Organs of Speech & Speech Mechanism
Project submitted as part fulfilment of the Faculty Development program organised by Higher Education Department, Bhopal from 22nd May to 28th May 2022
Presented by
Dr. Abha Pandey, Professor & Head,
Department of English
Govt. Mahakoshal Arts & Commerce College
Jabalpur
Title: Organs of Speech and Speech Mechanism
Key words:Phonetics, Linguistics, English Language,
Linguistics is the scientific study of language , phonetics is a branch of linguistics that deals with production, transmission and reception of sound. Today we will discuss the production of sound and also the speech mechanism.
Objective and outcome
To familiarise students with the different stages of speech production.
To make them understand the need of learning pronunciation.
Outcome
Participants will develop the ability to understand and speak effectively and develop the skills of listening and speaking English.
Introduction: Need to study the topic
Natural acquisition of language is possible only through constant exposure of the spoken form of language.
Learning a second language requires conscious learning of pronunciation.
As there are varieties of English the standard variety of educated English (RP) has been selected.
What are we going to learn in this course
Outline
The speech process
The speech mechanism
Organs of Speech
The Airstream mechanisms
States of glottis
The soft palate
The tongue and the lips
Speech Process: Production of speech is a complicated series of events
Concept is formulated in the brain at linguistic level- psychological stage.
Nervous system transmits the message to the organs of speech, which move to produce particular sound patterns - physiological / articulatory stage.
Movement of organs of speech create disturbance in the air- physical /acoustic stage
Communication involves a listener too- Listening process -involves listeners ear auditing(perception) and cognition (decoding) stage.
The speech mechanism
The systems involved in speech production are
The respiratory System
The phonatory System
The articulatory System
Speech sound is produced using body mechanisms which have other functions to perform: Breathing, swallowing, chewing- primary functions- speech is an overlaid function.
The Organs of Speech
The respiratory system, consists of the lungs, the muscles of the chest, and the wind-pipe (trachea)The phonatory system, formed by the larynx
https://www.flickr.com/photos/144329121@N08/32157792457
The articulatory system, consists of the nose, the mouth (including the tongue, the teeth, the roof of the mouth, and the lips)
https://www.flickr.com/photos/144329121@N08/32157792457, https://www.proprofs.com/
Tree diagram of systems and speech organs
Diagram of organs of speech
https://www.britannica.com/science/phonetics
Air stream mechanism
There are three types of air-stream mechanism:
pulmonic in which the lungs and the respiratory muscles set the air-stream in motion
glottalic in which the larynx, with the glottis firmly closed, is moved up or down to initiate the air-stream
Velaric in which the back of the tongue in firm contact with the soft palate is pushed forward or pulled back to initiate the air-stream
These air-streams can be:
Egressive, i.e., the air is pushed out
e.g., Sounds of English and Hindi are produced with egressive pulmonic air-stream.
Inegresive, i.e., the air is pulled in
e.g., Sindhi has some sounds produced with an inegressive glottalic air-stream
The Larynx
States of glottis
The pulmonic egressive air stream on its way out passes through the trachea and larynx. Inside the larynx are the vocal chords which may assume open or close position. The opening is called glottis. The movement of vocal chords brings about four different states of glottis.
15. The States of the Glottis
Open glottis: voiceless sounds.
. /p/ /t/ /k/ /f/ /s/ /θ/ /ʃ/ /ʈʃ/ /h/
Glottis in vibration: voiced sounds.
/b/ /d/ /g/ /v/, /z/, /ʒ/, /dʒ/ /ð/ /w/, /n/, /m/, /r/, /j/, /ŋ/, /l/.
Closed glottis: coughs, hiccups
Narrowed glottis: whisper
When we breath in and out, the glottis is open. That is, the vocal cords are drawn wide apart producing voiceless sounds.
If the vocal cords are held loosely together, the pressure of the air coming from the lungs makes them vibrate; that is, they open and close regularly many times a second. Sounds produced in this way are called voiced sounds.
Phonetic symbols
Diagram of the roof of mouth
Hard palate, soft palate and velum uvula
The roof of the mouth can be subdivided into four parts:
the teeth-ridge or the alveolar ridge, i.e., the hard convex surface just behind the upper front teeth
the hard palate, i.e., the hard concave surface behind the teeth-ridge
the soft palate, i.e., the soft portion behind the hard palate
the uvula, i.e., a small fleshy structure at the end of the soft palate
State of soft palate - tree diagram
Raised and lowered position of velum
Position of velum- oral and nasal sounds
The tongue
It’s the most important single organ of speech. Even in many languages the word TONGUE means Language too.
-It’s flexible and can make a large number of gestures to produce speech sounds.
- It has different parts:
1- tip 2- blade 3– front 4– back 5- rim
The Lips
The lips assume different shapes in the production of vowel and consonant sounds.
Closing the lips and then releasing the closure abruptly eg: put , boot
Lip position: Spread lip position, neutral, open
Close rounded and open rounded
The Articulators
The organs of speech above the glottis are the articulators involved in the production of consonants:
Active articulator
the lower lip and the tongue
Passive articulator
the upper lip, the upper teeth, the roof of the mouth and the back wall of the throat (or Pharynx).
In the production of a consonant, the active articulator is moved towards the passive articulator.
Time to sum up
So what have we learnt?
Process of speech production
Mechanism of speech
Organs of speech and their functions.
Speech process is complicated. It involves psychological, physiological, physical, cognitive aspects.Process of speech production involves
Respiratory system, phonatory, articulatory systems including organs of speech. Noted speech is an overlaid function.
Mechanism of speech: air stream mechanism, functions of glottis, velum, tongue and lips. Active and passive articulators.
Assessment.
In the articulation of nasal sounds, the __________is lowered, and the air passes through the nose.
A. Hard Palate
B Tongue
C. Upper lip
D. Soft palate
Assessment
This articulator is called the voice box.
oA. Pharynx
oB. Palate
oC. Larynx
oD. Tongue
Assessment
Which of the following is an active articulator?
oA. lower lip
oB. Alveolar ridge
oC. Hard palate
oD. Upper teeth
Learn more
References
Abercombie, D. (1967). Elements of General Phonetics. Edinburgh University Press, Chapter 2
Gimson, A C. 1989) An introduction to Pronunciation of English. 4th revised edition, London Edward Arnold, Chapter I.
O Connor, J D (1970) Better English Pronunciation. London ELB, Chapter I
Quirk, R t. al. (1985) A Comprehensive Grammar of the English Language. London, Chapter 1
Organs of Speech, Phonetics and Spoken English, Block 1 Department of Distance Education, The English and Foreign Language University Hyderabad.
