Airstream Mechanism

Phonetics is the study of human sounds and phonology is the classification of the sounds
within the system of a particular language or languages.

Phonetics: In order to produce sound humans use various body parts including the lips,
tongue, teeth, pharynx and lungs. Phonetics is the term for the description and classification
of speech sounds, particularly how sounds are produced, transmitted and received. A
phoneme is the smallest unit in the sound system of a language; for example, the t sound in
the word top.

Phonology: Phonology is the term used for the study of the speech sounds used in a
particular language. The distinctive accents that many learners of English have are due to
differences between the phonological system of their language and that of English. From
birth, and possibly before, we learn to recognize and produce the distinctive sounds of our
own language. We do not need to give any thought to how to have the lips, tongue, teeth, etc.
working together to produce the desired sounds. The physical structures of parts of the
sound system are adapted to produce native-language sounds.

 Definition
In phonetics, the airstream mechanism is the method by which airflow is
created in the vocal tract. Along with phonation and articulation, it is one of three
main components of speech production. The airstream mechanism is mandatory for
sound production and constitutes the first part of this process, which is called
initiation.

 There are different airstream for different sounds. For example, some sounds
are known as ejectives, some are known as implosives and some are known
as clicks.

 There are difference names for airstream also. One we called pulmonic
airstream, another non-pulmonic airstream and one we call ingressive
airstream, another is egressive airstream.

 Ingressive and Egressive pulmonic airstream

 Pulmonic
Pulmonic airstream mechanism means that air flows from the lungs through
the vocal tract outwards and in this process air flow sounds are produced

 Egressive and Ingressive

Inggressive; air that flows inward, meaning it gnerally comes in from outside
of us in through our mouth
Egressive; air that flows outward, meaning it generally starts from within us
somewhere (lungs etc) and fows out through our mouth.

 Clicks
 One kind of inggressive sound, the air is sucked into the mouth to make click.
Click is sound created by pushing the body of your tongue to the soft palate
and also making another clossure further front in the mouth. Lick your lips or
teeth then you slide tounge further back along the soft palate by making the
space inside your mouth bigger. The pressure in it goes down and creates
suction then release it.

Any of the three initiators − diaphragm, glottis or tongue − may act by either increasing or
decreasing the pressure generating the airstream. These changes in pressure often
correspond to outward and inward airflow, and are therefore termed egressive and
ingressive respectively.

Of these six resulting airstream mechanisms, four are found lexically around the world:

 pulmonic egressive, where the air is pushed out of the lungs by the ribs and
diaphragm. All human languages employ such sounds (such as vowels), and nearly
three out of four use them exclusively.
 glottalic egressive, where the air column is compressed as the glottis moves upward.
Such consonants are called ejectives. Ejective and ejective-like consonants occur in
16% of the languages.
 glottalic ingressive, where the air column is rarefied as the glottis moves downward.
Such consonants are called implosives. Implosive and implosive-like consonants
occur in 13% of the world's languages. Despite the name, the airstream may not
actually flow inward: While the glottis moves downward, pulmonic air passes
outward through it, but the reduction in pressure makes an audible difference to the
sound.
 lingual ingressive, AKA velaric ingressive, where the air in the mouth is rarefied by a
downward movement of the tongue. These are the click consonants. Clicks are
regular sounds in ordinary words in fewer than 2% of the world's languages, all in
Africa.[2]

These mechanisms may be combined into airstream contours, such as clicks which release
into ejectives.

The Khoisan languages have pulmonic, ejective, and click consonants, the Chadic languages
have pulmonic, implosive, and ejective consonants, and the Nguni languages utilize all four,
pulmonic, click, implosive, and ejective, in normal vocabulary. Most other languages utilize
only one or two airstream mechanisms.

In interjections, the other two mechanisms may be employed. For example, in countries as
diverse as Sweden, Turkey, and Togo, a pulmonic ingressive ("gasped" or "inhaled") vowel
is used for back-channeling or to express agreement, and in France a lingual egressive (a
"spurt") is used to express dismissal. The only language where such sounds are known to be
contrastive in normal vocabulary is the extinct ritual language Damin (also the only
language outside Africa with clicks); however, Damin appears to have been intentionally
designed to differ from normal speech.