and the back teeth: Spanish [t, d, s, z].
alveolar (apico-or lamino-) tongue and alveolar ridge (compare 'ten' vs. 'tenth'). Examples: English
[t, d, s, z]
postalveolar or palatoalveolar (apico- or lamino-) (English [S]/[Z]),
retroflex (apico-palatal) bottom of the tongue tip and palate, or alveolar ridge: Midwest English
word-initial [«] and [t, d, n] in many Dravidian languages and many languages of Australia.
palatal (apico- or lamino-) (English [j]), [S]/[Z] in many languages
velar or dorso-velar Eng. [k, g, N] German [x] Greek [V]
uvular French [R], also found in many German dialects.
pharyngeal (constriction of the sides of the throat),
glottal (glottal stop, the vocal chords are the two articulators. cf. A-ha, bottle, Cockney English 'ave).
[h] is a glottalic fricative sound.
Manner of articulation
Now let's look at the ways that moving air can be blocked and modified by various speech
organs. There are several methods of modifying air when producing a consonant, and these
methods are called manners of articulation. We have already examined where the air is blocked.
Now let's look at how the air can be blocked.
1) Sounds that completely stop the stream of exhaled air are called plosives: [d], [t], [b], [p], and [g],
[k], glottal stop. Another word for plosive is stop (nasals are also stops, however, since the air is
stopped in the oral cavity during their production).
2) Sound produced by a near complete stoppage of air are called fricatives: [s], [z], [f], [v], [T], [D],
[x], [V], [h], pharyngeals.
3) Sometimes a plosive and a fricative will occur together as a single, composite sound called an
affricate: [tS], [ts], [dz], [dZ], [pf].
4) All other types of continuant are produced by relatively slight constriction of the oral cavity and
are called approximants. Approximants are those sounds that do not show the same high degree of
constriction as fricatives but are more constricted than are vowels. During the production of an
approximant, the air flow is smooth rather than turbulent. There are four types of approximants.
a) The glottis is slightly constricted to produce [h], a glottalic approximant.
b) If slight stricture occurs between the roof of the mouth and the tongue a palatal glide is produced
[j]. If the constriction is between the two lips, a labiovelar glide is produced. The glides [j] and [w]
are also called semivowels, since they are close to vowels in degree of blockage.
c) If the stricture is in the middle of the mouth, and the air flows out around the sides of the tongue,
a lateral is produced. Laterals, or lateral approximants, are the various l-sounds that occur in
language. In terms of phonetic features, l-sounds are + lateral, while all other sounds are + central.
d) The third type of approximant includes any of the various R-sounds that are not characterized by a
flapping or trilling: alveolar and retroflex approximants. This includes the American English r
(symbolized in the IPA by an upside down [®], but we will use the symbol [r]).
It the air flow is obstructed only for a brief moment by the touch of the tongue tip against the
teeth or alveolar ridge, a tap, or tapped [|] is produced: cf. Am Engl ladder; British Engl. very.
If the tongue tip is actually set in motion by the flow of air so that is vibrates once, a flap or
flapped r is produced: this is the sound of the Spanish single r. Flaps can even be labio-dental, as in
one African language, Margi, spoken in Northern Nigeria.
If the air flow is set into turbulence several times in quick succession, a trill is produced. Trills
may be alveolar, produced by the apex of the tongue: the Spanish double rr perro; the French uvular
[R]: de rien; Bilabial trills [B] have been found to occur in two languages of New Guinea: mBulei = rat
in Titan.
Degree of blockage
In discussing manner of articulation, it is also relevant to classify consonants according to the
total degree of blockage. Remember that all sounds that involve significant stoppage of air in the
vocal tract are known as consonants (this distinguishes them from vowel, which are produced by
very little blockage of the airstream). Consonants differ in the manner as well as the degree to which
the airstream is blocked. While we are discussing the manner in which air is blocked, we can also
classify sounds as to the degree of blockage.
Plosives, fricatives, and affricates are all sounds made by nearly complete or complete blockage
of the airstream. For this reason they are known collectively as obstruents.
Consonants produced by less blockage of the airstream are called sonorants. With little blockage
the airstream flows out smoothly, with relatively little turbulence. There are several types of
sonorants, depending upon where the airstream is blocked in the vocal tract and how air flows
around the impediment.
Sonorants are produced using the following manners of articulation:
1) Sounds produced by stoppage at the vocal tract and release through the nose are called
nasals. The nasals [m], [n], and [ng] have the same point of articulation as the plosives [d], [b], and
[g], except that the velum rises and air passes freely through the nose during their production; the
oral stoppage is not released. Plosives are also known as oral stops, to distinguish them from the
nasal stops. All known languages have at least one nasal except for several Salishan languages
spoken around the Puget Sound (including Snohomish)
The division of consonants into obstruents and sonorants is not absolute. In some languages,
such as Russian, the glide [j] is produced by much more blockage and could almost as easily be called
a fricative.
Also, some l- and r- sounds are definitely fricatives rather than approximants. Some types of l- and r-
sounds are characterized by a highly turbulent flow of air over the tongue, even more than for the
trilled [r].
In Czech, besides the regular flapped r, there is a strident trilled and tensed [r] which is much more
like an obstruent than a sonorant. Navaho has a fricative [tl] which is definitely more fricative than
approximant.
Because all l- and r- sounds (whether approximant and non-approximant) are produced in the
same way--with the the air flowing around or over the tongue like water moving around a solid
object--there is a collective term for these sounds: liquids. Liquids and nasals are sometimes able to
carry a syllable. Syllabic r and l occur in Czech and Slovak: StrC prst skrz krk. The IPA uses a dot
beneath them to signify syllabicity.
Review of some articulatory terminology
Stops (air completely blocked in the oral cavity)-nasal and oral (plosives).
Obstruents (high degree of blockage) include: plosives, fricatives, and affricates.
Sonorants (low degree of blockage)include: nasals and approximants.
Approximants (the lowest degree of blockage) include: the glottal approximant [h], the glides [j] and
[w], and most l- and r-sounds.
Liquid: all l- and r- sounds, whether fricative or approximant.
Go over the handout on the English sound system (up to the vowel questions)
Secondary articulation features in consonants
Lack of release. Plosives may not be released fully when pronounced at the end of words. This
occurs with English [p} b}, t}, d}, k}, g}]
Length. Consonants may be relatively long or short. Long consonants and vowels are common
throughout the world, cf. Finnish, Russian: zhech/szhech to burn; Italian: pizza, spaghetti. Long or
double consonants are also known as geminate consonants and are indicated in the IPA by the
symbol […]. Geminate plosives and affricates are also known as delayed release consonants.
Nasal release. In certain African languages: [dn].
Palatalization. Concomitant raising of the blade of the tongue toward the palate: cannon/canyon,
do/dew; common among the sounds of Russian and other East-European languages: mat/mat'
luk/lyuk. There are thousands of such doublets in Russian.
Labialization. Concomitant lip rounding cf. sh in shoe vs. she (IPA uses a superscript w to transcribe
labialization) In some languages of Africa the constrast between labialized and non-labialized sounds
signal differences in meaning, as in Twi: ofa´ he finds/ ofwa´ snail.
Velarization. The dorsum of the tongue is raised slightly. Compare the l in wall, all (velarized or
dark l) vs. like, land (continental or light l). The glide [w] is also slightly velarized. In Russian all non-
palatalized consonants are velarized.
Pharyngealization. Concomitant constriction of throat. Afroasiatic languages of north Africa, such

as Berber: zurn they are fat/ zghurn they made a pilgrimage.
Tensing. The muscles of the articulators can be or lax when pronouncing a sound. Cf. Korean
stops: Lax unvoiced p, lax voiced b, tense unvoiced pp. Tensing also occurs in the vocal cords during
the production of tensed stops, so tenseness could also have been listed under phonation processes.
The oro-nasal process in vowels
Go over part D on the handout now; go over part E during the lecture on vowels.
Sounds produced by no blockage other than a slight raising of the tongue or a narrowing of the
lips are called vowels. Vowels differ in several phonetic features. Three are most important.
1) which part of the tongue is raised: front/central/back (mention the difference between the [a] of
father in English dialects.)
2) how high the tongue is raised: high, middle, low

3) whether or not the lips are rounded.
Several other features distinguish vowels on a more limited basis across the world's languages.
4) whether or not the tongue is tense (bunched up; in English, diphthongalized) or lax (relaxed and
slightly shorter, closer to the center of the oral cavity). In English, stressed lax vowels only occur in
closed syllables, tense vowels occur in either open or closed syllables:
Tense= by, too, way, so, ma
Lax= bit, but, full, get, oil/or, and, (also, hard, in New England pronunciation), as well as schwa: sofa
5) nasal vs. non-nasal (describe the velum and oro-nasal process)
6) long vs. short. Many languages have a distinction between short and long vowels: Hawaiian,
Navajo, etc. Estonian has three vowel lengths; in English vowels are slightly longer before voiced
consonants and slightly shorter before voiceless.
7) Different phonation processes involving the vocal cords produce several featural contrasts in
vowels as in consonants: voiced/voiceless (whispered) laryngealized (creaky), murmured (breathy).
There are three diphthongs in General American English
[aU] house [aI] like, [OI] oil, boy, toy
Diphthongs in other American dialects.

