This document provides an introduction to phonetics and the speech organs involved in producing sounds. It discusses the respiratory, phonatory, and articulatory systems; airstream mechanisms including pulmonic, glottalic, and velaric; speech organs such as the larynx, roof of the mouth, and articulators; and descriptions of consonants and vowels including place and manner of articulation. Diagrams are provided to illustrate key concepts. References are listed at the end for further reading.

1. By:
Dr. Muhammad Mooneeb Ali
Saudi Aramco Saudia Arabia
H.E.D. Punjab Pakistan
Phonetics and Phonology
Introduction to Airstream Mechanisms,
Speech Sounds and Speech Organs

2. Phonetics
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 Phonetics is the study of the medium of spoken
language, that is, the production, transmission
and reception of the sounds of human speech.
 Spoken language is produced by the movements
of the organs of speech.
 All human beings have the same organs of
speech. So, theoretically speaking, every normal
human being can produce any of the sounds of
human speech.

3. What is Phonetics ?
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 Study of human speech as a physical
phenomenon
 Articulation
 Acoustics
 Perception

4. Articulatory Phonetics
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Study of how speech sounds are produced by
 human vocal apparatus
 Anatomy of vocal organs
 Air stream Mechanism
 Voicing
 Articulation

5. Bernoulli Effect
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 Air pumped from the lungs applies pressure on
closed glottis
 High pressure opens vocal cords
 High velocity air flow creates low pressure region
pulling vocal cords together again
 Process is repeated, producing vibrations in the
vocal cords

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7. The Organs of Speech
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 The respiratory system, consisting of the lungs,
the muscles of the chest, and the wind-pipe
(trachea)
 The phonatory system, formed by the larynx
 The articulatory system, consisting of the nose,
the mouth (including the tongue, the teeth, the
roof of the mouth, and the lips)

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Respiratory System Phonatory System Articulatory System
Lungs Muscles of
the chest
Trachea
Larynx
Pharynx Roof
of the
mouth
Teeth
Lips
Organs of Speech
Tongue
Vocal
cords
Tip
Uvula
Hard
palate
Teeth
ridge
Soft
palate
Blade Front Back Rims

9. The Organs of Speech
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10. The larynx
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 The air from the lungs comes through the wind
pipe or trachea, at the top of which is the larynx.
 In the larynx are two vocal cords, which are like a
pair of lips placed horizontally from front to back.
 They are joined in the front, but can be separated
at the back, and the opening between them is
called the glottis.

11. The roof of the mouth
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 The roof of the mouth can be subdivided into four
parts:
 the teeth-ridge or the alveolar ridge, i.e., the hard convex
surface just behind the upper front teeth
 the hard palate, i.e., the hard concave surface behind the
teeth-ridge
 the soft palate, i.e., the soft portion behind the hard palate
 the uvula, i.e., a small fleshy structure at the end of the soft
palate

12. The Air-Stream Mechanism
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 Three types of air-stream mechanism:
 pulmonic
 in which the lungs and the respiratory muscles set the
air-stream in motion
 glottalic
 in which the larynx, with the glottis firmly closed, is
moved up or down to initiate the air-stream
 Velaric
 in which the back of the tongue in firm contact with the
soft palate is pushed forward or pulled back to initiate
the air-stream

13. Pulmonic Sounds
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 Air flow is directed outwards towards the oral
cavity
 Pressure built by compression of lungs
 English [p], [n], [s], [l], [e]

14. Glottic Egressive Sounds
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 Air flow is directed outwards towards the oral
cavity
 Pressure built by pushing up closed glottis
 Georgian [p’], [t’], [k’]

15. Glottic Ingressive Sounds
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 Air flow is directed inwards from the oral cavity
 Pressure reduced by pulling down closed glottis
Hausa, Sindhi [ɓ,ɠ ]

16. Velaric Sounds
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 Air flow is directed inwards from the oral cavity
 Pressure reduced by forming velaric and alveolar
closure and pulling down tongue
 clicks

17. The State of the Glottis
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 When we breath in and out, the glottis is open.
That is, the vocal cords are drawn wide apart
producing voiceless sounds.
 If the vocal cords are held loosely together, the
pressure of the air coming from the lungs makes
them vibrate; that is, they open and close
regularly many times a second. Sounds produced
in this way are called voiced sounds.

