TOPIC 1

ORGANS OF SPEECH

TOPIC 1: ORGANS OF SPEECH

Dr. Imran Ho

INTRODUCTION
Language is primarily used for communication. The communication is either in the oral or
written form. In the oral form, all human language involves the production of speech
sounds. In this unit, you will learn how these sounds are produced and the mechanism
involved in speech production. The study of the production of human speech sounds is
known as articulatory phonetics.

In this chapter you will be introduced to the main organs involved in the production of
speech sounds. In particular, the chapter look at the places of articulation, the manner of
articulation and the aspect of phonation (also known as voicing) in the production of
various of speech sounds. Be prepared to look into the mirror with your mouth open wide
to identify some of the places where the speech sounds are made.

OBJECTIVES
At the end of this chapter, students should be able to:

1. list the main organs of speech;

2. identify the various places of articulation;
3. identify the different manner of articulation; and
4. describe the process of phonation.

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MIND MAP
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ORGANS OF SPEECH
Speech production mechanism
Airstream mechanism
Articulatory anatomomy

PLACE OF MANNER OF PHONATION

ARTICULATION ARTICULATION
voiced
Nasals
voiceless
lips (bilabials) Plosives or
lips and teeth Stops
(labio-dentals) Fricatives
interdental (tongue Sibilants
and teeth) Affricates
alveolar ridge Approximants
hard palate palato- (also called
alveolars, palatals Semivowels or
and palato-velars) Liquids)
soft palate – Lateral
(velar) approximants
glottis (glottals)

1.1 ORGANS OF SPEECH

How are human speech sounds different from other kinds of sounds?

The production of a speech sound begin with the expulsion of air from the lungs through
the mouth or the nose. This is known as an egressive pulmonic air stream. Although the
speech sounds of some languages involves the movement of air into the lungs or an
ingressive pulmonic air stream, all English sounds are are egressive pulmonic in nature
that involves air stream flowing out from the lungs. Different sounds are produced as a

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result of the obstruction to the airstream. These obstructions are governed by different
articulators or organs of speech.

The speech organs or the articulatory anatomy include the following: [as you read each
description, locate the organs in Figure 1]

Figure 1: The human speech organs

[source:http://www.

1. Lips – This is the protrusion at the front of the mouth. Sound produced as a
result of obstruction of air stream with both lips are known as bilabial sounds
2. Teeth – Our teeth are located on both the upper jaw and the lower jaw. The
teeth on the upper jaw are known as the upper teeth, while those on the lower
jaw are called the lower teeth. The upper teeth and the lower teeth can also be
brought together to obstruct the air stream producing a hissing sound. Sounds
produced involving the teeth are dental sounds. The sounds produced that
involve the upper teeth ridge on the roof of the mouth are called interdental or
dental alveolar
3. Palate - The roof of the mouth or the palate is the convex part forming the
upper bounds of the mouth. The palate stretches from the region just behind
the upper front teeth right (the dental ridge) to the back of the mouth (uvula).
The palates can be divided into continuous parts. The region immediately after

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the dental is the hard palate which is a concave part of the roof of the mouth
and forms the central part of the roof of the mouth. The soft palate or the
velum is located in the back part of the roof of the mouth. The ending part of
the soft palate is called the uvula.
4. Tongue - The surface of the tongue can be divided into three parts namely the
tip of the tongue, the front of the tongue, and the back of the tongue. The tip of
the tongue is the front end of the tongue which at rest touches the back of the
front teeth. The front of the tongue at rest is directly below the hard palate,
while the back of the tongue at rest is directly below the soft palate.
5. Epiglottis – The epiglottis is at the end of our throat and functions to protect
what we eat or drink from going into the lungs. The epiglotis closes the
windpipe when we swallow.
6. Larynx – The larynx is the upper part of the windpipe. It is sometimes refer to
as the voice box. It serves to protect the vocal cords.
7. Vocal cords - The vocal cords consists of two lip-like elastic membranes that
are located in the larynx. When the vocal cords are brought close together
during the sound production, they vibrate and produce a buzzing noise. Sounds
produced with the vocal cords vibrating are called voiced sound. When the
vocal cords are apart, air passes through the larynx without any vibration and
sound produced without such vibrations in the vocal cords is a voiceless sound.

