Branches of Phonetics

&
Organs of Speech
(Source: Introduction to English Phonotics &
Phonology by Aslam and Kak )
Dr. Marwan At-Tayar

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 Phonetics
 Branches of Phonetics
o Articulatory phonetics
o Acoustic phonetics
o Auditory phonetics
 Systems of Production of Speech
o Phonatory system
o Articulatory system
o Respiratory system
 Organs of Speech
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 The basic function of speech is communication.
 The two main players in the act of communication
are speaker (the sender) and the hearer or the listener
(the recipient).
 The speaker uses a system to encode what he wants
to communicate. Encoding is a mental and
psychological process.
 Cerebral commands are sent to the vocal organs
which transmit speech in the form of sound waves
through the air.

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 After the message has been encoded and transmitted,
it has to be received and decoded by the listener.
 The listener receives the message/audio signals via
the auditory system (i.e. the ear) and then decodes
it in the brain.
 The communication takes place between the speaker
and the listener if they share a common code (i.e. a
language).

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 Phonetics is the study of the characteristics of speech
sounds.
 The scientific study of the way speech sounds are
produced by our vocal organs and the way they are
perceived by the ear is called phonetics.
 Branches of Phonetics:
- Articulatory phonetics is the study of how speech
sounds are produced/articulated.
- Acoustic phonetics is the study of the physical
properties of speech as sound waves in the air.
- Auditory phonetics (perceptual phonetics) is the
study of the perception of speech sounds by the ear.
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 There are three systems of organs that play a vital
role in the production of speech:
- The respiratory system
- The phonatory system
- The articulatory system

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 The respiratory system is comprised of the lungs,
the trachea and bronchial tubes, the intercostal
muscles of the ribs and the diaphragm.
 The air we breathe moves in and out of the lungs in
the form of a current called an airstream which
forms the basis of the production of human speech
sounds.
 There are two kinds of airstreams, egressive and
ingressive:
- An egressive pulmonic airstream is set in
motion when the speaker exhales.
- An ingressive pulmonic airstream is set in
motion when the speaker inhales. 9
 The phonatory system which consists of the
larynx, also called the voice box.
 In men, the larynx is commonly known as the
Adam's apple.

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 The articulatory system consists of articulators: the
nose, the lips and the mouth, including the teeth and
the tongue.
 After passing through the larynx, the airstream is
further modified by the various shapes that the
articulators assume before the sound is released.

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 The lungs
 The larynx and the vocal cords
 The glottis
 The pharynx
 The tongue
 The lips
 The teeth
 The alveolar ridge/The teeth ridge
 The hard palate
 The velum
 The uvula
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 The lungs play a vital role in the production of speech
sounds.
 When we breathe in, air travels down through the
trachea/windpipe, expanding the lungs and once air
is exhaled, the lungs come back to their normal size.
 Moving air, known as an airstream, is essential for
the production of sounds.
 When the air is obstructed or forced to pass through a
constricted space by manipulating the airtsream, we
are able to produce audible sounds.

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 The larynx lies behind and below the prominence in the throat,
and is often called the Adam's apple.
 It is a box made up of two cartilages, the thyroid cartilage
and the cricoid cartilage.
 All air which is inhaled or exhaled has to pass through the
larynx.
 Inside the larynx there are two thick muscular flaps called the
vocal cords or vocal folds.
 The larynx is capable of producing different modes of
phonation.
 Phonation is the use of the laryngeal system to generate an
audible source of acoustic energy with the help of an airstream
provided by the respiratory system, which can be modified by
the articulatory action of the rest of the vocal apparatus.
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 The space between the vocal folds is called the glottis.
 Four main states of the glottis:
- Wide open: When the vocal folds are wide open, the
resulting sounds are said to be voiceless; like /p / and
/t/ in English.
- Narrow glottis: The vocal folds are brought close
together but not so close as to create vibration. The
airstream is, nonetheless, restricted resulting in
fricative sounds like /h/, a voiceless glottal fricative.

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- Glottis in vibration: When the edges of the vocal
folds touch each other, they cause vibration in the
glottis. During this process the air passes between
them in a series of rapid, tiny puffs producing voiced
sounds such as /b/, /d/, /g / and so on.
- Closed Glottis: When the vocal folds are
firmly pressed together so that air cannot pass
between them, we say that the glottis is closed.
This happens in speech when we produce the
glottal stop or plosive represented by /?/.

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 The pharynx connects the larynx to the oral
cavity. The pharynx branches into two cavities,
the nasal and the oral.

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 The tongue is the most flexible of the
articulators. It can roughly be divided into the
root, back, front, blade and tip.

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 The lips play an important role in the
production of speech sounds.
 The lips can be either firmly closed as in the
initial sound of pin and bin or partially closed
as in the initial sound in wet.
 The lips can be completely rounded as the
vowel sound in fool or partially rounded as
in the vowel sound of got.

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 The teeth are situated at the front of the mouth and
immediately behind the lips.
 The tongue can touch the teeth at many points. For
example, some sounds are made when the tongue
touches the upper teeth as in the initial consonant
sound in three and this (called dental sounds).
 The lips can also be brought into contact with the
upper teeth to produce sounds like the initial sounds
in fit and van (called labiodental sounds).

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 The ridge between the upper teeth and the
hard palate is known as the alveolar ridge.
 Sounds made with the tongue making firm
contact with this ridge are called alveolar
sounds: the initial sounds in tin and desk.

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 There is a hard area immediately behind the
alveolar ridge and before the velum in the oral
cavity. This is called the hard palate.
 Consonant sounds that are produced with the
tongue and the hard palate are called
palatals (or alveo-palatals): /ʃ/, /ʧ/, /ʒ/, /ʤ/,
and /j/.

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 The velum, also known as the soft palate, is
the soft, muscular portion behind the hard
palate.
 If the velum is raised, the only escape for the
air is through the mouth.
 When the velum is lowered and the oral
passage is closed, the air escapes through the
nasal cavity producing nasal sounds: /m/, /n/
and /ŋ/.

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 The uvula is the small hanging protuberance
dangling at the back of the mouth.
 The uvula vibrates during the articulation of
'r' sound in many French dialects.

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1. Fill in the blanks:
a. In the production and transmission of speech sounds, ……..
encodes the speech signal and ……….…. decodes it.
b. ………... pulmonic airstream is caused when air is exhaled.
c. …… pulmonic airstream is set in motion when air is inhaled.
d. Adam's apple is the more common name for …………
e. When air is exhaled, the diaphragm becomes more …….
f. The space between the vocal folds is called ……….
g. The small hanging protuberance at the back of the mouth is
called ………
h. ………. is commonly called the soft palate.
2. What role does the glottis play in the production of speech?

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1. Write the appropriate name of the organs of speech for
each of the following description:
1. It behind the alveolar ridge and before the velum in the oral
cavity.
2. It is known as the soft palate. It is the soft, muscular portion
behind the hard palate. It can be or raised or lowered.
3. It is between the upper teeth and the hard palate.

4. They are situated at the front of the mouth immediately

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