controls expansion and contraction of lungs in

Diaphragm:

✓ Situated below the lungs;

✓ controls expansion and contraction of lungs in breathing

Lungs:

✓ The two lungs are the source of air for the production of speech;

✓ facilitate the passage of air by contraction and expansion;

✓ the airstream initiated by air exhaled from the lungs is chiefly used for speech production which is called pulmonic eggressive airstream mechanism

Larynx

➢ The upper part of trachea

➢ Formed of cartiilage and muscle

➢ Acts as a valve

➢ Front part called Adam’s Apple

➢ Has lip-like structures called vocal cords/folds that can be drawn wide apart, held loosely together, or held tightly together

Laryngeal skeleton consists of

Cricoid Cartilage

Two arytenoid cartilages

Two corniculate cartilages

Two Cuneiform cartilages

❑ Includes all the parts above the larynx involved in the speech process or production:

❖ Pharynx

❖ Soft Palate/Velum

❖ Hard Palate

❖ Tongue

❖ Teeth

❖ Lips

❖ Nasal Cavity

❑ After passing through the larynx, airstream is modified by various shapes assumed by organs of speech lying above the larynx before it passes out into the atmosphere, and every such modification affects the quality of the sound produced.

In the production of speech, there are

three basic airstream mechanisms

namely,

❖ Pulmonic airflow

❖ Glottalic airflow and

❖ Velaric airflow.

o In this mechanism, the source of the air or energy are the lungs (hence the term ‘pulmonic’).

o Speech is generally produced by the outward flow of air that is generated by lungs and this mechanism is known as pulmonic egressive airstream mechanism.

o Once the air is inhaled, the egressive airflow takes place automatically due to the elastic recoil forces that reduce the lung volume, and this, in turn, causes the air to flow from the lungs to the air outside the vocal tract.

o Almost all the sounds in English are produced using this kind of mechanism.

▪ In this type of airstream mechanism, the source of air or energy is the larynx (hence the term ‘glottalic’). When the glottis is closed, the air coming from the lungs remains below the glottis. Thus, the air that is in the vocal tract above the glottis can be moved by raising or lowering the larynx which produces speech.

▪ When larynx is raised, sounds called ejectives are produced and when larynx is lowered, the sounds called implosives are produced.

▪ Ejectives occur in many African, Caucasian, and North, Central, and South American languages while implosives are primarily found in languages of West Africa, with Seereer-Siin, a Niger-Congo language spoken in Senegal.

➢ In this mechanism, the airstream is generated entirely within the oral cavity. Thus it is also known as oral airstream mechanism.

➢ A constriction occurs at the posterior end of the oral cavity which is usually at the velum and sometimes at the uvula. Simultaneously, anterior constriction is formed as well. The volume between the posterior and anterior constrictions increases due to the lowering of the tongue. When the anterior constriction releases, the outside air rushes in, yielding a click-like quality. Then, the posterior closure is released. Thus the velaric airstream mechanism produces sounds called clicks.

SUMMARY

Three systems

▪ Respiratory System

▪ Phonatory System

▪ Articulatory System

Three Airstream Mechanisms❖ Pulmonic airstream mechanism

❖ Glottalic airstream mechanism

❖ Velaric airstream mechanism

……………………………………………………………………….

References:

Roach, Peter. English Phonetics and Phonology: A Practical Course. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 2009

Sethi, J., and P.V. Dhamija. A Course in Phonetics and Spoken English. New Delhi: Prentice Hall of India Private Limited, 2006