The production of speech sounds
2.1 Articulators above the larynx
All the sounds we make when we speak are the result of muscles contracting. The
muscles in the chest that we use for breathing produce the flow of air that is needed for
almost all speech sounds; muscles in the larynx produce many different modifications in
the flow of air from the chest to the mouth. After passing through the larynx, the air goes
through what we call the vocal tract, which ends at the mouth and nostrils; we call the
part comprising the mouth the oral cavity and the part that leads to the nostrils the nasal
cavity. Here the air from the lungs escapes into the atmosphere. We have a large and
complex set of muscles that can produce changes in the shape of the vocal tract, and in
order to learn how the sounds of speech are produced it is necessary to become familiar
with the different parts of the vocal tract. These different parts are called articulators, and
the study of them is called articulatory phonetics.
Fig. 1 is a diagram that is used frequently in the study of phonetics. It represents the
human head, seen from the side, displayed as though it had been cut in half. You will need
to look at it carefully as the articulators are described, and you will find it useful to have a
mirror and a good light placed so that you can look at the inside of your mouth.
i) The pharynx is a tube which begins just above the larynx. It is about 7 cm long
in women and about 8 cm in men, and at its top end it is divided into two, one