The Mechanism of Speech Process and the Different Organs of Speech

The organs, which take part in the production of speech sounds, are called speech organs. When we speak, air comes out through the lungs and it is interfered at various places for the production of sounds. Sounds cannot occur without air. The following diagram shows the main organs of speech.

 

Important organs

                   1.      Lips                                                 7.   Epiglottis

                   2.      Teeth                                   8.    Pharynx

                   3.      Alveolar ridge                     9.    Soft palate

                   4.      Tongue                                10.   Uvula

                   5.      Larynx                                11.   Hard palate

                   6.      Vocal cords

         Descriptions and functions of some important organs of speech

Þ           The vocal cords

                   The larynx contains two small bands of elastic tissues. They are called vocal cords. The opening between the vocal cords is called epiglottis. When we breath in or out, the glottis is open. This is the position of the production of voiceless sounds. e.g. /f/,  /s/,  /h/, etc are voiceless sounds in English. The sounds produced when the glottis comes together are called voiced sounds. So the main function of the vocal cords is to produce voiced and voiceless sounds.

Þ           The soft palate

                   The soft palate is also called velum. It is the roof of the mouth. It separates the oral and nasal cavity. The last part of the soft palate is called uvula. When it is lowered, the nasal sounds (/m, n, ŋ/) are produced. When it is raised, the air passes out through the oral cavity and the oral sounds (/p, t, k, s, etc/) are produced.

Þ           The tongue

                   The tongue is an important organ of speech. It has the greatest variety of movement. It is divided into four parts: the tip, the blade, the front and the back. The number of vowels is produced with the help of the tongue. Vowels differ from each other because of the position of the tongue.

 

The tip of the tongue helps to produce /t, d, z, etc/. The blade of the tongue helps to produce /t∫, dÎ, ∫, etc/. The front of the tongue helps to produce palatal sound /j/ and the back of the tongue helps to produce     /k,  g/ sounds.

Þ           The lips

                   The upper lip and lower lip help to produce bilabial sounds /p,  b, m/.  If they are held together, the sounds produced in that position are bilabial stops : / p, b/. If the lips are held together, they produce different vowels.

Þ           The teeth

                   The teeth take part in the production of consonant sounds. The upper teeth only take part in the production of speech sounds. The lower teeth don't take part for the production of sounds. The sound produced with the help of the upper teeth are called dental sound (q,  r)

Þ           The alveolar ridge

          The alveolar ridge is the part between the upper teeth and the hard palate. The sound produced with the tongue touching the alveolar ridge is called alveolar sounds, e.g. /s/,  /t/,  /d/, etc.

          Producing different speech sounds depends on the movement of speech organs. It is essential to know the movement and the placement of each organ to produce particular sounds. The above descriptions and functions of the organ of speech help you to guide students to produce the consonants and vowels in a right way.

Glottal stop

In phonetics, a glottal stop is a momentary check on the airstream caused by closing the glottis (the space between the vocal cords) and thereby stopping the vibration of the vocal cords. It is produced by the rapid closing of the glottis , which traps the airstream from the lungs behind it, followed by a sudden release of the air as the glottis is opened.

Example:

The sound /t/ in ‘cat' is often a glottal stop sound.

 The symbol in the International Phonetic Alphabet that represents this sound is ⟨ʔ⟩

It's the sound we make when we say 'uh-oh.' In some languages, this is a separate consonant sound, but in English we often use it with d, t, k, g, b or p when one of those sounds happens at the end of a word or syllable. . . . We close the vocal cords very sharply and make the air stop for just a moment. We don't let the air escape.

"This glottal stop is the last sound of these words:

• words: light . . . flight . . . put . . . take . . . make . . . trip . . . report

Plosives

According to manner of articulation in English phonetics the six sounds such as  /p/,/b/,/t/,/d/,/k/, and /g/ are called plosives. These sounds are formed by placing two articulating organs together in such a way that the air-passage becomes automatically closed, and when the closure is lifted by separating the organs, an amount of air suddenly escapes by making an explosive sound.  It is also known as ‘stop consonant’, because the air stops at a particular place for some time before it escapes. The six plosives form three pairs of which the first consonants are voiceless and the second ones are voiced.