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UNIVERSITY OF BAGHDAD COLLEGE OF ARTS

ENGLISH DEPARTMENT

Phonetics & Phonology


The Organs of Speech
BY Hiba Dhafer

25th NOVEMBER, 2013

Introduction
Language is a purely human and non-instinctive method of communicating ideas, emotions, and desires by means of a system of voluntarily produced symbols. These symbols are, in the first instance, auditory and they are produced by the so-called organs of speech. (Sapir, 1939). These organs of speech or "articulators" are studied as part of the physiology of speech production, which has been the principle subject matter of physiological or articulatory phonetics. It has been often pointed out that what linguists refer to as speech organs or "vocal organs" all serve some more basic functions than that of producing vocal signals, and that these functions are biologically primary. The lungs are used in breathing, the teeth in chewing food, and so on. Strictly speaking, human beings have no unique or distinctive organs of speech; there are only organs (which are mainly part of the respiratory and digestive systems) that are incidentally useful in the production of speech sounds. The lungs, the larynx, the palate, the nose, the tongue, the teeth, and the lips, are all so utilized, but they are no more to be thought of as primary organs of speech than are the fingers to be considered as essentially organs of piano-playing or the knees as organs of prayer. For this reason, some consider speech an overlaid function, since it employs systems which were already serving other biological needs. There are, however, evidence supporting the fact that speech is not entirely an overlaid function, for in the course of evolutionary development certain structures have undergone changes which make them more efficient for speech production, but do not otherwise enhance their biological functions. Evolutionary changes in the larynx which facilitates phonation has been traced by Negus (1929, 1949); and Lieberman and Crelin (1971) and Lieberman (1972) who concluded, after vocal-tract measurements of reconstructed Neanderthal people, that the early humans were not physically equipped for producing the full range of human speech as we now know it. In addition to the structure-function changes, there have also evolved other neural networks in the brain which serve both the symbolic process of language and the neuromuscular response for its expression. Moreover, children in their early age produce a wider range of sounds than those they hear around them.

The fact that speech is produced with organ systems which originally had only a

vegetative function is interesting to both the phonetician and the student of speech
disorders. For instance, there are good reasons to suppose that the motor patterns human beings use to make speech sounds started as modifications of sucking, chewing, and swallowing movements. In the case of abnormal speech, it is evident that any physical or functional factors which disturb the vegetative function of the "organs of speech" is a potential cause for some kind of communication disorder. There may be subtle connection between an infant's early feeding movements and both normal and abnormal development of the speech sounds. (Tiffany and Carrel, 1987).

The Speech Chain


Any manifestation of language by means of speech is the result of a highly complicated series of events. The communication in sound of such simple concept as "It's raining" involves a number of activities on the part of the speaker. In the first place, the formulation of the concept will take place in the brain; the first stage may, therefore, be said to be psychological. The nervous system transmits the message to the so-called "organs of speech" and these in turn behave in a conventional manner, which will have the effect of producing a particular pattern of sounds; thus, the second stage for our purposes may be said to be articulatory or physiological. The movement of our organs of speech will create disturbances in the air; these varying air pressures may be investigated and they constitute the third stage in our chain, the physical or acoustic. Since communication generally requires a listener as well as a speaker, these stages will be received at the listening end: the perception of sound waves by the hearing apparatus (physiological) and the transmission of the information along the nervous system to the brain, where the linguistic interpretation of the message takes place (psychological). Since our immediate concern is with the speaker's behavior, and more precisely, on the concrete speech level with the activity involved in the production of sounds, we must examine the speaker's articulatory stage (his speech mechanism) to discover how the various organs behave in order to produce the sounds of speech. (Gimson, 1989).

Speech System and Mechanism


The speech system functions as a whole, so that even the simplest speech act is a total integrated response. This definitely involves specific behavior on the part of the organs of speech, which, along with their speech functions, can best be described in terms of