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Raised Lowered
Nasal passage blocked
Oral sounds produced
Nasal passage open
State of the soft palate
Oral passage blocked Oral passage open
Nasal sounds produced
Nasalized sounds produced

19. The Articulators
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 The organs of speech above the glottis are the
articulators involved in the production of consonants:
 Active articulator
 the lower lip and the tongue
 Passive articulator
 the upper lip, the upper teeth, the roof of the mouth and the
back wall of the throat (or Pharynx).
 In the production of a consonant, the active articulator
is moved towards the passive articulator.

20. Consonants and Vowels: Two broad
categories of sounds
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 The description of a consonant includes the
following description:
 the nature of the air-stream mechanism
 pulmonic / glottalic / velar , egressive / ineggressive
 the state of the glottis
 voiced / voiceless/ whispered
 The position of the velum or the soft palate
 The articulators involved (i.e, the place of articulation)
 The nature of stricture involved (i.e., the manner of
articulation)

21. The Nature of Stricture Involved-I
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 that is, the different ways in which the passage of
air is restricted in the production of consonants
 Complete closure
 The active and the passive articulators making a firm
contact with each other, thus preventing the passage of
air between them. E.g., /p/, /b/
 Complete oral closure
 The active and passive articulators make a firm contact
with each other, thus preventing the passage of air
between them, but the soft palate is lowered, thereby
allowing the air to escape through the nose. E.g., /m/, /n/

22. The Nature of Stricture Involved-
II
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 Intermittent closure
 The air passes between the active and passive
articulators intermittently. It involves the vibration of the
active articulator against the passive. [Scottish r]
 Flap
 For some consonants the active articulator strikes
against the passive articulator once only. /r/ in very
 Close approximation
 The two articulators are brought very close to each
other so that the space between them is very narrow.
E.g., /f/, /v/, etc.

23. The Nature of Stricture Involved-
III
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 Partial closure
 There may be a contact of the articulators in the centre
of the vocal tract but the air may pass through the
sides. e.g., /l/
 Open approximation
 The two articulators are brought close to each other but
the space between them is wide enough for the air to
escape without friction. E.g., all vowels and the English
/j/ and /w/ as in yes, west.

24. The Place of Articulation - I
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 The place of articulation simply means the
active and passive articulators involved in the
production of a particular consonant.
 A few are:
 Bilabial : The two lips are the articulators. E.g., /p/, /b/, /m/
 Labio-dental: The lower lip is the active articulator and the
upper teeth are the passive articulators. E.g., /f/, /v/
 Dental: the tip of the tongue is the active articulator and the
upper front teeth are the passive articulators.

25. The Place of Articulation - II
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 Alveolar: The tip or blade of the tongue is the active
articulator and the teeth-ridge is the passive
articulator.
 Post-alveolar: The tip of the tongue is the active
articulator and the back of the teeth-ridge is the
passive articulator.
 Retroflex: the tip of the tongue is the active
articulator, and it is curled back. The back of the
teeth-ridge or the hard palate is the passive
articulator.

26. The Place of Articulation - III
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 Palato-alveolar: The tip, blade, and front of the
tongue are the active articulators and the teeth-
ridge and hard palate are the passive articulators.
 Palatal: The front of the tongue is the active
articulator and the hard palate is the passive
articulator.
 Velar. The back of the tongue is the active
articulator and the soft palate is the passive
articulator. E.g. /k/, /g/

27. The Place of Articulation - IV
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 Uvular: The rear part of the back of the tongue is the
active articulator and the uvula is the passive
articulator. There are no uvular sounds in English.
 Glottal: Produced at the glottis. E.g., [h]

28. The Manner of Articulation - I
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 According to the manner of articulation consonants
are usually classified as follows:
 Plosive: In the production of a plosive, there is a
simultaneous oral and nasal closure. The air behind the
oral closure is compressed and when the active articulator
is removed suddenly from contact with the passive one, the
air escapes with an explosion.
 Nasal: A nasal is produced by a stricture of complete oral
closure, but in this case there is no closure of nasal
passage. The soft palate is lowered and the air passes
through the nose.

