UFPb-CCHLA-DLEM. English Phonetics and Phonology I Speech Organs Exercise 1.

Fill in the following sentences in a suitable way. 1. Man posseses,in common with other animals ,the ability to produce sounds by using certain of his bodys .. . The human being,however,differs from other animals in that he has been able to the range of sounds which he can emit into a highly efficient s ystem of . 2. . is thus concerned with describing the speech sounds that occur in the languages of the world. This description involves diverse but nevertheless interrelated stages: .,Auditory,Acoustic,etc. 3. Speech depends upon a source of energy that causes a movement of air. In nearly all speech this basic source of energy is the respiratory system pushing air out of the ..,so in other words, most speech sounds are produced by a . ......... . . 4. Air from the lungs goes up the ..(trachea) and into the ,at which point it must pass between two small muscular folds called the . . . 5. If the .. are apart,as they normally are when breathing out,the air from the lungs will have a relatively passage into the pharynx and the mouth.But if the vocal cords are . so that there is only a narrow passage between them,the pressure of the airstream will cause them to .. . Sounds produced when the vocal cords are vibrating are said to be , as opposed to those in which the vocal cords are apart,which are said to be . . Vowels sounds are usually ,whereas consonants sounds may be either . or . 6. The vocal cords can also be tightly closed with the air-pressure from the lungs pent up behind the closure. The sound produced when the vocal cords are in this position is called a .. . Such a sound may occur in the pronunciation of words like butter and cotton in some dialects of English. This is also the position taken by the vocal cords for coughs and . . 7. The air passages above the larynx are known as the .. .,which can be divided into the . within the mouth and the and the .. within the . . The shape of the oral tract may take is a very important factor in the production of speech as it gives a

variety of qualities and resonances to the . produced. In the case of a vowel sound, the cavity within the mouth is somewhat ..and the quality of the vowel is determined largely by the shape of the tongue and the position of the lips. For consonant sounds,there may be either a complete ... or a narrowing of the cavity causing friction. An example of the former is the sound /p/ in which there is a complete closure made by the . The sound /s/ exemplifies the latter,where there is a friction caused by a narrowing in the . tract. 8. The parts of the oral tract that can be used to form sounds are called the .. . The ones that form the . surface of the oral tract often move towards those that form the upper surface. The principal parts of the upper surface of the oral tract are: the upper lip,the upper, the ,the palate,the soft palate or ,the . and the pharynx. The soft palate is a muscular flap that can be to press against the back wall of the .. and shut off the ,preventing air from going through the nose. In this case there is said to be a velic closure and an . sound is produced. When on the other hand,the soft palate is in its lower position,the air can escape both through the mouth and the nose. If,however,the mouth is blocked, the air ,escapes only through the nose,and a sound is produced. 9. The principal parts of the lower surface of the oral tract are the lower., and the . The . is usually divided into four parts: the , the ., the .. and the . . There is also the part lying opposite the walls of the pharynx,which is sometimes identified as the .. . The and the are the most mobile parts of the tongue and they lie under the alveolar ridge when the tongue is at rest,whereas the front and the back lie opposite the hard and soft palate respectively. 10. The lips are also important in the production of speech,taking up various different . They can be held together,completely blocking the mouth as when /p,b,m/ are pronounced.Conversely,they can be kept apart in a spread or neutral position or with different degrees of rounding,such as the close-rounded or open-rounded positions.
Bibliography: OConnor,J.D. Better English Pronunciation. Cambridge 1967. Chap. 2.

Gimson,A.C. An Introduction to the Pronunciation of English. London 2nd edn. 1970. Chap.2. Robins,R.H. General Linguistics (An Introduction Survey). London 1971. Pp. 76-84. Wallwork,J.F. Language and Linguistics. London. HeinemanEducational Books. Chap.2.