Phonetics
Dr. C. George Boeree
Shippensburg University
Phonetics is the study of the sounds of language. These sounds are called phonemes. There are
literally hundreds of them used in different languages. Even a single language like English requires
us to distinguish about 40! The key word here is distinguish. We actually make much finer
discriminations among sounds, but English only requires 40. The other discriminations are what lets
us detect the differences in accents and dialects, identify individuals, and differentiate tiny nuances
of speech that indicate things beyond the obvious meanings of the words.
The Vocal Tract
In order to study the sounds of language, we first need to study the vocal tract. Speech starts with
the lungs, which push air out and pull it in. The original purpose was, of course, to get oxygen and
eliminate carbon dioxide. But it is also essential for speech. There are phonemes that are little more
than breathing: the h for example.
Next, we have the larynx, or voice box. It sits at the juncture of the trachea or windpipe coming up
from the lungs and the esophagous coming up from the stomach. In the larynx, we have an opening
called the glottis, an epiglottis which covers the glottis when we are swallowing, and the vocal cords.
The vocal cords consist of two flaps of mucous membrane stretched across the glottis, as in this
photograph:
The vocal cords can be tightened and loosened and can vibrate when air is forced past them,
creating sound. Some phonemes use that sound, and are called voiced. Examples include the
vowels (a, e, i, o, and u, for example) and some of the consonants (m, l, and r, for example). Other
phonemes do not involve the vocal cords, such as the consonants h, t, or s, and so are called
unvoiced.
The area above the glottis is called the pharynx, or upper throat. It can be tightened to make
phryngeal consonants. English doesn’t have any of these, but they sound like when you try to get a
piece of food back up out of your throat.
At the top of the throat is the opening to the nasal passages (called the nasopharynx, in case you are
interested). When we allow air to pass into the nose while speaking, the sounds we make are called
nasal. Examples include m, n, and the ng sound of sing.
Much of the action during speech occurs in the mouth, of course, especially involving the interaction
of the tongue with the roof of the mouth. The roof of the mouth has several specific areas: At the
very back, just before the nasal passage, is that little bag called the uvula. Its major function seems
to be moisturizing the air and making certain sounds called, obviously, uvular. The best known is the
kind of r pronounced in the back of the mouth by some French and German speakers. Uvular,
pharyngeal, and glottal sounds are often refered to as gutterals.
Next, we have the soft palate, called the velum. If you turn your tongue back as far as it will go and
press up, you can feel how soft it is. When you say k or g, you are using the velum, so they are called
velar consonants.
Further forward is the hard palate. Quite a few consonants are made using the hard palate, such as
s, sh, n, and l, and are called palatals. Just behind the teeth is the dental ridge or alveolus. Here is
where many of us make our t’s and d’s -- alveolar consonants.
At the very outer edge of the mouth we have the teeth and the lips. Dental consonants are made by
touching the tongue to the teeth. In English, we make the two th sounds like this. Note that one of
these is voiced (the th in the) and one is unvoiced (the th in thin).
At the lips we can make several sounds as well. The simplest, perhaps, are the bilabial sounds, made
by holding the lips together and then releasing the sound, such as p and b, or by keeping them
together and releasing the air through the nose, making the bilabial nasal m. We can also use the
upper teeth with the lower lip, for labiodental sounds. This is how we make an f, for example.
Incidentally, we also have two names for the parts of the tongue used with these various parts of the
mouth: The front edge is called the corona, and the back is called the dorsum. Sounds like t, th, and
s are made with the corona, while k, g, and ng are made with the dorsum.
Consonants
Consonants are sounds which involve full or partial blocking of airflow. In English, the consonants
are p, b, t, d, ch, j, k, g, f, v, th, dh, s, z, sh, zh, m, n, ng, l, r, w, and y. They are classified in a number
of different ways, depending on the vocal tract details we just discussed.
1. Stops, also known as plosives. The air is blocked for a moment, then released. In English, they
are p, b, t, d, k, and g.
a. Bilabial plosives: p (unvoiced) and b (voiced)
b. Alveolar plosives: t (unvoiced) and d (voiced)
c. Velar plosives: k (unvoiced) and g (voiced)
In other languages, we find labiodental, palatal, uvular, pharyngeal, and glottal plosives as well, and
retroflex plosives, which involve reaching back to the palate with the corona of the tongue.
In many languages, plosives may be followed by aspiration, that is, by a breathy sound like an h. In
Chinese, for example, there is a distinction between a p pronounced crisply and an aspirated p. We
use both in English (pit vs poo), but it isn’t a distinction that separates one meaning from another.
2. Fricatives involve a slightly resisted flow of air. In English, these include f, v, th, dh, s, z, sh, zh,
and h.
a. Labiodental fricatives: f (unvoiced) and v (voiced)

b. Dental fricatives: th (as in thin -- unvoiced) and dh (as in the -- voiced)
c. Alveolar fricatives: s (unvoiced) and z (voiced)
d. Palatal fricatives: sh (unvoiced) and zh (like the s in vision -- voiced)
e. Glottal fricative: h (unvoiced)
3. Affricates are sounds that involve a plosive followed immediately by a fricative at the same
location. In English, we have ch (unvoiced) and j (voiced). Many consider these as blends: t-sh and
d-zh.
4. Nasals are sounds made with air passing through the nose. In English, these are m, n, and ng.
a. Bilabial nasal: m
b. Alveolar nasal: n
c. Velar nasal: ng
5. Liquids are sounds with very little air resistance. In English, we have l and r, which are both
alveolar, but differ in the shape of the tongue. For l, we touch the tip to the ridge of the teeth and
let the air go around both sides. For the r, we almost block the air on both sides and let it through at
the top. Note that there are many variations of l and r in other languages and even within English
itself!
6. Semivowels are sounds that are, as the name implies, very nearly vowels. In English, we have w
and y, which you can see are a lot like vowels such as oo and ee, but with the lips almost closed for w
(a bilabial) and the tongue almost touching the palate for y (a palatal). They are also called glides,
since they normally “glide” into or out of vowel positions (as in woo, yeah, ow, and oy).
In many languages, such as Russian, there is a whole set of palatalized consonants, which means
they are followed by a y before the vowel. This is also called an on-glide.
Vowels
There are about 14 vowels in English. They are the ones found in these words: beet, bit, bait, bet,
bat, car, pot (in British English), bought, boat, book, boot, bird, but, and the a in ago. There are also
three diphthongs or double vowels: bite, cow, and boy. Diphthongs involve off-glides.: You can hear
the y in bite and boy, and the w in cow. Actually, the sounds in bait and boat are also diphthongs
(with y and w off-glides, respectively), but the first parts of the diphthongs are different from the
nearby sounds in bet and bought.
Vowels are classified in three dimensions:
1. The height of the tongue in the mouth -- low, mid, or high
high are beet, bit, boot, and book
mid are bait, bet, but, boat, bought, bird and a in ago
low are bat, car, and british pot
2. How far forward or backward in the mouth the tongue rises -- front, center, or back
front are beet, bit, bait, bet, and bat
center are but, bird, and a in ago
back are boot, book, boat, bought, and british pot
3. How rounded or unrounded the lips are
the front vowels are unrounded
the center and back vowels are rounded
The rounding idea may seem unnecessary until you realize that many languages have rounded front
vowels -- such as the German ü and ö and the French u and eu -- and many have unrounded back
vowels -- such as the Japanese u. If you took French in high school, you may remember the teacher
telling you to say tea with your lips rounded for French tu. It isn’t the best way to teach the sound,
but it shows you where it fits in the scheme.
There is one more dimension that doesn’t have much to do with English, but is essential in many
languages, and that is vowel length. Vowels can be short or long, and it is just a matter of how long
you continue the sound. The closest we get in English is that the vowel in beet is longer (as well as
higher) than the vowel in bit. The same goes for boot and book, and for caught and the British pot.
In some languages, such as French, there is another quality to vowels, and that is nasality. Some
vowels are pronounced with airflow through the nose as well as the mouth. Originally, these were
simply vowels followed by nasal consonants. But over time, the French blended the vowels and the
nasals into one unit.
IPA
Over the years, linguists have developed a complex chart of phonemes for transcribing the sounds of
all languages around the world. It is called the International Phonetic Alphabet, and much of it is in
the charts below. If you get question marks or little squares, that means your computer isn't equipt
with unicode, in which case you will have to look elsewhere for charts like this.
Consonants
bilabial labio-
dental dental
alveolar
retroflex
palato-
alveolar
palatal
velar
uvular
glottal
plosives
uv.
v.
ɢ
fricatives uv.
χ h
v.
nasals
n
ɳ
semivowels
uv.
v.
j
rolled/
trilled
tapped/
flapped
ɽ
laterals
lateral
-fricatives
uv.
v.
ɮ
Vowels
front
central
back
high
i y
ɨ ʉ
ɯ u
ɪ ʏ
ʊ
middle
e ø
ɜ ə ɵ
ɤ o
ɛ œ
ɐ ʌ
ɔ
low
æ a
α ɒ
Vowel length is marked with a colon after the vowel, e.g. i:
Nasal vowels are shown by placing a tilde over the vowel, e.g. ã
There are dozens more phonemes beyond the ones in the preceding charts, but one set is
particularly interesting: clicks. Clicks are sounds made by creating a vacuum with the tongue and
then suddenly snapping the tongue away. We use these ourselves, though not as parts of words:
When we “tsk tsk,” when we make clucking sounds, and when we make a click in the side of our
mouths when we tell a horse to get a move on. Clicks are used in the Bushman languages and in the
Bantu languages that had prolonged contact with them. The best known is the Bantu language
Khosa, because of the famous South African singer Miriam Makeba.
Stress and Tones
In many languages around the world, including English, words are differentiated by means of stress.
One syllable is usually given a higher pitch ("up" the musical scale) and sometimes a bit more force.
This is how we differentiate af-fect (as in influence) and af-fect (as in emotion), for example. In
longer words, there may even be a second semi-stressed syllable, as in math-e-mat-ics: mat has the
primary stress, math has the secondary stress. In IPA, primary stress is indicated by preceding the
syllable with a high vertical line, secondary with a low vertical line.
Note that even when we do not need to use stress to differentiate words, we use it anyway.
Sometimes we can tell where a person is from by how they use stress: insurance is usually stressed
on the sur; southerners stress it on the in. But many languages do not use stress at all. To our ears,
they sound rather monotone.
Some other languages use dynamic stress or tones. Swedish is an example. This means that there is
actual change of stress within syllables. In Swedish, there are two tones:
The single tone starts high and goes down. If a single toneword has a second syllable, that syllable is
unstressed. Single tone words don’t sound very unusual to English speakers.
The double tone is only found in two syllable words. The first pitch starts in the middle range of
pitch and the second tone starts high and goes down. If there is a third syllable, it is unstressed. The
double tone gives the word a sing-song quality to English speakers.
These tones differentiate many words in Swedish. In the single tone, anden, tomten, biten, and
slaget mean the duck, the building, the bit, and the battle, respectively. In the double tone, they
mean the spirit, the elf, bitten, and beaten, respectively! English uses dynamic stress or tones also,
but only one whole phrases, such as the rising pitch at the end of questions.
But many languages in Africa and Asia use far more complex tones, and in fact are called tonal
languages. Chinese is the best known example. Although words are often more than one syllable in
length, each syllable has a particular meaning. And Chinese uses a very limitied number of
phonemes. It is the tones that prevent every syllable from having hundreds of meanings. There are
five of them:
Tone 1 -- high and level (as in hey!)
Tone 2 -- middle, then rising (as in was it you?)
Tone 3 -- middle, falling, then rising (as in mom!? spoken by a whining teenager)
Tone 4 -- high, then falling (as in Tom spoken by a disappointed mom)
For example, the simple syllable yi can mean many different things. With tone 1 it means cloth, with
tone 2 it means to suspect, with tone 3 it means chair, and with tone 4 it means meaning. The
syllable wu means house, none, five, and fog, respectively. And ma means mother, hemp, horse,
and scold. In the official transcription, the four tones are indicated by ¯, ´, ˇ, and `.
Thai has five tones: high, middle, low, rising, and falling. The African language Katamba has six,
adding a falling, then rising tone. Cantonese has nine tones: high long, high short, middle long,
middle short, low long, low short, high falling, middle falling, and low rising.
We don't know how tonal languages arise. Many believe that it has to do with phonemes or even
whole syllables that have been lost, but influenced the pronounciation anyway. But this makes it
hard to explain that Cantonese, which has kept many old consonant endings, has nine tones, while
its relative Mandarin Chinese, which has lost those endings, only has four. Of course a linguist from
China might ask how non-tonal languages lost their tones!
One interesting tidbit is that tonality often crosses family lines. In Asia, for example, tonality is found
in Chinese, Thai, and Vietnamese -- which are unrelated languages. On the other hand, Tibetan and
Burmese are related to Chinese, but are not tonal; neither is Khmer, a relative of Vietnamese. Most
African languages are tonal, but Swahili is not. Hausa, spoken in Nigeria, is tonal, but relatives like
Arabic are not. It is possible that one or another language family influenced others around it, or was
original to an area before being invaded by speakers of another language.
© Copyright 2005, C. George Boeree