Different human speech sounds are produced as a result of the obstruction of airstream by
the speech organs above. The articulatory organs also forms two tracts (imagine them us
tubes) where the airstream have to pass through before they are released. The first is
called the oral tract which starts from the pharynx right through to the oral cavity formed
between the palate and the tongue. The second is the nasal tract (the nasal cavity) where
air flows out through the nose. Sounds which are released through the nose are called
nasal sounds.

In the next section we shall investigate how the different places of articulation allow us to
produce different consonant sounds.

1.2 PLACES OF ARTICULATION

The speech sounds are produced mainly based on the place of articulation. The place of
articulation refers to the point where the outward flow of air is obstructed. Sounds which
are made with obstruction to the air flow are called consonant sounds. We can group
sounds together according to their place of articulation.

Let us examine in detail the different places of articulation. Study the diagram below and
note the different points or place of articulation:

a. bilabial
b. labio-dental
c. dental
d. interdental
e. alveolar
f. palato-alveolar
g. palatal

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h. retrolex
i. velar
j. uvular
k. glottal

Figure 2.1 : Sagital cross section of the human head

[This diagram is from http://www.sil.org/mexico/ling/glosario/E005ci-PlacesArt.htm]

The table below shows where the diffent places of articulation are for the different English
consonants. Say the words out loud and note the place of articulation. Think of other
words that have the same place of articulation and write them in the last column.

Place of articulation Sounds Your own examples

the lips (bilabials) /b/ as in ban
/p/ as in pan
/m/ as in man
/w/ as in win
the lips and teeth (labio- /f/ as in fan
dentals) /v/ as in van
Interdental (tongue and teeth) // as in thin
// as in then
the alveolar ridge (that part of /t/ as in tin
the gums behind the upper /d/ as in dine
front teeth -- alveolar /n/ as in nine
articulations) /s/ as in son
/z/ as in zone
/l/ as in live
/r/ as in row
the hard palate palato- // as in ship
alveolars, palatals and palato- // as in measure
velars), // as in cheap
// as in judge
/j/ as in you 
the soft palate – (velar) /k/ as in coat

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/g/ as in goat
// as in sing
the glottis (glottals). /h/ as in hat

We can group different sounds together according to their place of articulation. For
example the /k/ and /g/ are velar sounds as opposed to /b/ and /p/ which are bilabial
sounds.

Exercise 1
1. Identify the various points of articulation from the front to the back of
the mouth in the following diagram.

1.3 MANNER OF ARTICULATION

The manner of articulation refers to how the airstream is obstructed and the closure of the
cavity as the air stream flows through. The obstruction could either be complete or partial
and the airstream may flow out of the nasal cavity (in which case the velum is lowered) or
the oral cavity (in which case the nasal cavity is blocked by raising the velum).

The different manners of articulation of English sounds can be categorised as follows:

a. Nasals sounds are produced when there is a total blockage of the oral cavity and
the sound instead goes through the nasal cavity.
b. Plosives or stops sounds are produced when the airstream passing through the
oral cavity is obstructed before it is released.

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c. Fricatives are produced when there is continuous friction at the place of

articulation. Sibilants are a special type of fricatives where the airstream is shaped
by the form of the tongue.
d. Affricates are produced through a combination of a plosive that is immediately
followed by a fricative in the same place of articulation. The // in cheap and the
// in judge are the only two affricates in English.
e. Approximants, (also called semivowels or liquids) are produced through partial
obstruction of airstream. English has three approximants, namely /w/, /r/, and /j/.
The English /l/ is a special type of approximant formed at one or both sides of the
tongue and is called a lateral approximants.

The table below shows the diffent manners of articulations of the English consonants. Say
the words out loud and note the manner of articulation. Think of other words that have the
same manner of articulation and write them in the last column.

Manner of articulation Sounds Your own examples

Nasals /m/ as in met
/n/ as in net
Plosives or Stops, /p/ as in pat
/b/ as in bat
/t/ as in tap
/d/ as in dad
/k/ as in kid
/g/ as in get
Fricatives /f/ as in fin
/v/ as in van
// as in thin
// as in then
Sibilants /s/ as in sin
/z/ as in zoo
// as in thin
// as in measure
Affricates // as in cheap
// as in judge
Approximants or Semivowels /w/ as in win
or Liquids /r/ as in row
/j/ as in year
Lateral approximants /l/ as in live

We can group different sounds together according to their manner of articulation. For
example the /m/ and /n/ are nasal sounds as opposed to /b/ and /p/ which are plosive
sounds.