three subsystems which constitute the speech mechanism: (1) The respiratory system, which is the main source of the motive power and the airflow needed to
generate speech and voice; (2) The phonatory system of the larynx, which provides the constriction in the vocal tract needed to produce voice, it is mainly associated with the actions of the vocal folds which result in voiced and voiceless sounds; (3) The articulatory-resonance system, which modifies the outgoing breath stream in various ways to produce and differentiate the sounds of speech, it is concerned with the possibility of the air stream going out through the mouth or the nose and the movement of mobile or active speech organs against the fixed or passive ones. (Tiffany, 1987) (1) The Respiratory System The respiratory system comprises the nasal and oral cavities, either or both of which may serve as the entry-exit port for the breath stream; the pharynx or throat cavity; the larynx; the trachea or windpipe which divides into two bronchi each leading to a lung. The lungs, as we know, perform the function of breathing, or respiration, under the action of the muscles of the chest. Breathing in and out (inhalation and exhalation) is a process which depends on creating difference between air pressure within the chest and the atmospheric air pressure outside the body. When the pressure in the thorax is less than that in the atmosphere, air flows into the lungs; when the situation is reversed, air flows outward. During any single inhalationexhalation cycle, this inward or outward flow of air will continue until the pressure within the chest and the atmospheric pressure are equalized. When the focus of interest is on speech and voice production, the respiratory tract is alternatively referred to as the vocal tract. In quiet life breathing, the inhalation-exhalation time intervals are about equal. While during speech, we inhale more quickly normally during pauses but expend the

breath over a much longer time depending on the manner and content of the speaker's utterance. Exhalation for quiet conversational speech only requires little effort, but load speech and the supported tone of singers call for active use of the rib depressors and certain abdominal muscles. The respiratory system plays a critical role in determining some of the pitch and loudness aspects of speech and voice. Moreover, regulation of breath stream is critical for production of the fricative and stop sounds, which are the so-called pressure consonants. The role of the respiratory system in relation to the production of speech sounds is as follows: through the process of breathing, the system provides an airstream that acts as a source of energy. Without an airstream no amount of activity on the part of the speech organs can produce a sound. Energy for speech is generated in a variety of different ways, called initiatory types. The commonest is the pulmonic egressive type (Pulmonic is the adjective from lungs, and egressive means the stream of air going out of the lungs), which is the most usual source of energy for our vocal activity provided by an airstream expelled from the lungs. The reverse type which is called the pulmonic

igressive mode of initiation, in which the speaker talks on inhalation, although used in
some languages, is unusual in English. It might be used only under some special circumstances as when expressing some emotional cries, interjections and various kinds of groans and gasps which are frequently of the pulmonic igressive type. There are other initiatory types among which is the esophageal initiatory type. This is used as a substitute for pulmonic egressive by individuals who have been forced to undergo surgical removal of the larynx. This procedure leaves the patient with the trachea opening to the outside air in the lower part of the neck and, of course, without a larynx to produce vocal sounds. In such cases, a new source of energy, such as, stomach air has to be employed; new sources of this kind imposes restrictions of quite a different nature from those exerted by the lungs, so that the organization of the utterances into groups is changed and variation of energy is less efficiently controlled. People with either functional or organic disorder where motor patterns are disturbed, frequently have abnormal modes of speech initiation.

It is worth mentioning that the organs of the respiratory system are not responsible for any specific sound or acoustic feature of sounds except, possibly, accent or stress. It may be the differences of stress are due to slight differences in the contracting force of the lung muscles. (2) The Phonatory System

The airstream released by the lungs undergoes several modifications before it acquires the quality of speech sound and goes out to the atmosphere. The first such modifications take place in the trachea, it passes through its upper part, the larynx, containing the vocal folds from which, it is said, voice is originated. The larynx: is a structure formed of cartilage and muscle. Its front part is prominent in the neck below the chin and is commonly called the "Adam's apple". Basically, the larynx is a valving mechanism whose primary functions can be placed in two broad categories: (1) to protect the lower respiratory tract from the intrusion of foreign substance that might cause suffocation, as it prevents food from entering the trachea and the lungs, and (2) to create a constriction in the vocal tract which serves as a sound source for communication. The vocal folds: are to the human speech organs what the strings are to a violin. They are situated inside the larynx as a pair of lip-like structures, placed horizontally from front to back, joined at the front but separated at the back. As they are separated at one end, they can assume a large number of positions. Important from among these are three positions: 1- Vocal folds drawn wide apart: in this case, there is a wide opening between them called the glottis. Through this opening the air can pass freely unimpeded without setting the vocal folds into vibration. This is the normal position of the vocal folds during the process of breathing. Air expelled with energy will produce an audible hiss as it passes through the glottis an effect that is often used as an /h/ consonant sound in languages. The speech sounds produced when the vocal folds are in this position are called voiceless like the initial sounds of the words pot, ten, film and hot. When the glottis is open, as in the production of the previously

mentioned voiceless sounds, and there is no manipulation of the air passing out of the mouth, the sound produced is the voiceless glottal sound represented by /h/.