Articulatory phonetics
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
Manners of articulation
Obstruent
Stop
Affricate
Fricative
Sibilant
Sonorant
Nasal
Flap/Tap
Approximant
Liquid
Vowel
Semivowel
Lateral
Trill
Airstreams
Pulmonic
Ejective
Implosive
Lingual (clicks)
Linguo-pulmonic
Linguo-ejective
Related
Alliteration
Assonance
Consonance
vte
Places of articulation
Labial
Bilabial
Labial–velar
Labial–coronal
Labiodental
Dentolabial
Bidental
Coronal
Linguolabial
Interdental
Dental
Denti-alveolar
Alveolar
Postalveolar
Palato-alveolar
Retroflex
Dorsal
Postalveolar
Alveolo-palatal
Palatal
Labial–palatal
Velar
Uvular
Uvular–epiglottal
Radical
Pharyngeal
Epiglotto-pharyngeal
Epiglottal
Guttural
Glottal
Peripheral
Tongue shape
Apical
Laminal
Subapical
Lateral
Sulcal
Palatal
Pharyngeal
vte
The field of articulatory phonetics is a subfield of phonetics. In studying articulation, phoneticians

explain how humans produce speech sounds via the interaction of different physiological structures.
Generally, articulatory phonetics is concerned with the transformation of aerodynamic energy into
acoustic energy. Aerodynamic energy refers to the airflow through the vocal tract. Its potential form
is air pressure; its kinetic form is the actual dynamic airflow. Acoustic energy is variation in the air
pressure that can be represented as sound waves, which are then perceived by the human auditory
system as sound.[1]
Contents [hide]
1 Components
2 Initiation
3 The two classes of sounds

3.1 Consonants
3.1.1 Places of articulation
3.1.1.1 Bilabial
3.1.1.2 Labiodental
3.1.1.3 Interdental
3.1.1.4 Alveolar
3.1.1.5 Palatal
3.1.1.6 Velar
3.1.1.7 Uvular
3.1.1.8 Glottal
3.2 Vowels
4 Airflow
5 Sound sources
5.1 Periodic sources
5.1.1 Vocal fold vibration
5.1.1.1 Control of fundamental frequency
6 Experimental techniques
6.1 Palatography
7 See also
8 References
9 External links
Components[edit]
The vocal tract can be viewed through an aerodynamic-biomechanic model that includes three main
components:
air cavities
pistons
air valves
Air cavities are containers of air molecules of specific volumes and masses. The main air cavities
present in the articulatory system are the supraglottal cavity and the subglottal cavity. They are so-
named because the glottis, the openable space between the vocal folds internal to the larynx,
separates the two cavities. The supraglottal cavity or the orinasal cavity is divided into an oral
subcavity (the cavity from the glottis to the lips excluding the nasal cavity) and a nasal subcavity (the
cavity from the velopharyngeal port, which can be closed by raising the velum to the nostrils). The
subglottal cavity consists of the trachea and the lungs. The atmosphere external to the articulatory
stem may also be considered an air cavity whose potential connecting points with respect to the
body are the nostrils and the lips.
Pistons are initiators. The term initiator refers to the fact that they are used to initiate a change in
the volumes of air cavities, and, by Boyle's Law, the corresponding air pressure of the cavity. The
term initiation refers to the change. Since changes in air pressures between connected cavities lead
to airflow between the cavities, initiation is also referred to as an airstream mechanism. The three
pistons present in the articulatory system are the larynx, the tongue body, and the physiological
structures used to manipulate lung volume (in particular, the floor and the walls of the chest). The
lung pistons are used to initiate a pulmonic airstream (found in all human languages). The larynx is
used to initiate the glottalic airstream mechanism by changing the volume of the supraglottal and
subglottal cavities via vertical movement of the larynx (with a closed glottis). Ejectives and implosives
are made with this airstream mechanism. The tongue body creates a velaric airsteam by changing
the pressure within the oral cavity: the tongue body changes the mouth subcavity. Click consonants
use the velaric airstream mechanism. Pistons are controlled by various muscles.
Valves regulate airflow between cavities. Airflow occurs when an air valve is open and there is a
pressure difference between in the connecting cavities. When an air valve is closed, there is no
airflow. The air valves are the vocal folds (the glottis), which regulate between the supraglottal and
subglottal cavities, the velopharyngeal port, which regulates between the oral and nasal cavities, the
tongue, which regulates between the oral cavity and the atmosphere, and the lips, which also
regulate between the oral cavity and the atmosphere. Like the pistons, the air valves are also
controlled by various muscles.
Initiation[edit]
To produce any kind of sound, there must be movement of air. To produce sounds that people today
can interpret as words, the movement of air must pass through the vocal chords, up through the
throat and, into the mouth or nose to then leave the body. Different sounds are formed by different
positions of the mouth—or, as linguists call it, "the oral cavity" (to distinguish it from the nasal
cavity).
The two classes of sounds[edit]

Sounds of all languages fall under two categories: Consonants and Vowels.
Consonants[edit]
Consonants are produced with some form of restriction or closing in the vocal tract that hinders the
air flow from the lungs. Consonants are classified according to where in the vocal tract the airflow
has been restricted. This is also known as the place of articulation.
Places of articulation[edit]
Main article: Place of articulation
Movement of the tongue and lips can create these constrictions and by forming the oral cavity in
different ways, different sounds can be produced.
Bilabial[edit]
When producing a [b], [p] or [m], articulation is done by bringing both lips together.
Labiodental[edit]
[f] and [v] are also used with the lips. They, however, are also articulated by touching the bottom lip
to the upper teeth.
Interdental[edit]
[θ] and [ð] are both spelled as "th". They are pronounced by inserting the tip of the tongue between
the teeth. (θ as in think) (ð as in the)
Alveolar[edit]
[t][d][n][s][z][l][r] are produced in many ways where the tongue is raised towards the alveolar ridge.
[t, d, n] the tongue tip is raised and touches the ridge.
[s, z] the sides of the front of the tongue are raised, but the tip is lowered so that air escapes over it.
[l] the tongue tip is raised while the rest of the tongue remains down, permitting air to escape over
its sides. Hence, [l] is called a lateral sound (âm biên).
[r] [IPA ɹ] curl the tip of tongue back behind the alveolar ridge, or bunch up the top of the tongue
behind the ridge, the air escapes through the central part of the mouth. It is a central liquid.
Palatal[edit]
[ʃ][ʒ][tʃ][dʒ][j] are produced by raising the front part of the tongue to the palate.
Velar[edit]
[k][g][ŋ] are produced by raising the back part of the tongue to the soft palate or the velum.
Uvular[edit]
[ʀ][q][ԍ] these sounds are produced by raising the back of the tongue to the uvula. The 'r' in French
is often a uvular trill (symbolized by [ʀ]). The uvular sounds [q] and [ԍ] occur in Arabic. These do not
normally occur in English.
Glottal[edit]
[h][ʔ] the sound [h] is from the flow of air coming from an open glottis, past the tongue and lips as
they prepare to pronounce a vowel sound, which always follows [h]. if the air is stopped completely
at the glottis by tightly closed vocal chords the sound upon release of the chords is called a glottal
stop [ʔ].
Vowels[edit]
Nasal vowel / Oral vowel
Previous Vowel / Later Vowel
Rounded vowel / Unrounded vowel
Open vowel / Closed vowel
Airflow[edit]
This section requires expansion. (March 2009)
Larynx, anterolateral view
Larynx, superior view (bottom = anterior)
Larynx, lateral view (left = posterior)
For all practical purposes, temperature can be treated as constant in the articulatory system. Thus,
Boyle's Law can usefully be written as the following two equations.
[2]
[3]
What the above equations express is that given an initial pressure and volume at time 1 the product
of these two values will be equal to the product of the pressure and volume at a later time 2. This
means that if there is an increase in the volume of cavity, there will be a corresponding decrease in
pressure of that same cavity, and vice versa. In other words, volume and pressure are inversely
proportional (or negatively correlated) to each other. As applied to a description of the subglottal
cavity, when the lung pistons contract the lungs, the volume of the subglottal cavity decreases while
the subglottal air pressure increases. Conversely, if the lungs are expanded, the pressure decreases.
A situation can be considered where (1) the vocal fold valve is closed separating the supraglottal
cavity from the subglottal cavity, (2) the mouth is open and, therefore, supraglottal air pressure is
equal to atmospheric pressure, and (3) the lungs are contracted resulting in a subglottal pressure
that has increased to a pressure that is greater than atmospheric pressure. If the vocal fold valve is
subsequently opened, the previously two separate cavities become one unified cavity although the
cavities will still be aerodynamically isolated because the glottic valve between them is relatively
small and constrictive. Pascal's Law states that the pressure within a system must be equal
throughout the system. When the subglottal pressure is greater than supraglottal pressure, there is a
pressure inequality in the unified cavity. Since pressure is a force applied to a surface area by
definition and a force is the product of mass and acceleration according to Newton's Second Law of
Motion, the pressure inequality will be resolved by having part of the mass in air molecules found in
the subglottal cavity move to the supraglottal cavity. This movement of mass is airflow. The airflow
will continue until a pressure equilibrium is reached. Similarly, in an ejective consonant with a
glottalic airstream mechanism, the lips or the tongue (i.e., the buccal or lingual valve) are initially
closed and the closed glottis (the laryngeal piston) is raised decreasing the oral cavity volume behind
the valve closure and increasing the pressure compared to the volume and pressure at a resting
state. When the closed valve is opened, airflow will result from the cavity behind the initial closure
outward until intraoral pressure is equal to atmospheric pressure. That is, air will flow from a cavity
of higher pressure to a cavity of lower pressure until the equilibrium point; the pressure as potential
energy is, thus, converted into airflow as kinetic energy.
Sound sources[edit]
Sound sources refer to the conversion of aerodynamic energy into acoustic energy. There are two
main types of sound sources in the articulatory system: periodic (or more precisely semi-periodic)
and aperiodic. A periodic sound source is vocal fold vibration produced at the glottis found in vowels
and voiced consonants. A less common periodic sound source is the vibration of an oral articulator
like the tongue found in alveolar trills. Aperiodic sound sources are the turbulent noise of fricative
consonants and the short-noise burst of plosive releases produced in the oral cavity.
Periodic sources[edit]
Non-vocal fold vibration: 20-40 cycles per second
Vocal fold vibration
Lower limit: 70-80 modal (bass), 30-40 creaky
Upper limit: 1170 (soprano)
Vocal fold vibration[edit]
larynx:
cricoid cartilage
thyroid cartilage
arytenoid cartilage
interarytenoid muscles (fold adduction)
posterior cricoarytenoid muscle (fold abduction)
lateral cricoarytenoid muscle (fold shortening/stiffening)
thyroarytenoid muscle (medial compression/fold stiffening, internal to folds)
cricothyroid muscle (fold lengthening)
hyoid bone
sternothyroid muscle (lowers thyroid)
sternohyoid muscle (lowers hyoid)
stylohyoid muscle (raises hyoid)
digastric muscle (raises hyoid)
Control of fundamental frequency[edit]
This section is empty. You can help by adding to it. (March 2009)
Experimental techniques[edit]
Articulation visualized by Real-time MRI
Plethysmography
Electromyography
Photoglottography
Electrolaryngography
Magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) / Real-time MRI [4]
Radiography
Medical ultrasonography
Electromagnetic articulography
Aerometry
Endoscopy
Videokymography
Palatography[edit]
In order to understand how sounds are made, experimental procedures are often adopted.
Palatography is one of the oldest instrumental phonetic techniques used to record data regarding
articulators.[5] In traditional, static palatography, a speaker's palate is coated with a dark powder.
The speaker then produces a word, usually with a single consonant. The tongue wipes away some of
the powder at the place of articulation. The experimenter can then use a mirror to photograph the
entire upper surface of the speaker's mouth. This photograph, in which the place of articulation can
be seen as the area where the powder has been removed, is called a palatogram.[6]
Technology has since made possible electropalatography (or EPG). In order to collect EPG data, the
speaker is fitted with a special prosthetic palate, which contains a number of electrodes. The way in
which the electrodes are "contacted" by the tongue during speech provides phoneticians with
important information, such as how much of the palate is contacted in different speech sounds, or
which regions of the palate are contacted, or what the duration of the contact is.
See also[edit]
List of phonetics topics
Place of articulation
Basis of articulation
Vowel
Consonant
International Phonetic Alphabet
References[edit]
Jump up ^ Note that although sound is just air pressure variations, the variations must be at a high
enough rate to be perceived as sound. If the variation is too slow, it will be inaudible.
Jump up ^ Stated in a less abbreviatory fashion: pressure1 * volume1 = pressure2 * volume2
Jump up ^ volume1 divided by sum of volume1 and change in volume = sum of pressure1 and the
change in pressure divided by pressure1
Jump up ^ Niebergall A, Zhang S, Kunay E, Keydana G, Job M, et al. Real-time MRI of Speaking at a
Resolution of 33 ms: Undersampled Radial FLASH with Nonlinear Inverse Reconstruction. Magn
Reson Med 2010, doi:10.1002/mrm.24276.
Jump up ^ Ladefoged, Peter: A Course In Phonetics: Third Edition, page 60. Harcourt Brace College
Publishers, 1993
Jump up ^ Palatography
Bickford, Anita (2006). Articulatory Phonetics: Tools For Analyzing The World's Languages (4th ed.).
Summer Institute of Linguistics. ISBN 1-55671-165-4.
External links[edit]
Interactive place and manner of articulation
Observing your articulators

