Speech Mechanism/The Organs of Speech
Speech Mechanism/The
Organs of Speech
The Organs of
Speech fall into three systems:
The
Articualtory System
·
TheRespiratory
System: This consists of the lungs,
the muscles of the chest and the wind pipe (trachea).
·
The
Phonatory System: This consists of the sound –box
/Adam’s apple (larynx).
·
The
Articulatory System: This consists of the
nose and the mouth including the lips, the teeth, the tongue and the roof of
the mouth.
The
Respiratory System:
The air from the lungs comes through the
windpipe known as trachea. The
function of the lungs is to draw in the air or to push out the air. The sound
drawn in is called ingressive sound. The sound pushed out is called egressive sound.
The
Phonatory System:
At the top of the trachea is situated the larynx. It is the hard, bony hollow box-like
structure. Its front position is
prominent in the neck below the chin. This is commonly known as the Adam’s apple. The air comes out of the lungs through the
wind pipe and then passes through the larynx.
The
Articulatory System:
In
the larynx are situated a pair of
lip-like structures. They are called vocal cords. They are placed horizontally from front to
back. The gap between the cords is
called the glottis. The air stream passes through the
glottis. The glottis is open or closed.
When
the vocal cords are brought together, the Glottis is closed. Such sounds produced with the vocal cords
held together are called voiced sounds.
When the vocal cords are drawn wide apart, the glottis is open. Such sounds produced with a wide open glottis
are called voiceless sounds.
The
roof of the mouth is divided into three parts: teeth ridge (also called
alveolar ridge), hard palate and
soft palate(also called velum).
The
hard portion behind the upper teeth is called the teeth ridge. It is also
called the alveolar ridge.
The hard palate is the hard bony part
of the roof of the mouth behind the upper ridge.
The soft palate is the soft and
flexible inner most part. The uvula is the fleshy structure hanging
loose at the extremity of the soft palate.
The
tongue: The tip, the blade, the front, the
central, and the back are the different parts of tongue.
The
lips: It has three positions—spread and
neutral (unrounded) and rounded—in the production of sounds.
The
teeth: Only the upper teeth are involved in
the production of speech sounds.
The
nasal cavity: When the soft palate is lowered,
the air passes through the nasal cavity. The speech sounds produced through
nose are called Nasals.
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