29. The Manner of Articulation - II
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 Trill (rolled consonant) The active articulator taps
several times against the passive articulator (i.e.,
stricture of intermittent closure). E.g., [r] in horse.
 Flap: For a flap the active articulator strikes against
the passive articulator once only. E.g., [r] in very.
 Lateral : A lateral consonant is produced by a
stricture of closure in the centre of the vocal tract ,
but the air has a free passage on the sides. E.g., /l/.

30. The Manner of Articulation - III
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 Fricative: In the production of a fricative
consonant the articulator is one of close
approximation. The active articulator is brought
so close to the passive articulator that the
passage between them is very narrow and the
air passes through it with audible friction. E.g.,
/f/, /v/
 Frictionless continuant: [r] in red
 Semi-vowel: /j/, /w/

31. Vowels - I
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 The stricture involved in the production of vowels is
open approximation.
 The active articulators: the front, the back, the centre
of the tongue
 The passive articulators: the hard palate, the soft
palate, the meeting point of the hard and soft palates
 The active articulator is raised towards the passive
articulator in such a way that there is a sufficient gap
between the two for the air to escape through the
mouth without any friction.

32. Vowels - II
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 A vowel is described using a three-term label:
 part of the tongue raised (front, centre, back)
 the height to which the tongue is raised (close, half-
close, half-open, open)
 the position of the lips (unrounded or rounded)

33. Vowels - III
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 Monophthong: A vowel that does not change its
quality (also called pure vowels)
 Diphthongs: There are some vowels, the quality
of which is not constant, but changes from one
vowel to another.

34. Periodic Sine Wave
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35. 12/8/2023
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36. Complex periodic waves
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37. Resonance
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38. Sound wave
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39. Acoustic Phonetics
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40. Source Filter theory FILTER
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41. Source-Filter Theory : Source
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42. Source Filter theory
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43. Spectrograms
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44. Speech perception
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45. Phonetic Transcription
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 In English there is no one-to-one correspondence between
spelling and pronunciation.
 To overcome this problem a need had been felt to evolve an
alphabet in which words of any language could be written
unambiguously.
 One such alphabet that is used extensively by phoneticians all
over the world is the International Phonetic Alphabet, devised
by International Phonetic Association.
 It is claimed to have symbols to represent all the sounds that
exist in the natural languages of the world.
 It is used to transcribe words of any natural language.
 It is based primarily on Roman Alphabet and a set of diacritics.

46. References
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1. http://www.mapsofworld.com/world-language-map.htm
2. http://www.ling.upenn.edu/courses/Spring_2001/ling001/phonetics.html
.
http://www.umanitoba.ca/faculties/arts/linguistics/russell/138/sec5/phona
tio.htm
4. http://web.uvic.ca/ling/resources/ipa/
5.
http://www.ling.mq.edu.au/speech/phonetics/phonetics/airstream_laryng
eal /vot.html
6. http://www.indiana.edu/~hlw/PhonUnits/consonants2.html
7. http://www.ling.ohio-state.edu/~xflu/201/phonology.pdf
8. http://encyclopedia.thefreedictionary.com/IPA%20in%20Unicode
9. http://www.ling.upenn.edu/courses/Summer_2003/ling001/lecture4.html
10.
http://encyclopedia.thefreedictionary.com/International%20Phonetic%20
Alphabet

47. References
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11. http://www.haskins.yale.edu/Haskins/MISC/ASY/VOWELS/ah.html
12. http://www.sil.org/mexico/ling/glosario/E005ei-VowelsChart.htm
13.
http://people.deas.harvard.edu/~jones/cscie129/nu_lectures/lecture3%2
0/
 formants1.gif
14.
http://www.umanitoba.ca/faculties/arts/linguistics/russell/138/sec4/forma
nts.htm
15.
http://www.umanitoba.ca/faculties/arts/linguistics/russell/138/sec4/srcfilt.
htm
16. A Course in Phonetics by Peter Ladefoged
http://hctv.humnet.ucla.edu/departments/linguistics/VowelsandConsonants/
course/contents.html
17. http://web.uvic.ca/ling/resources/ipa/
18. Introduction to Phonetics and Phonology by Clark and Yallop