The articulators

Chapter 2: The production of

speech sounds
 Glossary
• airflow /ˈeəː fləʊ/ = flow of air : luồng khí
• alveolar ridge /ælˈvɪələ rɪdʒ/: nướu sau răng; luống nướu
• articulator /ɑːˈtɪkjʊleɪtə/ (n) : bộ phận cấu âm
• hard palate /hɑːd ˈpælət/ : ngạc cứng
• labiodental sound /ˌleɪbɪəʊˈdentəl saʊnd/: âm môi răng
• larynx /ˈlærɪŋks/ (n) : thanh quản
• nasal cavity /neɪz(ə)l ˈkævɪti/: khoang mũi
• oral cavity /ɔːrəl ˈkævɪti/: khoang miệng
• pharynx /ˈfærɪŋks/  (n) : yết hầu
• soft palate /sɒft ˈpælət/ (n) : ngạc mềm
= velum /ˈviːləm/ (n)
• vocal tract /ˈvəʊk(ə)l trækt/ : đường dẫn thanh
Sound production
• Muscle contracting creates sounds.
• Air goes from the lungs to the larynx, passing the
pharynx and the vocal tract into the
environment.
• The vocal tract includes oral cavity and nasal
cavity.
 Nasal
• The air flows cavity
from the lungs to
the larynx,
passing pharynx Oral
and ends at … cavity
This is the reason why it
is really difficult to get
words out after a
marathon.
• Remember that when we change the airflow, we
change the sound.
• To better understand this, listen to the
instruments in the following clip and tell me
whether they produce the same sound or not.
What makes you reach to your conclusion?
▫ The sound is different in those instruments
because of their different size and shape.
 The vocal tract
• The vocal tract comprises many different parts called articulators
(= speech organs). (We’re studying 7 of them)
• Some of these are movable (tongue, lower lip) and some are fixed.

1. Pharynx: cổ họng; hầu

The tube (7-8 cm in length)
above the larynx.
 The vocal tract

2. Velum (soft palate) : ngạc mềm

→ It’s like a door that closes when you speak to prevent the air from going to
the nose.
→ It can be touched by the tongue to produce /k/, /ɡ/ - the velar consonants
 The vocal tract

3. Hard palate: ngạc cứng 4. Tongue: lưỡi

→ the roof of the mouth → very important articulator
→ smooth, curved surface: use your → It can be moved into different
tongue to touch it places and different shapes.
→ used to produce /j/ - palatal consonant.
The vocal tract

The tongue can be divided into different parts.

Why is it the most important articulator?
→ Watch the video clip to see how the tongue
move when we talk.
The vocal tract
5. Upper teeth
Răng cửa trên

When the tongue touches

the upper teeth, we can
produce /θ/, /ð/, which are
called dental consonants.

5. Lower teeth
Răng cửa dưới
The vocal tract

6. Alveolar ridge: nướu sau răng; luống nướu

→ right behind the upper teeth, covered with ridges.
→ /t/, /d/, /n/ - alveolar consonants
 The vocal tract

7. Lips : môi
→ important in speech
→ pressed together: /p/, /b/ - bilabial
→ contact teeth: /f/, /v/ - labiodental
→ rounded: /uː/ - rounded
The vocal tract
• So far, we have just studied the 7 important
articulators:
▫ Pharynx
▫ Velum
▫ Hard palate
▫ Alveolar ridge
▫ Tongue
▫ Teeth
▫ Lips
• Organs take part in the production and
modification of sound.
• Sounds are named after the organ:
▫ Lip: Labial
▫ Teeth: Dental
▫ Alveolar ridge: Alveolar
▫ Palate: Palatal
▫ Velum: Velar
▫ Glottis: Glottal
 Over to you: Pair-work
 To get an overall feel of what happens when you
speak with your lips, tongue, and jaw, slowly say
the word “batik”, paying attention to where your
articulators are as you do so.
 At the beginning of the word you should sense the
separation of the lips for the /b/, then the
lowering of the tongue and jaw as you pronounce
the first syllable.
 Next, the front of your tongue will rise to make
contact for the /t/ of “tik.” When you reach the
end of “tik,” you should be able to detect the back
of your tongue making contact with the velum for
the final /k/ sound.
The phoneme (Chapter 1: Introduction)
• We use our articulators to produce speech sounds.
The words that we have known and used so far can be
chopped down into small units of sounds called
phonemes. Remember that we are talking about
sounds, not letters.
• For example, the word ‘pin’ has 3 phonemes,
namely /p/,/ɪ/ and /n/. The vowel phoneme in the
middle of ‘pin’ is different from that of ‘pen’ (/ɪ/ ≠
/e/). Similarly, the consonant phoneme at the
beginning of ‘pet’ is different from that of ‘bet’ (/p/
≠ /b/).
• When two words differ by only one sound (or
phoneme), they are considered a minimal pair.
Practice
• How many phonemes do you think there are in
the following words?
1. love
2. half
3. wrist
4. shrink
5. ought
Homework

2
5

7
4

1 3

6
8
Homework

3 4
2
1