QMU's CASL Research Centre site for ultrasound tongue imaging
UCLA Electromagnetic Articulography
UCLA Aerometry
UCLA Electrolaryngography
Articulatory Phonetic Alphabet
Categories: Phonetics
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Privacy policyAbout WikipediaDisclaimersContact WikipediaDevelopersMobile view
Labial
Bilabial
Labial–velar
Labial–coronal
Labiodental
Dentolabial
Bidental
Coronal
Linguolabial
Interdental
Dental
Denti-alveolar
Alveolar
Postalveolar
Palato-alveolar
Retroflex
Dorsal
Postalveolar
Alveolo-palatal
Palatal
Labial–palatal
Velar
Uvular
Uvular–epiglottal
Radical
Pharyngeal
Epiglottal
Guttural
Glottal
Peripheral
Tongue shape
Apical
Laminal
Subapical
Lateral
Sulcal
Palatal
Pharyngeal
vte
Places of articulation (passive & active):
1. Exo-labial, 2. Endo-labial, 3. Dental, 4. Alveolar, 5. Post-alveolar, 6. Pre-palatal, 7. Palatal, 8. Velar,

9. Uvular, 10. Pharyngeal, 11. Glottal, 12. Epiglottal, 13. Radical, 14. Postero-dorsal, 15. Antero-
dorsal, 16. Laminal, 17. Apical, 18. Sub-apical
Articulation visualized by real-time MRI.
In articulatory phonetics, the place of articulation (also point of articulation) of a consonant is the
point of contact where an obstruction occurs in the vocal tract between an articulatory gesture, an
active articulator (typically some part of the tongue), and a passive location (typically some part of
the roof of the mouth). Along with the manner of articulation and the phonation, this gives the
consonant its distinctive sound.
The terminology in this article has been developed to precisely describe all the consonants in all the
world's spoken languages. No known language distinguishes all of the places described here, so less
precision is needed to distinguish the sounds of a particular language.
Contents [hide]
1 Overview
2 The larynx
3 Place of articulation (passive)
4 Place of articulation (active)
5 Table of gestures and passive articulators and resulting places of articulation
6 Homorganic consonants
7 Central and lateral articulation
8 Coarticulation
9 Production of vowels
10 Formants
11 See also
12 Notes
13 References
14 External links
Overview[edit]
The human voice produces sounds in the following manner:[1][2]
Air pressure from the lungs creates a steady flow of air through the trachea (windpipe), larynx (voice
box) and pharynx (back of the throat).
The vocal folds in the larynx vibrate, creating fluctuations in air pressure that are known as sound
waves.
Resonances in the vocal tract modify these waves according to the position and shape of the lips,
jaw, tongue, soft palate, and other speech organs, creating formant regions and thus different
qualities of sonorant (voiced) sound.
Mouth and nose openings radiate the sound waves into the environment.
The larynx[edit]
Main article: Larynx
The larynx or voice box is a cylindrical framework of cartilage that serves to anchor the vocal folds.
When the muscles of the vocal folds contract, the airflow from the lungs is impeded until the vocal
folds are forced apart again by the increasing air pressure from the lungs. This process continues in a
periodic cycle that is felt as a vibration (buzzing). In singing, the vibration frequency of the vocal folds
determines the pitch of the sound produced. Voiced phonemes such as the pure vowels are, by
definition, distinguished by the buzzing sound of this periodic oscillation of the vocal cords.
The lips of the mouth can be used in a similar way to create a similar sound, as any toddler or
trumpeter can demonstrate. A rubber balloon, inflated but not tied off and stretched tightly across
the neck produces a squeak or buzz, depending on the tension across the neck and the level of
pressure inside the balloon. Similar actions, with similar results, occur when the vocal cords are
contracted or relaxed across the larynx.
Place of articulation (passive)[edit]
The passive place of articulation is the place on the more stationary part of the vocal tract where the
articulation occurs. It can be anywhere from the lips, upper teeth, gums, or roof of the mouth to the
back of the throat. Although it is a continuum, there are several contrastive areas such that
languages may distinguish consonants by articulating them in different areas, but few languages will
contrast two sounds within the same area unless there is some other feature which contrasts as
well. The following areas are contrastive:
The upper lip (labial)
The upper teeth, either on the edge of the teeth or inner surface (dental)
The alveolar ridge, the gum line just behind the teeth (alveolar)
The back of the alveolar ridge (post-alveolar)
The hard palate on the roof of the mouth (palatal)
The soft palate further back on the roof of the mouth (velar)
The uvula hanging down at the entrance to the throat (uvular)
The throat itself, aka the pharynx (pharyngeal)
The epiglottis at the entrance to the windpipe, above the voice box (epiglottal)
These regions are not strictly separated. For instance, in some sounds in many languages the surface
of the tongue contacts a relatively large area from the back of the upper teeth to the alveolar ridge;
this is common enough to have received its own name, denti-alveolar. Likewise, the alveolar and
post-alveolar regions merge into each other, as do the hard and soft palate, the soft palate and the
uvula, and indeed all adjacent regions. Terms like pre-velar (intermediate between palatal and
velar), post-velar (between velar and uvular), and upper vs. lower pharyngeal may be used to specify
more precisely where an articulation takes place. However, although a language may contrast pre-
velar and post-velar sounds, it will not also contrast them with palatal and uvular sounds (of the
same type of consonant), so that contrasts are limited to the number above if not always their exact
location.
Place of articulation (active)[edit]
The articulatory gesture of the active place of articulation involves the more mobile part of the vocal
tract. This is typically some part of the tongue or lips. The following areas are known to be
contrastive:
The lower lip (labial)
Various parts of the front of the tongue (coronal):
The tip of the tongue (apical)
The upper front surface of the tongue just behind the tip, called the blade of the tongue (laminal)
The surface of the tongue under the tip (subapical)
The body of the tongue (dorsal)
The base aka root of the tongue in the throat (radical)
The epiglottis, the flap at the base of the tongue (epiglottal)
The aryepiglottic folds at the entrance to the larynx (also epiglottal)
The glottis (laryngeal)
In bilabial consonants both lips move, so the articulatory gesture is bringing together the lips, but by
convention the lower lip is said to be active and the upper lip passive. Similarly, in linguolabial
consonants the tongue contacts the upper lip with the upper lip actively moving down to meet the
tongue; nonetheless, in this gesture the tongue is conventionally said to be active and the lip
passive, if for no other reason than the fact that the parts of the mouth below the vocal tract are
typically active, and those above the vocal tract typically passive.
In dorsal gestures different parts of the body of the tongue contact different parts of the roof of the
mouth, but this cannot be independently controlled, so they are all subsumed under the term
dorsal. This is unlike coronal gestures involving the front of the tongue, which is more flexible.
The epiglottis may be active, contacting the pharynx, or passive, being contacted by the aryepiglottal
folds. Distinctions made in these laryngeal areas are very difficult to observe and are the subject of
ongoing investigation, with several as-yet unidentified combinations thought possible.
The glottis acts upon itself. There is a sometimes fuzzy line between glottal, aryepiglottal, and
epiglottal consonants and phonation, which uses these same areas.
Unlike the passive articulation, which is a continuum, there are five discrete active articulators: the
lip (labial consonants), the flexible front of the tongue (coronal consonants: laminal, apical, and
subapical), the middle–back of the tongue (dorsal consonants), the root of the tongue together with
the epiglottis (radical consonants), and the larynx (laryngeal consonants). These articulators are
discrete in that they can act independently of each other, and two or more may work together in
what is called coarticulation (see below). The distinction between the various coronal articulations,
laminal, apical, and subapical, are however a continuum without clear boundaries.
Table of gestures and passive articulators and resulting places of articulation[edit]
The following table shows the possible combinations of active and passive articulators.
The possible locations where sibilants as well as non-sibilants can occur are indicated in dashed red.
For sibilants, there are additional complications involving tongue shape; see the article on sibilants
for a chart of possible articulations.
Front/back → Front Back
Major class → Labial Coronal "Guttural"
Acute/grave
↓ Active articulator → Lower lip
(Labial) Tongue blade
(Laminal) Tongue tip
(Apical) Underside of tongue

