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Week 6: Child Language : Concepts and Vocabulary Organs of Articulation

Places of Articulation: passive and active 1. Exo-Labial 4. Alveolar 7. Palatal 10. Pharyngeal 13. Radical 16. Laminal 2. Endo-labial 5. Post alveolar 8. Velar 11. Glottal 14. Postero-dorsal 17. Apical 3. Dental 6. Pre-palatal 9. Uvular 12. Epiglottal 15. Antero-dorsal 18. Sub-apical

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There are five basic active articulators: the lip ("labial consonants"), the flexible front of the tongue ("coronal consonants"), the middle/back of the tongue ("dorsal consonants"), the root of the tongue together with the epiglottis ("radical consonants"), and the larynx ("laryngeal consonants"). These articulators can act independently of each other, and two or more may work together in what is called coarticulation

List of places where the obstruction may occur

Bilabial: between the lips; /m/ /p/ /b/ Labiodental: between the lower lip and the upper teeth Linguolabial consonant: between the front of the tongue and the upper lip Dental: between the front of the tongue and the top teeth Alveolar consonant: between the front of the tongue and the ridge behind the gums (the alveolus) Postalveolar consonant: between the front of the tongue and the space behind the alveolar ridge Retroflex: in "true" retroflexes, the tongue curls back so the underside touches the palate Palatal: between the middle of the tongue and the hard palate Velar: between the back of the tongue and the soft palate (the velum) Uvular: between the back of the tongue and the uvula (which hangs down in the back of the mouth)

(All of the above may be nasalized, and most may be lateralized.)

Pharyngeal: between the root of the tongue and the back of the throat (the pharynx) Epiglotto-pharyngeal: between the epiglottis and the back of the throat Epiglottal: between the aryepiglottic folds and the epiglottis (see larynx) Glottal: at the glottis (see larynx)

Nasals and laterals

In nasals, the velum is lowered to allow air to pass through the nose (technically a place, but generally considered as a manner of articulation) In laterals, the air is released past the tongue sides and teeth rather than over the tip of the tongue. English has only one lateral, /l/, but many languages have more than one, e.g. Spanish written "l" vs. "ll"; Hindi with dental, palatal, and retroflex laterals; and numerous Native American languages with not only lateral approximants, but also lateral fricatives and affricates. Some Northeast Caucasian languages have five, six, or even seven lateral consonants.

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Coarticulation
Some languages have consonants with two simultaneous places of articulation, called coarticulation. When these are doubly articulated, the articulators must be independently movable, and therefore there may only be one each from the categories labial, coronal, dorsal, and radical. (The glottis controls phonation and sometimes the airstream, and is not considered an articulator.) However, more commonly there is a secondary articulation of an approximantic nature, in which case both articulations can be similar, such as labialized labials, palatalized velars, etc. Some common coarticulations include:

Labialization, rounding the lips while producing the obstruction, as in [k] and English /w/. Palatalization, raising the body of the tongue toward the hard palate while producing the obstruction, as in Russian /t/. Velarization, raising the back of the tongue toward the soft palate (velum), as in the English dark l, [l] or []. Pharyngealization, constriction of the throat (pharynx), such as Arabic "emphatic" [t]. Doubly articulated stop: a stop produced simultaneously with another stop, such as labial-velar consonants like [kp] , found throughout West and Central Africa. There are also labial-alveolar consonants [tp db nm] , found as distinct consonants only in a single language in New Guinea, which also contrasts labial-postalveolar stops. Somali has a uvular-epiglottal stop [q].

Go Higher Arts Introduction to Language

Go Higher Arts Introduction to Language