Module I the speech organs english consonant phonemes
The Speech Organs (Articulators) and Their Functions The Production of Speech Sounds
All the sounds we make are the result of muscles contracting. The air from the lungs passes into the wind-pipe, then into the larynx where the vocal cords are located and then goes through the vocal tract different parts of which are called articulators or speech organs.
Voice is produced when the airflow forced between the vocal cords brings them together and makes them vibrate. When the vocal cords are wide apart and do not vibrate the airflow escapes easily and no voice is produced.
The diagram shows the speech organs that we use in the production of different speech sounds.
Fig.1 The Speech Organs larynx
The speech organs are divided into active (movable) and passive (fixed).
Active Speech Organs |
Passive Speech Organs |
the vocal cords (in the larynx) |
the hard palate |
the tongue |
the alveolar ridge |
the lips |
the teeth |
the soft palate
The Palate (the roof of the mouth) |
The Tongue |
the soft palate (the velum) with the uvula |
the back part |
the hard palate |
the front part |
the alveolar ridge |
the blade with the tip |
When the soft palate is raised the air escapes through the mouth cavity; when it is lowered the air escapes through the nasal cavity.
In the process of articulation, i.e. production of speech sounds, active and passive speech organs come into contact.
Speech sounds are divided into vowels and consonants. Vowels are voiced speech sounds produced in the mouth cavity with no obstruction to the airflow. Consonants are produced with a complete or an incomplete obstruction to the airflow. They can be voiced and voiceless.
A complete obstruction is formed when two speech organs come in contact and thus block the air-passage through the mouth. An incomplete obstruction is formed when an active speech organ is held so close to a passive speech organ that the air-passage gets narrowed, or constricted but is not blocked.
One should discriminate speech sounds from phonemes. The phoneme is the smallest language unit which has a set of distinctive features and helps to make words and their forms. Sounds are realizations of phonemes in speech. Thus there are 20 vowel phonemes and 24 consonant phonemes in English.
Exercise 1.
Answer the following questions. Check up your answers with the key.
1) On the diagram provided various speech organs are indicated by numbered arrows (а - e). Give the names for the speech organs.
(d)
(a)
2) Name the active speech organs. Say where they are situated.
3) Name the passive speech organs.
4) What speech organs are found in the mouth cavity?
5) What parts is the roof of the mouth divided into?
6) What are the parts into which the tongue is divided?
7) Where are the vocal cords situated? What makes them vibrate?
8) How is voice produced?
9) What two groups are speech sounds divided into?
10) How do consonants differ from vowels?
11) Define the two types of obstruction.
12) What is the phoneme?