(Subapical) Tongue body
(Dorsal)Tongue root
(Radical) Larynx
(Laryngeal)
Passive articulator
Grave Upper lip bilabial linguolabial
Upper teeth labiodental
Acute Upper teeth interdental dental
Upper teeth/alveolar ridge denti-alveolar
Alveolar ridge laminal alveolar apico-alveolar
Back of alveolar ridge
(postalveolar) palato-alveolar apical retroflex alveolo-palatal
Hard palate (front) retroflex palatal
Grave Soft palate velar
Uvula uvular
Pharynx pharyngeal epiglotto-pharyngeal
Epiglottis (ary-)epiglottal
Glottis glottal
A precise vocabulary of compounding the two places of articulation is sometimes seen. However,
this is usually reduced to the passive articulation, which is generally sufficient. Thus dorsal–palatal,
dorsal–velar, and dorsal–uvular are usually just called "palatal", "velar", and "uvular". Where there is
ambiguity, additional terms have been invented, so subapical–palatal is more commonly called
"retroflex".
NOTE: Additional shades of passive articulation are sometimes specified using pre- or post-, for
example prepalatal (near the border between the postalveolar region and the hard palate; prevelar
(at the back of the hard palate, also post-palatal or even medio-palatal for the middle of the hard
palate); or postvelar (near the border of the soft palate and the uvula). These can be useful in the
precise description of sounds that are articulated somewhat farther forward or back than a
prototypical consonant; for this purpose, the "fronted" and "retracted" IPA diacritics can be used.
However, none of these additional shades are needed to phonemically distinguish two consonants in
a single language.[3]
Homorganic consonants[edit]
Consonants that have the same place of articulation, such as the alveolar sounds /n, t, d, s, z, l/ in
English, are said to be homorganic. Similarly, labial /p, b, m/ and velar /k, ɡ, ŋ/ are homorganic. A
homorganic nasal rule, an instance of assimilation, operates in many languages, where a nasal
consonant must be homorganic with a following stop. We see this with English intolerable but
implausible; another example is found in Yoruba, where the present tense of ba "hide" is mba "is
hiding", while the present of sun "sleep" is nsun "is sleeping".
Central and lateral articulation[edit]
Main article: Lateral consonant
The tongue contacts the mouth with a surface that has two dimensions: length and width. So far,
only points of articulation along its length have been considered. However, articulation varies along
its width as well. When the airstream is directed down the center of the tongue, the consonant is
said to be central. If, however, it is deflected off to one side, escaping between the side of the
tongue and the side teeth, it is said to be lateral. Nonetheless, for simplicity's sake the place of
articulation is assumed to be the point along the length of the tongue, and the consonant may in
addition be said to be central or lateral. That is, a consonant may be lateral alveolar, like English /l/
(the tongue contacts the alveolar ridge, but allows air to flow off to the side), or lateral palatal, like
Castilian Spanish ll /ʎ/. Some Indigenous Australian languages contrast dental, alveolar, retroflex,
and palatal laterals, and many Native American languages have lateral fricatives and affricates as
well.
Coarticulation[edit]
Some languages have consonants with two simultaneous places of articulation, called coarticulation.
When these are doubly articulated, the articulators must be independently movable, and therefore
there may only be one each from the major categories labial, coronal, dorsal, radical, and laryngeal.
The only common doubly articulated consonants are labial–velar stops like [k ͡p], [ɡ͡b], and less
commonly [ŋ͡m], which are found throughout West and Central Africa. Other combinations are rare.
͡ d͡b nm],
They include labial–(post)alveolar stops [tp ͡ found as distinct consonants only in a single
language in New Guinea, and a uvular–epiglottal stop, [q ͡ʡ], found in Somali.
More commonly, coarticulation involves secondary articulation of an approximantic nature, in which
case both articulations can be similar, such as labialized labial [mʷ] or palatalized velar [kʲ]. This is the
case of English [w], which is a velar consonant with secondary labial articulation.
Common coarticulations include:
Labialization, rounding the lips while producing the obstruction, as in [kʷ] and English [w].
Palatalization, raising the body of the tongue toward the hard palate while producing the
obstruction, as in Russian [tʲ] and [ɕ].
Velarization, raising the back of the tongue toward the soft palate (velum), as in the English dark el,
[lˠ] (also transcribed [ɫ]).
Pharyngealization, constriction of the throat (pharynx), such as Arabic "emphatic" [tˤ].
Production of vowels[edit]
A vowel is any phoneme in which airflow is impeded only or mostly by the voicing action of the vocal
cords.
The well-defined fundamental frequency provided by the vocal cords in voiced phonemes is only a
convenience, however, not a necessity, since a strictly unvoiced whisper is still quite intelligible. Our
interest is therefore most focused on further modulations of and additions to the fundamental tone
by other parts of the vocal apparatus, determined by the variable dimensions of oral, pharyngeal,
and even nasal cavities.
Formants[edit]
Formants are the resonant frequencies of the vocal tract that emphasize particular voice harmonics
near in frequency to the resonance, or turbulent non-periodic energy (i.e. noise) near the formant
frequency in the case of whispered speech. The formants tell a listener what vowel is being spoken.
See also[edit]
Relative articulation
Tongue shape
Sibilant
Index of phonetics articles
Notes[edit]
Jump up ^ Titze, I. R. (2008). The human instrument. Sci.Am. 298 (1):94–101. PM 18225701
Jump up ^ Titze, I.R. (1994). Principles of Voice Production, Prentice Hall (currently published by
NCVS.org), ISBN 978-0-13-717893-3.
Jump up ^ Occasionally claims to the contrary are met. For example, some dialects of Malayalam are
said to distinguish palatal, prevelar and velar consonants. In reality, these dialects distinguish palato-
alveolar (i.e. palatalized postalveolar), palatal and velar consonants; the claim is based on the
imprecise usage of "palatal" to mean "palato-alveolar".
References[edit]
Ladefoged, Peter; Maddieson, Ian (1996). The Sounds of the World's Languages. Oxford: Blackwell.
ISBN 0-631-19814-8.
Interactive places and manners of articulation
vte
[show]
IPA topics
[show]
Consonants
[show]
Vowels
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This page was last modified on 30 April 2015, at 09:17.

Postalveolar consonant
Labial
Bilabial
Labial–velar
Labial–coronal
Labiodental
Dentolabial
Bidental
Coronal
Linguolabial
Interdental
Dental
Denti-alveolar
Alveolar
Postalveolar
Palato-alveolar
Retroflex
Dorsal
Postalveolar
Alveolo-palatal
Palatal
Labial–palatal
Velar
Uvular
Uvular–epiglottal
Radical
Pharyngeal
Epiglottal
Guttural
Glottal
Peripheral
Tongue shape
Apical
Laminal
Subapical
Lateral
Sulcal
Palatal
Pharyngeal
vte
Postalveolar consonants (sometimes spelled post-alveolar) are consonants articulated with the
tongue near or touching the back of the alveolar ridge, further back in the mouth than the alveolar
consonants, which are at the ridge itself, but not as far back as the hard palate (the place of
articulation for palatal consonants). Examples of postalveolar consonants are the English palato-
alveolar consonants [ʃ] [tʃ] [ʒ] [dʒ], as in the words "shill", "'chill", "vision", and "Jill", respectively.
There are a large number of types of postalveolar sounds, especially among the sibilants. The three
primary types are palato-alveolar (e.g. [ʃ ʒ], weakly palatalized); alveolo-palatal (e.g. [ɕ ʑ], strongly
palatalized); and retroflex (e.g. [ʂ ʐ], unpalatalized). The palato-alveolar and alveolo-palatal subtypes
are commonly counted as "palatals" in phonology, since they rarely contrast with true palatal
consonants.
Contents [hide]
1 Postalveolar sibilants
1.1 Tongue shape
1.2 Point of tongue contact (laminal, apical, subapical)
1.3 Position of tongue tip (laminal "closed")
1.4 Examples
2 Postalveolar non-sibilants
2.1 Non-palatalized (retroflex)
2.2 Palatalized
2.3 Examples
3 Postalveolar clicks
4 See also
5 References
Postalveolar sibilants[edit]
The sibilant postalveolars (i.e. fricatives and affricates) are sometimes called "hush consonants"
because they include the sound of English Shhh! (as distinguished from the "hiss consonant" [s], as in
Ssss!). For most sounds involving the tongue, the place of articulation can be sufficiently identified
just by specifying the point of contact on the upper part of the mouth (e.g. velar consonants involve
contact on the soft palate, while dental consonants involve with the teeth), along with any
secondary articulation such as palatalization (raising of the tongue body) or labialization (lip
rounding). However, among sibilants, and postalveolar sibilants in particular, slight differences in the
shape of the tongue and the point of contact on the tongue itself correspond to large differences in
the resulting sound. For example, the alveolar fricative [s] and the three postalveolar fricatives [ɕ ʃ ʂ]
differ noticeably both in pitch and sharpness, with the order [s ɕ ʃ ʂ] corresponding to progressively
lower-pitched and duller (less "hissy" or piercing) sounds ([s] is the highest-pitched and most
piercing, which is the reason that hissing sounds like "Sssst!" or "Psssst!" are typically used to attract
someone's attention). As a result it is necessary to specify many additional subtypes.
Tongue shape[edit]
The main distinction is the shape of the tongue, which corresponds to differing degrees of
palatalization (raising of the front of the tongue). From least to most palatalized, these are retroflex
(e.g. [ʂ ʐ], unpalatalized); palato-alveolar (e.g. [ʃ ʒ], weakly palatalized); and alveolo-palatal (e.g. [ɕ ʑ],
strongly palatalized). The increasing palatalization corresponds to progressively higher-pitched and
sharper-sounding consonants. Speaking non-technically, the retroflex consonant [ʂ] sounds
somewhat like a mixture between the regular English [ʃ] of "ship" and the "h" at the beginning of
"heard", especially when pronounced forcefully and with a strong American "r"; while the alveolo-
palatal consonant [ɕ] sounds like a strongly palatalized version of [ʃ]; somewhat like "nourish you".
Palato-alveolar sounds are normally described as having a convex (bunched-up or domed) tongue,
i.e. the front, central part of the tongue is somewhat raised compared to the tip, back and sides,
which gives it weak palatalization. For retroflex sounds, the tongue shape is either concave (usually
when apical or subapical, i.e. when made with the tip of the tongue), or flat (usually when laminal,
i.e. made with the area behind the tongue tip). For alveolo-palatal sounds, the front half of the
tongue is flat, and raised so that it closely parallels the upper surface of the mouth, from the teeth to
the hard palate; behind that is a sudden convex bend.
The following table shows the three types of postalveolar sibilant fricatives defined in the IPA:
IPA transcription of postalveolar sibilants
Voiceless Voiced
IPA Description Example IPA Description Example
Language Orthography IPA Meaning Language Orthography IPA

Meaning
Voiceless palato-alveolar sibilant English shin [ʃɪn] shin Voiced

palato-alveolar sibilant English vision [vɪʒən] vision
Voiceless alveolo-palatal sibilant Mandarin 小 (xiǎo) [ɕiɑu˨˩˦] small

Voiced alveolo-palatal sibilant Polish zioło [ʑɔwɔ] herb
voiceless retroflex sibilant Mandarin 上海 (Shànghǎi)[ʂɑ̂ ŋ.xàɪ] Shanghai