2- Vocal folds held loosely together: in this case the air from the lungs repeatedly pushes the vocal folds apart as it passes through, creating a vibration effect. Sounds pronounced this way are described as voiced. Examples of voiced sounds are all English vowels and the initial consonants in the following words bed, dead, zit and get. All languages have voiced and voiceless sounds. Ordinarily, all vowels are voiced; as for consonants, some are voiced, others are not. The distinction between voiced and voiceless sounds can easily be felt physically if you placed your fingertip gently on the top of your Adam's apple, then produce sounds such as z-z-z-z or v-v-v-v. Because these are voiced sounds, you should be able to feel some vibration. Keeping your finger tip in the same position, now make the sounds s-s-s-s or f-f-f-f. Because these are voiceless sounds, there should be no vibration. This vibration also helps produce fricatives sounds. 3- Vocal folds held tightly together: when the vocal folds are held tightly together along their whole length, the glottis is closed, and therefore no air can escape through it. This is the position the vocal folds must take at the time of eating or drinking so that no food or liquid enters the windpipe. Proceeding from this position, when the vocal folds are suddenly drawn apart, an explosive sound called

the glottal stop is represented by the symbol []. Such a glottal stop, which
resembles the sound of a mild cough, may be found to occur in front of a forceful articulation of a word-initial vowel as in the English words act, uncle, and empty. (Sethi and Dhamija, 1999). The characteristics of vocal-fold movement influence three major aspects of voice:

pitch, loudness and quality. Pitch is determined by the frequency of fold vibration; this
depends on the mass length of the vocal folds, their tension and the pressure level of the air stream which actuate them. Each pulse of vibration represents a single opening and closing movement of the vocal folds. In adult male voices, this action is represented on an average about 120 times a second, while in women, the average is about 220 times a second. The higher the pitch of the voice, the more vibration there will be.

A new-born baby's cry averages 400 vibrations a second. An adult is able to alter the frequency of vocal-fold vibration at will, with certain limits, to produce variations of pitch and loudness which can convey contrasts of meaning. This linguistic use of pitch and loudness is described in such terms as intonation, tone, stress and rhythm (Crystal, 2006). The perceived loudness of a tone is directly related to its intensity, which is the amount of energy generated by vocal-folds movements. Voice quality is a much more complex matter. It is affected not only by the pattern of vocal-fold movement, but also by the properties of the resonance system. Such factors can affect the form of the vocal folds or the type of vibration creating a condition of a whisper, which is the result of turbulences in the airstream caused by constrictions in the larynx. (Tiffany and Carrell, 1987) (3) The Articulatory-Resonance System

The air-stream, having passed through the larynx, is now subject to further modification according to the shape assumed by the upper cavities of the pharynx, mouth and according to whether the nasal cavity is brought into use or not. These cavities function as principal resonators of the note produced by the larynx. (Gimson, 1989)

The pharyngeal cavity: contains the pharynx a long muscular tube leading from
the laryngeal cavity to the back part of the oral and nasal cavities. It cannot be moved very much but it is possible to make it narrower or wider. The shape and volume of this long chamber is affected by the constrictive action of the muscles enclosing the pharynx, the movement of the back of the tongue, the position of the soft palate and by the raising of the larynx itself. This contraction can be used to make a consonant sound or to add a pharyngeal effect to another sound. According to Yule 2006, Pharyngealized consonants and vowels are considered non-English sounds and can be heard in several languages, such as Arabic in which one can find the pharyngeal sounds [: ] and [: ]. Leaving the pharynx, air may either escape from:

The oral cavity: the most readily accessible and easily observed section of the vocal
tract as the shape of the mouth determines the quality of the majority of our speech

sounds and far more finely controlled variations of shape are possible in the mouth than in any other part of the speech mechanism. (Gimson, 1989) and, or:

The nasal cavity: in which air escapes through the nose which is not an active organ of
speech, but is highly important as a resonance chamber producing the nasal sounds: /m/, /n/ and // when the velum is lowered allowing the airstream to flow out through the nose. This is determined by the position of the soft palate also called the velum which is a broad band of muscular tissue in the rear upper region of the mouth and is easily seen in the mirror. It allows air to pass through the nose and through the mouth. In normal breathing it is lowered to permit air to pass easily through the nose and the mouth may be opened as well. In speech, there are three main ways in which the soft palate affects the quality of sounds: a) The soft palate may be lowered, as in normal breathing, in which case the air may escape through the nose and the mouth. This is the position required to produce nasalized vowels, as in French bon "good". This particular quality of such vowels is being achieved through the function of the nasopharyngeal cavity. b) It may be lowered, but the mouth remains closed; in this case all the air is released through the nose, resulting in such nasal consonants as [m] and [n]. c) It may be raised against the back of the pharynx eliminating the action of the nasopharynx so that the air escapes only through the mouth producing a range of oral sounds such as all the vowels and most of the consonants of English.

