by Oksana Chernysh

ENGLISH ARTICULATION.
ORGANS OF SPEECH AND SOUND PRODUCTION.

To pronounce English sounds correctly we should study the physiology and

get to know more about the peculiarities of English articulation.
To begin with, we all use the same speech organs to produce the sounds we
become accustomed to producing. The set of sounds we acquire, however, may
vary: a child brought up in an English-speaking environment will develop the
phonemes of English; a French-speaking child will develop a different set, and so
on. To a certain extent we can learn to use our speech organs in new ways in order
to produce learnt sounds in a foreign language or to lose sounds from our own
language which are not appropriate in the foreign language. It seems, however, that
after childhood our ability to adopt an unfamiliar set of sounds diminishes
somewhat.
The term “speech organs” refers to a set of organs (lungs, larynx, pharynx,
nasal cavity, mouth, alveolar ridge, hard and soft palate, uvula, vocal cords,
tongue, lips, upper and lower jaws, teeth) used for the production of sounds and
their chains through which people communicate. There should be distinguished
active organs of speech, which can be moved in contact with other articulations,
such as the tongue, and passive organs of speech, such as the teeth, the hard palate
and the alveolar ridge, which are immovable in producing speech sounds.
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The picture below shows the location of the main areas of the head and the
neck associated with the production of sounds (See Picture 1).

Picture 1. Organs of Speech and Sound Production.

In the human larynx (“voice box”) there are two flaps of elastic, connective
tissue known as vocal cords, which can be open and close. During normal
breathing, and also in the production of unvoiced sounds, the cords are open. When
the edges of the vocal cords come close together, the air which passes between
them makes them vibrate, resulting in voicing. The pitch of the sound (how high or
low) is controlled by muscles which slacken and lengthen the cords for low tones,
and shorten the cords, pulling them taut, for high-pitched tones.
We speak using the lips, tongue, teeth, hard and soft palates and
alveolar ridge. The nasal cavity comes into play for certain sounds, and the
movement of the lower jaw is also important. Articulation happens when the
airstream is interrupted, shaped, restricted or diverted. The role played by each
 by Oksana Chernysh

physiological feature in the articulation of vowels and consonants is summarized in

further chapters. For now, get acquainted with the organs of speech and make you
sure you understand their actions. Larynx ˈlær.ɪŋks is the part of the vocal
tract between the uvula and the pharynx. It is a major component of speech-
producing organs. There is a complex set of muscles inside the larynx that can
open and close the vocal cords as well as change their length and tension.
Vocal cords (vocal folds) ˈvəʊ.kəl ˌkɔːdz are the thin bands of muscles in
the larynx at the upper end of a windpipe that can be moved rapidly by the passing
of air and thus produce sounds. The vocal cord can make from 42 to 1707
movements a second. The frequency of vocal cords variations in singing is from 80
to 1303 Hz which equals to 4 octaves. The singing voice is only 2 octaves. For a
male voice the frequency of the vocal cord variations in speech may be between
100 to 250 Hz. A woman’s voice may go up to about 400 Hz. In speech the
frequency of the vocal cords variations is just a bit more than one octave. Sound
frequency higher than 8000 Hz is significant in speech communication.
Trachea trəˈkiː.ə is the tube which forms an air passage from the throat to
the top of the lungs for producing speech sounds.
Oesophagus iˈsɒfəɡəs is the tube through which food passes from the
mouth to the stomach.
Epiglottis ˌep.ɪˈɡlɒt.ɪs is a small flat part at the back of the tongue that
closes when you swallow to prevent food from entering the tube that goes to the
lungs.
Pharynx ˈfær.ɪŋks is the tube which connects the larynx to the oral cavity.
It is about 7 cm long in women and about 8 cm in men. At its top end the pharynx
is divided into two parts, one part being the beginning of the back of the mouth and
the other being the beginning of the way through the nasal cavity. It is usually
classed as an articulator.
Uvula ˈjuː.vjə.lə is a small lobe of flesh hanging loosely from the centre of
the soft palate. It acts as a place of articulation for a number of consonants
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articulated in the back of the mouth. The uvula is active only when it vibrates in a
uvula trill.
Soft palate ˌsɒft ˈpæl.ət is a muscular flap at the back of the mouth that
can be raised to press against the back wall of the pharynx and shut off the nasal
track, preventing air from going out through the nose. For most speech sounds the
soft palate is raised and pressed against the upper back wall of the throat sp that no
air can escape through the nose. Such an articulation is typical of all oral sounds.
However, for nasal consonants articulation the soft palate is lowered so that the air
can pass only through the nose.
Hard palate ˌhɑːd ˈpæl.ət is a bony structure in the front part of the roof of
the mouth.
Nasal cavity ˈneɪ.zəl ˈkæv.ə.ti is a large, air-filled space above and behind
the nose in the middle of the face.
Alveolar ridge ˌæl.vi.əʊ.lə ˈrɪdʒ is a small protuberance just behind the
upper teeth. The tip of the tongue comes into contact with this in some of the
consonants such as t, d, s, z, n, l which have the alveolar place of
articulation.
Lips lɪps are two soft parts around the mouth here the skin is redder and
darker.
Teeth tiːθ are the small hard bony objects growing in the upper and lower
jaws and which play important roles in the production of sounds, for instance, all
the dental allophones of apico-alveolar phonemes are produced with the help of the
tip of the tongue in contact with some of the front teeth.
Tongue tʌŋ is the movable fleshy organ in the mouth cavity known as a
very important articulator in speech production. For the purpose of sound
description and their phonetic classification the surface of the tongue is subdivided
into different parts which are given different names: the tip, i.e. the furthest
forward section of the tongue; the blade, that is situated behind the tongue tip, the
front of the tongue which is its widest part, behind which is the back of the tongue
 by Oksana Chernysh

extending past the back teeth and down the forward part of the pharynx, the root,
i.e. the place where the tongue ends and is joined to the rear end of the lower jaw.
Each of these names has a noun form and a corresponding adjective, for instance
the back of the tongue is involved in the production of consonants such as velar
and uvular, and the adjective back is used to denote a group of vowels produced
with the back of the tongue.
The branch of phonetics that studies speech organs and their actions is called
articulatory phonetics.

Check your understanding:

▪ Why is it important to get to know about organs of speech and sound

production?
▪ Why is it sometimes difficult to pronounce sounds correctly?
▪ What are active and passive organs of speech?