1.4 PHONATION
Phonation or voicing refers to the vibration (or the lack of vibration) of the vocal cords in
the production of a particular sound. A sound can either be voiceless or voiced. A sound is

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voiceless or fortis when the vocal cords do not vibrate during its articulation. If the vocal
cords do vibrate, the sound is called voiced or lenis.

The space between the vocal cords is also called the glottis. When a sound is voiced the
glottis is closed because vocal cords are brought together. The airstream that flows
through causes the cords to vibrate. When a sound is voiceless, the glottis is opened and
the vocal cords are apart. Thus the airstream flows out without obstruction and there is no
vibration of the vocal cords. Most consonants of English are paired in a voiced and
voiceless contrast. In other words, they have the same manner and place of articulation
but only differ in their phonation.

Phonation
Voiceless Voiced
/p/ as in pat /b/ as in bat
/t/ as in pat /d/ as in pat
/k/ as in pat /g/ as in gate
/f/ as in fin /v/ as in van
// as in thin // as in then
/s/ as in sin /z/ as in zoo
// as in thin // as in measure

SUMMARY
The primary organ of speech involves the upper respiratory tract – from emission of air
from the lungs through the larnyx and out through the mouth or the nose. As the airstream
passes through the various tracts, it is modified by the shape of the articulators. Hence,
different speech sounds are produced depending on the position or place of the
articulators, the manner in which the sound is produced and the phonation involved.

The place of articulation refers to the position of the articulators when a sound is produced.
The places of articulation for English sounds include
the lips (bilabials)
the lips and teeth (labio-dentals)
the interdental (tongue and teeth)
the alveolar ridge (that part of the gums behind the upper front teeth -- alveolar
articulations)
the hard palate palato-alveolars, palatals and palato-velars),
the soft palate – (velar)
the glottis (glottals).

The manner of articulation refers to the degree of obstruction of the airstream when the
sound is produced, and to the cavity or flow of the airstream (nasal or oral cavity). The
manners of articulation of the English sounds include

Nasals
Plosives or Stops,
Fricatives

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Sibilants
Affricates
Approximants (also called Semivowels or Liquids)
Lateral approximants

The phonation of a sound is defined by the state of the glottis. When the vocal cords are
closed and together, the airstream causes them to vibrate and produced voiced sounds.
When the sound is voiceless, the glottis is opened with the vocal cords being apart. The
airstream flows through without obstruction and there is no vibration of the vocal cords.

GLOSSARY
egressive pulmonic air stream - air stream which flows outwards from the lungs
glottis - the gap between the vocal folds or vocal cords
larynx - the upper part of the windpipe or traches. It is
sometimes refer to as the voice boxserving to
protect the vocal cords.
palate - the convex part of the roof of the mouth forming
the upper bounds of the mouth
velum - the part of the palate located in the back part of
the roof of the mouth.
vocal cords - two lip-like elastic membranes located in the
larynx
uvula - the ending part of the soft palate

TEST 1
Instructions: Answer all the questions below in 15 minutes.

1. What are the three (3) aspects of an articulatory description?

2. What is the major part of the articulatory anatomy involved in phonation?

3. Give the place of articulation for the initial sounds of these words – ten, pen, gap,
map, shop, row.

4. What is a fortis sound?

5. Provide an example of an English sounds produced at these points and manner of

articulation
(i) Palatal Nasal
(ii) Alveolar Stop

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TEST 2
Instruction: Answer all the questions below in 30 minutes.

(a) Explain the difference between a nasal sound and a plosive sound.
(4 marks)

(b) Describe the process of producing a voiced sound

(3 marks)

(c) What are the similarities and differences between the sounds /m/, /p/ and /b/?
(3 marks)

(d) Describe the manner of articulation of each of these sounds.

(i) // as in judge

(ii) /v/ as in van
(iii) /g/ as in gate
(iv) /r/ as in row
(v) /z/ as in zoo

(10 marks)
[Total 20 marks]

REFERENCES
Carr, Philip. 1999. English Phonetics and Phonology. An Introduction.
Oxford: Blackwell

Fromkin, Victoria et al. (2000) Linguistics: an Introduction to Linguistic Theory.

Oxford: Blackwell.

International Phonetic Association. 1999. Handbook of the International Phonetic

Association. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.

Ladefoged, Peter. 2001. A Course in Phonetics. (4th. Edn.).

New York: Harcourt Brace.

Roach, Peter. 1999. English Phonetics and Phonology. A Practical Course.

Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.

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