UNIVERSITY OF SAINT ANTHONY

Dr. Santiago G. Ortega Memorial

City of Iriga, Philippines
SCHOOL OF GRADUATE STUDIES AND RESEARCH

Name: Jobed S. Espanto Subject: Ling 133/131

Professor: Dr. Estrella Arroyo

ARTICULATORY PHONETICS

Articulatory Phonetics
It is concerned with consonants and vowels as well as tone and phonation types.
(International Encyclopaedia of the Social & Behavioural Sciences, 2015)
It is a branch of phonetics concerned with describing the speech sounds of the
world’s languages in terms of their articulation, that is, the movements and/or positions of
the vocal organs (articulators). (International Encyclopaedia of the Social & Behavioural
Sciences, 2001)

The production of speech involves 3 processes:

1. Initiation: Setting air in motion through the vocal tract.

2. Phonation: The modification of airflow as it passes through the larynx (related to
voicing).
3. Articulation: The shaping of airflow to generate particular sound types (related to
manner).

Articulatory phonetics refers to the “aspect of phonetics which looks at how the sounds of
speech are made with the organs of the vocal tract” Ogden (2009:173).

Articulatory phonetics is divided into three areas to describe consonants.

1. Voice
In English we have both voiced and voiceless sounds. A sound fits into one
of these categories according to how the vocal folds behave when a speech
sound is produced.

Voiced: Sounds that involve vocal fold vibrations when they are produced.
Examples are /b, d, v, m/.
If you place two fingers on either side of the front of your neck, just below
your jawbone, and produce a sound, you should be able to feel a vibrating
sensation. This tells you this is voiced.
 Voiceless: Sounds that are produced with no vocal fold vibration. Examples
are /s, t, p, f/.

2. Place
The vocal tract is made up of different sections, which play a pivotal role in
the production of speech. These sections are call articulators and are what
make the speech sounds possible. They can be divided into two types.

a. The active articulator is the articulator that moves towards

another articulator in the production of a speech sound. This
moves towards another to form a closure of some type in the vocal
tract. (i.e open approximation, close, etc – define)
b. The passive articulator is the articulator that remains stationary
in the production of a speech sound. Often, this is the destination
that the active articulator moves towards (i.e the hard palate)

Different places of articulation in the vocal tract

 Bilabial: this involves the upper and lower lips. In the production of the
bilabial sound, the lips come into contact with each other to form an effective
constriction. /p, m, b/

 Labiodental: this involves the lower lip (labial) and upper teeth (dental)
coming into contact with other to form an effective constriction in the vocal
tract. /f, v/

2 types of labiodental sounds

a. Endolabial: sounds produced where the upper teeth are

pressed against the inside of the lower lip.
b. Exolabial: sounds produced where the upper teeth are
pressed against the outer side of the lower lip.

 Dental: this involves the tongue tip (active articulatory) making contact with
the upper teeth to form a constriction. If a sound is produced where the
tongue is between the upper and lower teeth, it is attributed the term
‘interdental’.

 Alveolar: this involves the front portion of tongue making contact with the
alveolar ridge to form an effective constriction in the vocal tract. /t, d, n, l, s/.

 Postalveolar: these are sounds that are made a little further back (‘post’)
from the alveolar ridge. This produced when the blade of the tongue comes
into contact with the post -alveolar region of your mouth.
  Palatal: these are sounds that are made with the tongue body (the big, fleshy
part of your tongue). The tongue body raises up towards the hard-palate in
your mouth (the dome shaped roof of your mouth) to form an effective
constriction. /j/

 Velar: these are sound that are made when the back of the tongue (tongue
dorsum) raises towards the soft palate, which is located at the back of the
roof of the mouth. This soft palate is known as the velum. An effective
constriction is then formed when these two articulators come into contact
with each other. /k, g,/

3. Manner
This refers to the way a sound is made, as opposed to where it’s made.
Sounds differ in the way they are produced. When the articulators are brought
towards each other, the flow of air differs according to the specific sound type. For
instance, the airflow can be completely blocked off or made turbulent.

a. Stop articulations:
These are sounds that involve a complete closure in the vocal
tract. The closure is formed when two articulators come together to
prevent air escaping between them. Stop articulation can be
categorized according to the kind of airflow involve. The type of
airflow can be oral (plosives) or nasal (nasals).

 Plosives: these are sounds that are made with a complete closure in
the oral (vocal) tract. The velum is raised during a plosive sound,
which prevents air from escaping via the nasal cavity. /p, b, t, d, k, g/.
Plosives can be held for quite a long time and are thus also called
‘maintainable stops’.

 Nasals: are similar to plosives in regards to being sounds that are

made with a complete closure in the oral (vocal) tract. However, the
velum is lowered during nasal sounds, which allows airflow to escape
through the nasal cavity. /m, n/

b. Fricatives:
Sounds are produced by narrowing the distance between the
active and passive articulators causing them to be in close
approximation. This causes the airflow to become turbulent when it
passes between the two articulators involved in producing a fricative
sound. /f, s, z/

c. Approximants:
 Sounds are created by narrowing the distance between the two
articulators. Although, unlike fricatives, the distance isn’t wide enough
to create turbulent airflow. /w, j, r, l/

VOWELS

When it comes to vowels, we use a different specification to describe them. We look

at the vertical position of the tongue, the horizontal position of the tongue and lip position.
Vowels are made with a free passage of airflow down the mid-line of the vocal tract.
They are usually voiced and are produced without friction.

1. Vertical tongue position (close-open):

This refers to how close the tongue is to the roof of the mouth in the
production of a vowel. If the tongue is close, it is given the label close.
However, if the tongue is low in the mouth when a vowel is produced, it’s
given the label open. Close-mid/open mid.

Open vowels: ɪ , ᴜ
Close vowels: ᴂ

2. Horizontal tongue position (front, mid, back):

This refers to where the tongue is positioned in the vocal tract in terms of ‘at
the front’ or ‘at the back’ when the vowel is produced. If the tongue is at the
front of the mouth it’s given the label front, if the tongue is in the middle of
the mouth it’s given the label mid and if the tongue is at the back of the
mouth it’s given the label back.

Front vowels: ɪ, e, ᴂ
Mid vowels: Ə
Back vowels: Ʌ

3. Lip position:
This concerns the position of the lips when the vowel is produced. The lips
can either be round, spread, or neutral.

Round vowels: u, o
Spread vowels: ɪ, ɛ

2 Categories of Vowels:

1. Monophthongs: vowels that are produced by a relatively stable tongue position.

2. Diphthongs: vowels where the tongue moves from one part of the mouth to
another. They can be seen as starting of as one vowel and ending as a different
vowel.