The Articulators
Articulators transform the sound into intelligible speech. They can be

either active or passive. They include the glottis, the pharynx (which are already explained in details), the lips, the teeth, the alveolar ridge behind them, the hard palate, the velum, the uvula behind it, the tongue and some phoneticians consider the jaws as articulators since we move the lower jaw a lot when we speak. But it should be noted

that the jaws are not articulators in the same way as the others because they cannot make contact with the other articulators: (1) The Lips: The lips play an important role in the matter of articulation. They can be pressed together or brought into contact with the teeth. The consonant sounds which are articulated by the two lips touching each other are called bilabial sounds: voiceless /p/ and voiced sounds /b/, /m/ and the semi-vowel /w/. Whereas, the sounds which are produced with the lower lip to the upper teeth contact are called labiodental sounds. In English there are two labiodental sounds: voiceless /f/ and voiced /v/. Another important thing about the lips is that they can take different shapes and positions. Therefore, lip-rounding is considered as a major criterion for

describing vowel sounds. The lips may have the following positions: a. Rounded: When we pronounce a vowel, our lips can be rounded, a position where the corners of the lips are brought towards each other and the lips are pushed forwards. And the resulting vowel from this position is a rounded one. For example, // as in book,
/u:/ as in two, /o/ as in

road and /o:/ as in ball.

b. Spread: The lips can be spread. In this position the lips are moved away from each other (i.e. when we smile). The vowel that we articulate from this position is an unrounded one. For example, /i:/ as in eat, // as in hit, /ei/ as in great and /e/ as in bed.

c. Neutral/ unrounded: Again, the lips can be neutral, a position where the lips are not noticeably rounded or spread. And the articulated vowel from this position is referred to as unrounded vowel. For example, // as in ban, /a/ as in bomb, // as in above and // as in blood. (2) The Teeth: The teeth are also very much helpful in producing various speech sounds. The sounds which are made with the tip of the tongue behind the upper front teeth are called dentals. Some examples of dental sounds in English include: // as in

thin and // as in this.

(3) The Roof of the Mouth: The roof of the mouth is considered as a major speech organ. It is divided into four parts: a. The Alveolar Ridge/Teeth Ridge: The alveolar ridge is the rough, bony ridge situated immediately behind and above the upper front teeth. The sounds which are produced by the front part of the tongue touching this area are called alveolar sounds: the voiceless /s/ and /t/ and the voiced /n/, /z/, /d/, and the liquids /l/ and /r/. The latter is also called post-alveolar since it is produced by the tip of the tongue held in a position near to, but not touching, the rear part of the alveolar ridge.

b. The Hard Palate: If you feel back behind the alveolar ridge, you should find a hard part in the roof of your mouth. This is called the hard palate or just the palate. Sounds produced with the tongue and the palate are called palatals (or alveo-palatals): The sh sound is represented as // and the "ch" sound as //, both are voiceless. One of the voiced palatals, represented by the symbol / /, is not very common in English, but can be found as the middle consonant sound in words like treasure. The other voiced palatal is //, which is the initial sound in words like joke and gem. One other voiced palatal sound is /j/ which is the initial sound in yet.

c. The Velum or Soft Palate: The lower part of the roof of the mouth, beyond the hard palate, is called soft palate or the velum. It could be lowered or raised. When it is lowered, the air stream from the lungs has access to the nasal cavity. When it is raised the passage to the nasal cavity is blocked. The sounds which are produced touching this area with the back of the tongue are called velar sounds. For example: the voiceless sound /k/ and the voiced /g/ and // referred to as 'angma'. This sound is usually spelled as 'ng' as in the final sound of sing.

d. The Uvula: at the lower end of the soft palate is a small appendage hanging down that is known as the uvula. Sounds produced by the back of the tongue touching the uvula are called uvular sounds, like the French pronunciation of the initial sound of the word rouge //and the Arabic sound / : q/.