voiced retroflex sibilant Russian
Polish жаба
żaba [ʐaba] toad
frog
Point of tongue contact (laminal, apical, subapical)[edit]
A second variable is whether the contact occurs with the very tip of the tongue (an apical
articulation [ʃ]̺ ); with the surface just above the tip, called the blade of the tongue (a laminal
articulation [ʃ]̻ ); or with the underside of the tip (a subapical articulation). Apical and subapical
articulations are always "tongue-up", with the tip of the tongue above the teeth, while laminal
articulations are often "tongue-down", with the tip of the tongue behind the lower teeth.
The upward curvature of the tongue tip to make apical or subapical contact renders palatalization
more difficult, so domed (palato-alveolar) consonants are not attested with subapical articulation,
and fully palatalized (e.g. alveolo-palatal) sounds occur only with laminal articulation. Furthermore,
the apical-laminal distinction among palato-alveolar sounds makes little (although presumably non-
zero[1]) perceptible difference; both articulations, in fact, occur among English speakers.[2]
As a result, the differing points of tongue contact (laminal, apical and subapical) are significant
largely for retroflex sounds. Retroflex sounds can also occur outside of the postalveolar region,
ranging from as far back as the hard palate to as far forward as the alveolar region behind the teeth.
Subapical retroflex sounds are often palatal (and vice versa); such sounds occur particularly in the
Dravidian languages. Alveolar retroflex sounds tend to be apical (so-called "apico-alveolar sibilants"),
which are well-known from their occurrence in northern Iberia, like in Astur-Leonese, Basque,
Castilian Spanish, Catalan, Galician and Northern Portuguese. As a result of the large number of
retroflex varieties, differing IPA symbols are sometimes used; for example, more forward
articulations are often denoted [s̠] (with a retracted diacritic attached to alveolar [s]) rather than [ʂ].
For more information on these differing varieties, see the article on retroflex consonants.
Position of tongue tip (laminal "closed")[edit]
There is an additional distinction that can be made among tongue-down laminal sounds, depending
on where exactly behind the lower teeth the tongue tip is placed. A little bit behind the lower teeth
is a hollow area (or pit) in the lower surface of the mouth. When the tongue tip rests in this
hollowed area, there is an empty space below the tongue (a sublingual cavity), which results in a
relatively more "hushing" sound. When the tip of the tongue rests against the lower teeth, there is
no sublingual cavity, resulting in a more "hissing" sound. Generally, the tongue-down postalveolar
consonants have the tongue tip on the hollowed area (with a sublingual cavity), whereas for the
tongue-down alveolar consonants, the tongue tip rests against the teeth (no sublingual cavity); this
accentuates the hissing vs. hushing distinction of these sounds.
However, the palato-alveolar sibilants in the Northwest Caucasian languages such as Ubykh have the
tongue tip resting directly against the lower teeth rather than in the hollowed area. Ladefoged and
Maddieson[3] term this a "closed laminal postalveolar" articulation, which gives the sounds a quality
that Catford describes as "hissing-hushing" sounds. Catford transcribes them as [ŝ, ẑ] (note: this is
not IPA notation). A laminal "closed" articulation could also be made with alveolo-palatal sibilants
and a laminal "non-closed" articulation with alveolar sibilants, but no language appears to do so. In
addition, no language seems to have a minimal contrast between two sounds based only on the
"closed"/"non-closed" variation, with no concomitant articulatory distinctions (i.e. for all languages,
including the Northwest Caucasian languages, if the language has two laminal sibilants, one of which
is "closed" whereas the other is "non-closed", they will also differ in some other ways).
Examples[edit]
A few languages distinguish three different postalveolar sibilant tongue shapes (/ʂ/ /ʃ/ /ɕ/). Examples
are the Sino-Tibetan Northern Qiang and Southern Qiang, which make such a distinction among
affricates (but only a two-way distinction among fricatives) and the Northwest Caucasian language
Ubykh (whose palato-alveolar /ʃ/ is of the laminal "closed" type, sometimes indicated phonetically as
[ŝ]). More common are languages such as Mandarin Chinese and Polish that distinguish two
postalveolar sibilants, typically /ʂ/ /ɕ/ because they are maximally distinct. For more information on
possible distinctions, see the article on sibilants.
The attested possibilities, with exemplar languages, are as follows. Note that the IPA diacritics are
simplified; some articulations would require two diacritics to be fully specified, but only one is used
in order to keep the results legible without the need for OpenType IPA fonts. Also, Ladefoged has
resurrected an obsolete IPA symbol, the under dot, to indicate apical postalveolar (normally included
in the category of retroflex consonants), and that notation is used here. (Note that the notation s ,̠ ṣ
is sometimes reversed; either may also be called 'retroflex' and written ʂ.)
IPA Place of articulation Exemplifying languages
[s̠ z̠] laminal flat postalveolar (laminal retroflex) Polish sz, rz, cz, dż, Mandarin sh, zh, ch
[ṣ ẓ] apical postalveolar (apical retroflex) Ubykh, Toda
[ʃ ʒ] domed postalveolar (palato-alveolar) English sh, zh (may be either laminal or apical)
[ʃ ̻ ʒ̻] laminal domed postalveolar Toda
[ɕ ʑ] laminal palatalized postalveolar (alveolo-palatal) Mandarin q, j, x, Polish ć, ś, ź, dź,

Ubykh
[ŝ ẑ] laminal closed postalveolar Ubykh
[ʂ ʐ] subapical postalveolar or palatal (subapical retroflex) Toda
Postalveolar non-sibilants[edit]
Non-sibilant sounds can also be made in the postalveolar region. For these sounds, however, the
number of acoustically distinct variations is significantly reduced. The primary distinction for such
sounds is between laminal palatalized and apical retroflex non-palatalized. (Subapical retroflex non-
sibilants also occur but tend to be palatal, as for sibilants.)
Non-palatalized (retroflex)[edit]
Retroflex stops, nasals and laterals (e.g. [ʈ ɳ ɭ]) occur in a number of languages across the world.
Examples are the South Asian languages (e.g. Hindi) and various East Asian languages such as
Vietnamese. The sounds are fairly rare in European languages but do occur, for example, in Swedish,
where they are often considered to be allophones of sequences such as /rn/ or /rt/. Also, for some
languages that distinguish "dental" vs. "alveolar" stops and nasals, these are actually articulated
closer to prealveolar and postalveolar, respectively.
The normal rhotic consonant (r-sound) in American English is a retroflex approximant [ɻ] (the
equivalent in British English is an alveolar approximant [ɹ]). Retroflex rhotics of various sorts,
especially approximants and flaps occur commonly in the world's languages. Some languages also
have retroflex trills. Malayalam in fact has two trills, at least for many speakers — [r̟] vs. [r̠] — the
latter of which is retroflex. Toda is particularly unusual is having six trills, including a palatalized/non-
palatalized distinction and a three-way place distinction among dental, alveolar and retroflex trills.
Palatalized[edit]
Palatalized postalveolar non-sibilants are usually considered to be alveolo-palatal. Some non-sibilant

sounds in some languages are said to be palato-alveolar rather than alveolo-palatal, but in practice it
is unclear if there is any consistent acoustic distinction between the two types of sounds.
In phonological descriptions, alveolo-palatal postalveolar non-sibilants are usually not distinguished

as such. Instead, they are considered to be variants of either palatal non-sibilants (e.g. [c ɲ ʎ], or of
palatalized alveolar non-sibilants (e.g. [tʲ nʲ lʲ]). Even these two types are often not distinguished
among nasals and laterals, as the vast majority of languages have only one palatalized/palatal nasal
or lateral in their phonemic inventories. For example, the sound described as a "palatal lateral" in
various Romance languages and often indicated as /ʎ/ is most often alveolo-palatal [ḻʲ] (e.g. in
Catalan and Italian) and sometimes a palatalized alveolar [lʲ], e.g. in some northern Brazilian
Portuguese dialects.
The IPA does not have specific symbols for alveolo-palatal non-sibilants, but they can be denoted
using the advanced diacritic, e.g. ⟨c̟ ɲ̟ ʎ̟⟩. Sinologists often use special symbols for alveolo-palatal
non-sibilants, ⟨ȶ ȵ ȴ⟩, created by analogy with the curls used to mark alveolo-palatal sibilants.
However, the actual sounds indicated using these symbols are often palatal or palatalized alveolar
rather than alveolo-palatal, just like the variation for symbols like [ɲ ʎ] (the decision to use the
special alveolo-palatal symbols in Sinological circles is largely based on distributional similarities
between the sounds in question and the alveolo-palatal sibilants, which are prominent in many East
Asian languages.)
However, a few languages do distinguish alveolo-palatal sounds from other palatalized non-sibilants
in the dental-to-palatal region. Many dialects of Irish in fact have a three-way distinction among
palatalized nasals between dorsal palatal [ɲ], laminal alveolo-palatal [ṉʲ], and apical palatalized
alveolar [nʲ] (as is typical with oppositions among similar sounds in a single language, the sounds are
maximally different in that each one differs both in the point of contact on the tongue — dorsal vs.
laminal vs. apical — and the roof of the mouth — palatal vs. postalveolar vs. alveolar — from all
others.) The other dialects have lost one of the two palatalized coronals, but still have a two-way
distinction. A similar distinction between palatal [ɲ] and alveolo-palatal [ṉʲ] exists in some non-
standard forms of Malayalam.
Examples[edit]
Some languages distinguish palatalized (alveolo-palatal) and non-palatalized (retroflex) postalveolar

nasals and/or laterals. Some of the most notable distinctions among acute (dental-to-palatal) non-
sibilants are as follows.
Some Australian languages distinguish four coronal nasals and laterals: laminal dental [n̪ l ̪], apical
alveolar [n l], laminal postalveolar (palatalized) [ṉʲ ḻʲ], and apical postalveolar (retroflex) [ɳ ɭ].
The non-standard Malayalam dialects mentioned above have five acute (including four coronal)
nasals: laminal dental [n̪ ], apical alveolar [n], laminal postalveolar (palatalized) [ṉʲ], subapical palatal
(retroflex) [ɳ], and dorsal palatal (palatalized) [ɲ] (in addition to labial [m] and velar [ŋ]). Standard
Malayalam is missing the laminal palatalized postalveolar.
The conservative Irish dialects mentioned above likewise have five acute nasals, again including four
coronal; however, only four different primary articulations are involved, as a secondary
velarized/palatalized distinction is at play. The sounds in question are: laminal dental velarized [n̪ˠ],
apical alveolar velarized [nˠ], apical alveolar palatalized [nʲ], laminal postalveolar (palatalized) [ṉʲ],
and dorsal palatal [ɲ] (in addition to labial velarized [mˠ], labial palatalized [mʲ] and velar [ŋ]). These
eight sounds participate in four velarized/palatalized pairs: [mˠ mʲ]; [n̪ ˠ ṉʲ]; [nˠ nʲ]; [ŋ ɲ]. Other
dialects have variously reduced the four coronal nasals to three or two.
Postalveolar clicks[edit]
There are two postalveolar click types that can occur, commonly described as "postalveolar" and
"palatal", but perhaps more accurately described as apical and laminal postalveolar, respectively:
IPA Description Example
Language Orthography IPA Meaning
Apical (post)alveolar click Nama !oas [k͡ǃoas] hollow
Laminal postalveolar click !Kung ǂua [k͡ǂwa] to imitate
Articulatory phonetics
Obstruent
Stop
Affricate
Fricative
Sibilant
Sonorant
Nasal
Flap/Tap
Approximant
Liquid
Vowel
Semivowel
Lateral
Trill
Airstreams
Pulmonic
Ejective
Implosive
Lingual (clicks)
Linguo-pulmonic
Linguo-ejective
Related
Alliteration
Assonance
Consonance
vte
Labial
Bilabial
Labial–velar
Labial–coronal
Labiodental
Dentolabial
Bidental
Coronal
Linguolabial
Interdental
Dental
Denti-alveolar
Alveolar
Postalveolar
Palato-alveolar
Retroflex
Dorsal
Postalveolar
Alveolo-palatal
Palatal
Labial–palatal
Velar
Uvular
Uvular–epiglottal
Radical
Pharyngeal
Epiglottal
Guttural
Glottal
Peripheral
Tongue shape
Apical
Laminal
Subapical
Lateral
Sulcal
Palatal
Pharyngeal
vte
The field of articulatory phonetics is a subfield of phonetics. In studying articulation, phoneticians

