Articulatory Mechanisms
Speech articulation is the most complex motor activity in humans, producing concatenations of phonemes into syllables and syllables into words using movements of the speech organs. These articulatory
processes are conducted within a phrase of a single expiratory phase with continuous changes of vocal fold vibration, which is one of the human-specific characteristics of sound production mechanisms.
Articulatory Organs
Articulatory organs are composed of the rigid organ of the lower jaw and soft-tissue organs of the tongue, lips,
and velum, as illustrated in Fig. 9. These organs together alter the resonance of the vocal tract in various ways and generate sound sources for consonants in the vocal tract. The tongue is the most important articulatory organ, and changes the gross configuration
of the vocal tract. Deformation of the whole tongue determines vowel quality and produces palatal, velar, and pharyngeal consonants. Movements of the tongue apex and blade contribute to the differentiation of dental and alveolar consonants and the realization
of retroflex consonants. The lips deform the open end of the vocal tract by various types of gestures, assisting the production of vowels and labial consonants. Actions of these softtissue organs are essentially based on contractions of the muscles within
these organs, and their mechanism
is often compared with the muscular hydrostat. Since the tongue and lips have attachments to the lower jaw,
they are interlocked with the jaw to open the mouth. The velum controls opening and closing of the velopharyngeal port, and allows distinction between nasal and oral sounds. Additionally, the constrictor muscles of the pharynx adjust the lateral width of the
pharyngeal cavity, and their actions also assist articulation for vowels and back consonants.
Figure9: Illustration of the articulatory system with names of articulators and cavities
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