(4) The Tongue: The tongue is divided into five parts: a. The tip: It is the extreme end of the tongue. b. The blade: It lies opposite to the alveolar ridge. c. The front: It lies opposite to the hard palate. d. The back: It lies opposite to the soft palate or velum. e. The root. The tongue is responsible for the production of many speech sounds, since it can move very fast to different places and is also capable of assuming different shapes. The shape and the position of the tongue are especially crucial for the production of vowel sounds. Thus when we describe the vowel sounds in the context of the function of the tongue, we generally consider the following criteria: Tongue Height: It is concerned with the vertical distance between the upper surface of the tongue and the hard palate. From this perspective the vowels can be described as close or high and open or low. For instance, the front part of the tongue is in a raised position, the vowel /i:/ has to be described as a relatively high vowel, whereas // has to be described as a relatively low vowel because the tongue is in a lower position. Tongue Frontness /Backness: It is concerned with the part of tongue between the front and the back. From this point of view the vowel sounds can be classified as front vowels and back vowels. By changing the shape of the tongue we can produce vowels in which a different part of the tongue is the highest point. That means, a vowel having the back of the tongue as the highest point is a back vowel, whereas the one having the front of the tongue as the highest point is called a front vowel. For example: during the articulation of the vowel /u:/ the back of the tongue is raised high, so its a back vowel. On the other hand, during the articulation of the vowel // the front of the tongue is raised high, therefore, its a front vowel.

The tongue also plays an important role in producing the semi-vowels /w/ and /j/ which are described as glides because they are produced with the tongue in motion "or gliding" to or from the position of a vowel.

The Manner of Articulation


The organs of speech also affect the way how sounds are produced due to certain obstructions in the airstream resulting in different manners of articulation. These manners of articulation are: stops, fricatives, affricates, nasals, liquids and glides (the latter three are mentioned earlier). Stops: sounds produced by stopping the airstream briefly then letting it go abruptly. Sounds produced in this way are: /p/, /b/, /t/, /d/, /k/ and /g/. Fricatives: sounds produced by almost blocking the airstream and having the air pushed through a very narrow opening, resulting in friction, e.g.: /f/, /v/, /s/, /z/, //, //, // and //. Affricates: sounds produced by combining the effect of the stops and the fricatives by combining the brief stopping of the airstream with an obscured release casing friction, e.g.: // and //.

Active and Passive Articulators


A very important distinction must be made between active (or mobile) articulators and passive (or fixed) articulators. Active articulators are those organs of speech which move from their position (lips, tongue, velum, larynx and epiglottis which has a very limited function in speech production) of rest to articulate against other organs of speech that do not, or cannot, move. The latter are called passive articulators (teeth, alveolar ridge, palate, velum, uvula and pharynx wall). Thus, in the production of the t, d, n and s sounds, the tip and blade of the tongue come in contact with the alveolar ridge. The tip and blade of the tongue are therefore the active articulators, while the alveolar ridge is the passive one. As the lower jaw is movable while the upper jaw is not, the active articulators are mostly located in the lower jaw while the passive articulators are in the upper jaw. A notable

exception, however, is the soft palate, which is both an active and passive articulator. It is an active articulator in that it can be raised to shut the nasal passage of air to produce oral sounds. It is passive in relation to the back of the tongue (active articulator), which articulate against it to produce sounds such as the initial consonants in the English words come and go.

References
Ashby, M. and Maidment, J. (2005) Introducing Phonetic Science. Cambridge, The University Press. Crystal, D. (2006) How Language Works. London: The Penguin Group. Gimson, A.C. (1989) An Introduction To The Pronunciation Of English. London: Edward Arnold. Harmer, J. (2001) The Practice of English Language Teaching. 3rd ed.

England: Longman-Pearson. J. Sethi, P. V. Dhamija (1999) A Course In Phonetics And Spoken English. New Delhi, Prentice-Hall of India Private Limited. Katamba, F (1989) An Introduction To English Phonology. London and New York: Longman. Ladefoged, P. (2006) A Course In Phonetics. New York: Harcourt. Ladefoged, P. and Disner, S. (2012) Vowels and Consonants. UK: Blackwell Publishing Ltd. Ladefoged, P. and Johnstone, K. (2011) A Course in Phonetics. Wadsworth: Cengage Learning. Lyons, J. (1981) Language And Linguistics. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press. Roach, P. (2000) English Phonetics And Phonology. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press. Sapir, E. (1939) An Introduction To The Study Of Speech. Tiffany, W.R. and Carrel, J. (1987) Phonetics, Theory And Application. Singapore: McGraw-Hill, Inc. Yule, G. (2010) The Study of Language. 4th ed. Cambridge: CUP.

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