explain how humans produce speech sounds via the interaction of different physiological structures.
Generally, articulatory phonetics is concerned with the transformation of aerodynamic energy into
acoustic energy. Aerodynamic energy refers to the airflow through the vocal tract. Its potential form
is air pressure; its kinetic form is the actual dynamic airflow. Acoustic energy is variation in the air
pressure that can be represented as sound waves, which are then perceived by the human auditory
system as sound.[1]
Contents [hide]
1 Components
2 Initiation
3 The two classes of sounds
3.1 Consonants
3.1.1 Places of articulation
3.1.1.1 Bilabial
3.1.1.2 Labiodental
3.1.1.3 Interdental
3.1.1.4 Alveolar
3.1.1.5 Palatal
3.1.1.6 Velar
3.1.1.7 Uvular
3.1.1.8 Glottal
3.2 Vowels
4 Airflow
5 Sound sources
5.1 Periodic sources
5.1.1 Vocal fold vibration
5.1.1.1 Control of fundamental frequency
6 Experimental techniques
6.1 Palatography
7 See also
8 References
9 External links
Components[edit]
The vocal tract can be viewed through an aerodynamic-biomechanic model that includes three main
components:
air cavities
pistons
air valves
Air cavities are containers of air molecules of specific volumes and masses. The main air cavities
present in the articulatory system are the supraglottal cavity and the subglottal cavity. They are so-
named because the glottis, the openable space between the vocal folds internal to the larynx,
separates the two cavities. The supraglottal cavity or the orinasal cavity is divided into an oral
subcavity (the cavity from the glottis to the lips excluding the nasal cavity) and a nasal subcavity (the
cavity from the velopharyngeal port, which can be closed by raising the velum to the nostrils). The
subglottal cavity consists of the trachea and the lungs. The atmosphere external to the articulatory
stem may also be considered an air cavity whose potential connecting points with respect to the
body are the nostrils and the lips.
Pistons are initiators. The term initiator refers to the fact that they are used to initiate a change in
the volumes of air cavities, and, by Boyle's Law, the corresponding air pressure of the cavity. The
term initiation refers to the change. Since changes in air pressures between connected cavities lead
to airflow between the cavities, initiation is also referred to as an airstream mechanism. The three
pistons present in the articulatory system are the larynx, the tongue body, and the physiological
structures used to manipulate lung volume (in particular, the floor and the walls of the chest). The
lung pistons are used to initiate a pulmonic airstream (found in all human languages). The larynx is
used to initiate the glottalic airstream mechanism by changing the volume of the supraglottal and
subglottal cavities via vertical movement of the larynx (with a closed glottis). Ejectives and implosives
are made with this airstream mechanism. The tongue body creates a velaric airsteam by changing
the pressure within the oral cavity: the tongue body changes the mouth subcavity. Click consonants
use the velaric airstream mechanism. Pistons are controlled by various muscles.
Valves regulate airflow between cavities. Airflow occurs when an air valve is open and there is a
pressure difference between in the connecting cavities. When an air valve is closed, there is no
airflow. The air valves are the vocal folds (the glottis), which regulate between the supraglottal and
subglottal cavities, the velopharyngeal port, which regulates between the oral and nasal cavities, the
tongue, which regulates between the oral cavity and the atmosphere, and the lips, which also
regulate between the oral cavity and the atmosphere. Like the pistons, the air valves are also
controlled by various muscles.
Initiation[edit]
To produce any kind of sound, there must be movement of air. To produce sounds that people today
can interpret as words, the movement of air must pass through the vocal chords, up through the
throat and, into the mouth or nose to then leave the body. Different sounds are formed by different
positions of the mouth—or, as linguists call it, "the oral cavity" (to distinguish it from the nasal
cavity).
The two classes of sounds[edit]
Sounds of all languages fall under two categories: Consonants and Vowels.
Consonants[edit]
Consonants are produced with some form of restriction or closing in the vocal tract that hinders the
air flow from the lungs. Consonants are classified according to where in the vocal tract the airflow
has been restricted. This is also known as the place of articulation.
Places of articulation[edit]
Movement of the tongue and lips can create these constrictions and by forming the oral cavity in
different ways, different sounds can be produced.
Bilabial[edit]
When producing a [b], [p] or [m], articulation is done by bringing both lips together.
Labiodental[edit]
[f] and [v] are also used with the lips. They, however, are also articulated by touching the bottom lip
to the upper teeth.
Interdental[edit]
[θ] and [ð] are both spelled as "th". They are pronounced by inserting the tip of the tongue between
the teeth. (θ as in think) (ð as in the)
Alveolar[edit]
[t][d][n][s][z][l][r] are produced in many ways where the tongue is raised towards the alveolar ridge.
[t, d, n] the tongue tip is raised and touches the ridge.
[s, z] the sides of the front of the tongue are raised, but the tip is lowered so that air escapes over it.
[l] the tongue tip is raised while the rest of the tongue remains down, permitting air to escape over
its sides. Hence, [l] is called a lateral sound (âm biên).
[r] [IPA ɹ] curl the tip of tongue back behind the alveolar ridge, or bunch up the top of the tongue
behind the ridge, the air escapes through the central part of the mouth. It is a central liquid.
Palatal[edit]
[ʃ][ʒ][tʃ][dʒ][j] are produced by raising the front part of the tongue to the palate.
Velar[edit]
[k][g][ŋ] are produced by raising the back part of the tongue to the soft palate or the velum.
Uvular[edit]
[ʀ][q][ԍ] these sounds are produced by raising the back of the tongue to the uvula. The 'r' in French
is often a uvular trill (symbolized by [ʀ]). The uvular sounds [q] and [ԍ] occur in Arabic. These do not
normally occur in English.
Glottal[edit]
[h][ʔ] the sound [h] is from the flow of air coming from an open glottis, past the tongue and lips as
they prepare to pronounce a vowel sound, which always follows [h]. if the air is stopped completely
at the glottis by tightly closed vocal chords the sound upon release of the chords is called a glottal
stop [ʔ].
Vowels[edit]
Nasal vowel / Oral vowel
Previous Vowel / Later Vowel
Rounded vowel / Unrounded vowel
Open vowel / Closed vowel
Airflow[edit]
Larynx, anterolateral view
Larynx, superior view (bottom = anterior)
Larynx, lateral view (left = posterior)
For all practical purposes, temperature can be treated as constant in the articulatory system. Thus,
Boyle's Law can usefully be written as the following two equations.
[2]
[3]
What the above equations express is that given an initial pressure and volume at time 1 the product
of these two values will be equal to the product of the pressure and volume at a later time 2. This
means that if there is an increase in the volume of cavity, there will be a corresponding decrease in
pressure of that same cavity, and vice versa. In other words, volume and pressure are inversely
proportional (or negatively correlated) to each other. As applied to a description of the subglottal
cavity, when the lung pistons contract the lungs, the volume of the subglottal cavity decreases while
the subglottal air pressure increases. Conversely, if the lungs are expanded, the pressure decreases.
A situation can be considered where (1) the vocal fold valve is closed separating the supraglottal
cavity from the subglottal cavity, (2) the mouth is open and, therefore, supraglottal air pressure is
equal to atmospheric pressure, and (3) the lungs are contracted resulting in a subglottal pressure
that has increased to a pressure that is greater than atmospheric pressure. If the vocal fold valve is
subsequently opened, the previously two separate cavities become one unified cavity although the
cavities will still be aerodynamically isolated because the glottic valve between them is relatively
small and constrictive. Pascal's Law states that the pressure within a system must be equal
throughout the system. When the subglottal pressure is greater than supraglottal pressure, there is a
pressure inequality in the unified cavity. Since pressure is a force applied to a surface area by
definition and a force is the product of mass and acceleration according to Newton's Second Law of
Motion, the pressure inequality will be resolved by having part of the mass in air molecules found in
the subglottal cavity move to the supraglottal cavity. This movement of mass is airflow. The airflow
will continue until a pressure equilibrium is reached. Similarly, in an ejective consonant with a
glottalic airstream mechanism, the lips or the tongue (i.e., the buccal or lingual valve) are initially
closed and the closed glottis (the laryngeal piston) is raised decreasing the oral cavity volume behind
the valve closure and increasing the pressure compared to the volume and pressure at a resting
state. When the closed valve is opened, airflow will result from the cavity behind the initial closure
outward until intraoral pressure is equal to atmospheric pressure. That is, air will flow from a cavity
of higher pressure to a cavity of lower pressure until the equilibrium point; the pressure as potential
energy is, thus, converted into airflow as kinetic energy.
Sound sources[edit]
Sound sources refer to the conversion of aerodynamic energy into acoustic energy. There are two
main types of sound sources in the articulatory system: periodic (or more precisely semi-periodic)
and aperiodic. A periodic sound source is vocal fold vibration produced at the glottis found in vowels
and voiced consonants. A less common periodic sound source is the vibration of an oral articulator
like the tongue found in alveolar trills. Aperiodic sound sources are the turbulent noise of fricative
consonants and the short-noise burst of plosive releases produced in the oral cavity.
Periodic sources[edit]
Non-vocal fold vibration: 20-40 cycles per second
Vocal fold vibration
Lower limit: 70-80 modal (bass), 30-40 creaky
Upper limit: 1170 (soprano)
Vocal fold vibration[edit]

larynx:
cricoid cartilage
thyroid cartilage
arytenoid cartilage
interarytenoid muscles (fold adduction)
posterior cricoarytenoid muscle (fold abduction)
lateral cricoarytenoid muscle (fold shortening/stiffening)
thyroarytenoid muscle (medial compression/fold stiffening, internal to folds)
cricothyroid muscle (fold lengthening)
hyoid bone
sternothyroid muscle (lowers thyroid)
sternohyoid muscle (lowers hyoid)
stylohyoid muscle (raises hyoid)
digastric muscle (raises hyoid)
Control of fundamental frequency[edit]
This section is empty. You can help by adding to it. (March 2009)
Experimental techniques[edit]
Articulation visualized by Real-time MRI
Plethysmography
Electromyography
Photoglottography
Electrolaryngography
Magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) / Real-time MRI [4]
Radiography
Medical ultrasonography
Electromagnetic articulography
Aerometry
Endoscopy
Videokymography
Palatography[edit]
In order to understand how sounds are made, experimental procedures are often adopted.
Palatography is one of the oldest instrumental phonetic techniques used to record data regarding
articulators.[5] In traditional, static palatography, a speaker's palate is coated with a dark powder.
The speaker then produces a word, usually with a single consonant. The tongue wipes away some of
the powder at the place of articulation. The experimenter can then use a mirror to photograph the
entire upper surface of the speaker's mouth. This photograph, in which the place of articulation can
be seen as the area where the powder has been removed, is called a palatogram.[6]
Technology has since made possible electropalatography (or EPG). In order to collect EPG data, the
speaker is fitted with a special prosthetic palate, which contains a number of electrodes. The way in
which the electrodes are "contacted" by the tongue during speech provides phoneticians with
important information, such as how much of the palate is contacted in different speech sounds, or
which regions of the palate are contacted, or what the duration of the contact is.
See also[edit]
Basis of articulation
Vowel
Consonant
References[edit]
Jump up ^ Note that although sound is just air pressure variations, the variations must be at a high
enough rate to be perceived as sound. If the variation is too slow, it will be inaudible.
Jump up ^ Stated in a less abbreviatory fashion: pressure1 * volume1 = pressure2 * volume2
Jump up ^ volume1 divided by sum of volume1 and change in volume = sum of pressure1 and the
change in pressure divided by pressure1
Jump up ^ Niebergall A, Zhang S, Kunay E, Keydana G, Job M, et al. Real-time MRI of Speaking at a
Resolution of 33 ms: Undersampled Radial FLASH with Nonlinear Inverse Reconstruction. Magn
Reson Med 2010, doi:10.1002/mrm.24276.
Jump up ^ Ladefoged, Peter: A Course In Phonetics: Third Edition, page 60. Harcourt Brace College
Publishers, 1993
Jump up ^ Palatography
Bickford, Anita (2006). Articulatory Phonetics: Tools For Analyzing The World's Languages (4th ed.).
Summer Institute of Linguistics. ISBN 1-55671-165-4.
Observing your articulators
QMU's CASL Research Centre site for ultrasound tongue imaging
UCLA Electromagnetic Articulography
UCLA Aerometry
UCLA Electrolaryngography
Articulatory Phonetic Alphabet
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This page was last modified on 23 February 2015, at 08:32.
Articulation (phonetics)
Human vocal tract
In phonetics and phonology, articulation is the movement of the tongue, lips, jaw, and other speech
organs (the articulators) in order to make speech sounds.
Sound is produced simply by expelling air from the lungs. However, to vary the sound quality in a
way that can be useful for speaking, two speech organs normally need to come close to each other
to contact each other, so as to create an obstruction that shapes the air in a particular fashion. The
point of maximum obstruction is known as the place of articulation, and the way in which the
obstruction is formed and released is known as the manner of articulation. For example, when
making a p sound, the two lips come together tightly, blocking the air for a little while and causing a
buildup of air pressure. The lips are then released suddenly, leading to a burst of sound. The place of
articulation of this sound is therefore called bilabial, and the manner is called stop (also known as a
plosive).
Articulation can be shown with magnetic resonance imaging to demonstrate how the tongue, lips
and jaw move and the rise and fall of the soft palate. Such movement alters resonant properties of
the vocal tract, and imposes a "time-varying formant structure" onto the speech signal.[1] The study
of articulation in making speech is called articulatory phonetics.
Contents [hide]
1 Place of articulation
2 Manner of articulation
3 Voicing and aspiration
4 See also
5 Notes
6 References
7 External links
Place of articulation[edit]
Labial
Bilabial
Labial–velar
Labial–coronal
Labiodental
Dentolabial
Bidental
Coronal
Linguolabial
Interdental
Dental
Denti-alveolar
Alveolar
Postalveolar
Palato-alveolar
Retroflex
Dorsal
Postalveolar
Alveolo-palatal
Palatal
Labial–palatal
Velar
Uvular
Uvular–epiglottal
Radical
Pharyngeal
Epiglottal
Guttural
Glottal
Peripheral
Tongue shape
Apical
Laminal
Subapical
Lateral
Sulcal
Palatal
Pharyngeal
vte

