PSYCHOLINGUISTICS

ARTICULATION
THE PROCESS OF PRODUCING SPEECH
The air breathed in
Lungs
The air pressed out
Trachea (windpipe)
Larynx
Pharynx
Mouth cavity

Nasal cavity

Articulation is the process of modifiying the air stream by the various

articulators. Articulators means the sturcture for articulation.
Another definition of articulation is the clear of speech which started the process
from the brain that transfer the data (information) to the speech organs and produced
in speech organs to make a clear product of speech.
There are three central mecanism that responsible to the production of
speech.

Respiration
Is the process of modifiying the air from the lungs for use in greating in
speaking. Respiration depends on the nasal, oral and pharyngeal
cavities for air intake, which involve :
1. Pulmonary sytem
2. chest wall
3. major and minor thoracic muscle groups
4. Abdominal muscle
Phonation
Is the modification of the airstream from the lungs by the movement of
the structures in the laryngeal area (an airway to the lungs)
Resonation
Is the modifiction of the airstream from the lungs by the size, shape
and movement of the structure of nasal area, oral area, and pharyngeal
areas (part of throat that connects inner nose to the throat)

The main speech organs :

1. Lips
2.Teeth
3. Alveolar ridge
4.Tongue
5. Larynx
6. Vocal cords
7. Epiglottis
8. Pharynx
9. Soft palate
10. Hard palate
11. Uvula
There are eleven possible places are used in speech. However, only around eight
which are used in English.
1. Bilabial
2. Labio-dental

8. Retroflex
9. Palatal

3. Dental

10. Uvular

4. Alveolar

11. Pharyngeal

5. Palato-alveolar (alveo-palatal)
6. Velar
7. Glottal
1. Bilabial: both lips are involved in articulation,
as in [p], [b], [m], [w] pink, beat, milk, walk
2. Labio-dental: the lower lip articulate with the upper teeth,
as in [ f ], [ v ] fan, van
3. Dental: the tongue tip and rims articulate with the upper teeth,
as in [ ], [ ] thin, then
4. Alveolar: the blade (and sometimes the tip) of the tongue articulates with the
alveolar ridge,

as in [t], [d], [ s ], [ z ], [n] tap, date, cell, zoom, nap

5. Velar: the back of the tongue articulates with the soft palate,
as in [k], [g], [] -- coke, give, sing
6. Palato-alveolar (alveo-palatal): the blade (and sometimes the tip) of the
tongue articulates with the alveolar ridge, with a simultaneous raising of the
front of the tongue towards the hard palate,
as in [ ], [ ] sheep, treasure
7. Glottal: the vocal cords come together to cause a closure or friction, as in [h]
whose
8. Palatal: the front of the tongue articulates with the hard palate,
as in [], [], [y] chair, judge, young
8. Retroflex: the tip of the tongue is curled back to articulate with the area
between the rear of the alveolar ridge and the front of the hard palate. We can
hear this from Indian English accent of [t], [d].
9. Uvular: the back of the tongue articulates with the uvula, as in French rue.
10. Pharyngeal: the front wall of the pharynx (in the region of epiglottis)
articulates with the back wall. This exists in Arabic [h].

MANNER OF ARTICULATION
There are four main kinds of constriction made by the articulators in producing
speech sounds:
1. Total closure: plosive, nasal, affricate
2. Intermittent closure: roll (trill), flap
3. Partial closure: lateral
4. Narrowing: fricative, approximants
TOTAL CLOSURE
PLOSIVE (STOP): a complete closure is made at some point in the vocal
tract; the soft palate is raised. Air pressure thus builds up behind the closure,
which is then released explosively, as in [p], [b], [t], [d], [k], [g].
NASAL: a complete closure is made at some point in the mouth; the soft
palate is lowered, so that air escapes through the nose, as in [m], [n], [].

AFFRICATE: A complete closure is made at some point in the mouth; the soft
palate is raised. Air pressure builds up behind the closure, and is then
released relatively slowly (compared to a plosive sound), as in [], [].
INTERMITTENT CLOSURE
ROLL (TRILL): one articulator taps rapidly against another typically the
tongue tip against the alveolar ridge or the tongue back against the uvula, as
in [r] in French, German or some English accent.
FLAP: a single tap is made by one articulator against another, as in some
pronunciation of the r in very, or d in ladder, where the tongue tip taps once
against the alveolar ridge.
PARTIAL CLOSURE
LATERAL: a partial closure is made at some point in the mouth, in such a
way that the air stream is allowed to escape around the sides of the closure.
Various kinds of [ l ] sound are the result.
NARROWING
FRICATIVE: two vocal organs come so close together that the movement of
air between them causes audible friction, as in [ f ], [ v ], [ s ], [ z ], [ ], [ ], [
], [ ].
APPROXIMANT: the articulation is strongly influenced by the following vowel
sound. [w], [y] and [h] (voiceless) are produced with the tongue moving
(gliding), to or from the position of nearby vowel.

SOURCES

Scovel Thomas, Psycholinguistics,series editor Widdowson H.G., oxford university

press.
https://effelia.files.wordpress.com/.../speech-organ
en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Articulation_(phonetics)