Places of articulation (passive & active):
1. Exo-labial, 2. Endo-labial, 3. Dental, 4. Alveolar, 5. Post-alveolar, 6. Pre-palatal, 7. Palatal, 8. Velar,

9. Uvular, 10. Pharyngeal, 11. Glottal, 12. Epiglottal, 13. Radical, 14. Postero-dorsal, 15. Antero-
dorsal, 16. Laminal, 17. Apical, 18. Sub-apical
An obstruction is necessarily formed when two articulators come close together. Generally, one is
moving (the active articulator), and the other is stationary (the passive articulator). As a result, what
is normally termed the "place of articulation" is actually a combination of a place of active
articulation and a place of passive articulation. For example, the English f sound is said to be
labiodental, which is a shorthand way of saying that the active articulator is the lower lip, which
moves up (along with the jaw in general) to contact the upper teeth. The lower lip can also be the
active articulator for other places of articulation (e.g. bilabial, where it contacts the upper lip, as in
English p). Likewise, the upper teeth can be the passive articulator for other places of articulation
(e.g. dental, where the tongue contacts the upper teeth, as in the English th sound).
The places of articulation used in English are:
Bilabial: Both lips come together, as in p, b or m
Labiodental: Lower lip contacts upper teeth, as in f or v
Dental: Tongue tip or tongue blade (part just behind the tip) contacts upper teeth, as in the two th
sounds (e.g. thin vs. this)
Alveolar: Tongue tip contacts the alveolar ridge (the gums just behind the teeth), as in t, d, n, or l; or
tongue blade contacts the alveolar ridge, as in s or z
Postalveolar: Tongue blade contacts the postalveolar region behind the alveolar ridge, as in sh, ch,
zh, or j; or tongue tip contacts the postalveolar region, as in r
Palatal: Middle of tongue approaches or contacts the hard palate, as in y
Velar: Back of tongue contacts the soft palate (or "velum"), as in k, g or ng
Labiovelar: Back of tongue approaches the soft palate and lips also come close to each other, as in w
Laryngeal: No obstruction anywhere but in the vocal cords down in the throat, as in h
The place of articulation is clearest for consonants, where there is generally a significant amount of
obstruction. For vowels, part of the tongue moves closer to the roof of the mouth, but there is still
enough of a gap that it is difficult to precisely specify the location of maximum obstruction. As a
result, vowels are normally described by height and frontness of the tongue (as well as amount of
rounding of the lips) rather than by a specific place of articulation. For example, the vowel in the first
syllable of father is a low back unrounded vowel; the vowel in tooth is a high back rounded vowel,
and the vowel in men is a low-mid front unrounded vowel.
Sometimes there can be more than one obstruction (although rarely more than two). There are two
kinds of double obstruction: Either both obstructions block the air flow in equal amounts, or one
obstruction blocks the air flow more than the other. The former type, a doubly articulated
consonant, does not occur in English. The latter type, however, is more common and does occur in
English; w is one example. With w, the place of greatest obstruction, called the primary articulation,
occurs at the soft palate; the rounding of the lips causes less blockage, and is called the secondary
articulation. Another example in English is the qu of words such as quit, with the same primary and
secondary articulations, but a complete blockage of the air at the soft palate rather than only a
restriction of the flow (a difference in manner of articulation; see below). (Note that the sound of qu
is normally analyzed as a sequence of k plus w, but both parts are actually pronounced at the same
time.)
Manner of articulation[edit]
Obstruent
Stop
Affricate
Fricative
Sibilant
Sonorant
Nasal
Flap/Tap
Approximant
Liquid
Vowel
Semivowel
Lateral
Trill
Airstreams
Pulmonic
Ejective
Implosive
Lingual (clicks)
Linguo-pulmonic
Linguo-ejective
Related
Alliteration
Assonance
Consonance
vte
Main article: Manner of articulation
"Manner of articulation" refers in general to characteristics of the speech organs other than the
location of the obstruction(s). There are multiple parameters involved here, and different types of
each. The manners of articulation used in English are:
1. Degree of stricture: How much blockage occurs at the primary articulation (the place of greatest
obstruction). The types in English are:
Stop: Complete blockage followed by sudden release, as in t, d, p, b, k, g. The blockage of air causes
air pressure to build up; when released, the air bursts out, giving these sounds their characteristic
sharp quality.
Fricative: Incomplete blockage but still close enough to cause significant airflow turbulence, as in f, v,
s, z, sh, zh and both th sounds. The turbulence causes the characteristic noisiness of fricatives.
Affricate: Complete blockage followed by a gradual release, resulting in a combination of stop +

fricative, as in ch and j.
Approximant: Incomplete blockage and far enough apart that airflow is smooth, as in r, y, w, and h.
2. Alternative air flow: The air travels a path other than down the center of the mouth:
Nasal: Complete blockage of air out the mouth but air can freely flow out the nose, as in m, n, ng.
Lateral: Complete blockage of air by the center of the tongue but air can flow out the sides of the
tongue, as in l.
3. Dynamic movement of the tongue:
Flap: Very brief complete blockage of air, in a way that doesn't cause any pressure buildup or release
burst, as in the American English pronunciation of t and d between vowels.
Trill: Multiple brief complete blockages in a row, caused by the active articulator (e.g. the tongue)
vibrating. A trilled r is well known in Spanish and also occurs as the normal pronunciation of r by
some Scottish English speakers.
Approximants, nasals, laterals, flaps, and trills are often grouped together as sonorants or resonants
(which also includes vowels); all of them have in common the fact that there is smooth airflow
throughout the consonant, and they are nearly always voiced (see below).
Voicing and aspiration[edit]
Main articles: Phonation and voice onset time
Voicing: How closely the vocal cords are placed together. In English there are only two possibilities,
voiced and unvoiced. Voicing is caused by the vocal cords held close by each other, so that air
passing through them makes them vibrate. All normally spoken vowels are voiced, as are all other
sonorants except h, as well as some of the remaining sounds (b, d, g, v, z, zh, j, and the th sound in
this). All the rest are voiceless sounds, with the vocal cords held far enough apart that there is no
vibration; however, there is still a certain amount of audible friction, as in the sound h. Voiceless
sounds are not very prominent unless there is some turbulence, as in the stops, fricatives, and
affricates; this is why sonorants in general only occur voiced. The exception is during whispering,
when all sounds pronounced are voiceless.
See also[edit]
Airstream mechanism
Human voice
Phonation
Relative articulation
Source–filter model of speech production

Vocal tract
Notes[edit]
Jump up ^ University of Southern California. Human articulators in action. Video from the Speech
Production and Knowledge Group website. Retrieved on 2013-01-01.
References[edit]
Ladefoged, Peter; Maddieson, Ian (1996). The Sounds of the World's Languages. Oxford: Blackwell.
ISBN 0-631-19814-8.
Interactive Flash website for American English, Spanish and German sounds
vte
[show]
IPA topics
[show]
Consonants
[show]
Vowels
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Articulatory Phonetics

a) the airstream process--the source of air used in making the sound.

Let's discuss the airstream process first.

The airstream process

The phonation process

The oro-nasal process

Consonantal place of articulation

postalveolar or palatoalveolar (apico- or lamino-) (English [S]/[Z]),

velar or dorso-velar Eng. [k, g, N] German [x] Greek [V]

uvular French [R], also found in many German dialects.

pharyngeal (constriction of the sides of the throat),

a) The glottis is slightly constricted to produce [h], a glottalic approximant.

Sonorants are produced using the following manners of articulation:

Review of some articulatory terminology

Obstruents (high degree of blockage) include: plosives, fricatives, and affricates.

Sonorants (low degree of blockage)include: nasals and approximants.

Liquid: all l- and r- sounds, whether fricative or approximant.

Secondary articulation features in consonants

Pharyngealization. Concomitant constriction of throat. Afroasiatic languages of north Africa, such

The oro-nasal process in vowels

2) how high the tongue is raised: high, middle, low

Tense= by, too, way, so, ma

5) nasal vs. non-nasal (describe the velum and oro-nasal process)

There are three diphthongs in General American English

Diphthongs in other American dialects.

Dr. C. George Boeree

The Vocal Tract

a. Bilabial plosives: p (unvoiced) and b (voiced)

b. Alveolar plosives: t (unvoiced) and d (voiced)

c. Velar plosives: k (unvoiced) and g (voiced)

a. Labiodental fricatives: f (unvoiced) and v (voiced)

c. Alveolar fricatives: s (unvoiced) and z (voiced)

d. Palatal fricatives: sh (unvoiced) and zh (like the s in vision -- voiced)

e. Glottal fricative: h (unvoiced)

a. Bilabial nasal: m

b. Alveolar nasal: n

c. Velar nasal: ng

Vowels are classified in three dimensions:

high are beet, bit, boot, and book

low are bat, car, and british pot

front are beet, bit, bait, bet, and bat

center are but, bird, and a in ago

back are boot, book, boat, bought, and british pot

3. How rounded or unrounded the lips are

the front vowels are unrounded

the center and back vowels are rounded

Vowel length is marked with a colon after the vowel, e.g. i:

Stress and Tones

Tone 1 -- high and level (as in hey!)

Tone 2 -- middle, then rising (as in was it you?)

Tone 4 -- high, then falling (as in Tom spoken by a disappointed mom)

© Copyright 2005, C. George Boeree

From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

The field of articulatory phonetics is a subfield of phonetics. In studying articulation, phoneticians

3 The two classes of sounds

3.1.1 Places of articulation

5.1 Periodic sources

5.1.1 Vocal fold vibration

5.1.1.1 Control of fundamental frequency

The two classes of sounds[edit]

Main article: Place of articulation

[t, d, n] the tongue tip is raised and touches the ridge.

Nasal vowel / Oral vowel

Previous Vowel / Later Vowel