Articulatory Phonetics
Articulatory phonetics studies how speech sounds are produced by the movements and configurations of the speech organs, from the lungs and larynx through the vocal tract.
Definition
The branch of phonetics concerned with the anatomy and physiology of speech production and with the classification of speech sounds by how they are articulated.
Scope
This area covers the physiological machinery of speech production: the airstream mechanisms that set air in motion, the action of the larynx in producing voicing, and the articulators of the oral and nasal cavities that shape the airstream into distinct consonants and vowels. It describes how sounds are classified by place and manner of articulation, how vowels are characterized by tongue height, backness, and lip rounding, and how the International Phonetic Alphabet provides a systematic notation for these categories. It is descriptive, surveying the parameters used to classify the sounds of the world's languages rather than prescribing any particular pronunciation.
Sub-topics
Core questions
- Which organs and movements produce the consonants and vowels of human languages?
- How are speech sounds classified by place and manner of articulation?
- How do airstream mechanisms and the state of the glottis contribute to sound production?
- How can articulatory categories be represented in a consistent notation?
Key theories
- Place-and-manner classification of consonants
- The systematic description of consonants by the location of constriction in the vocal tract (place) and the type and degree of that constriction (manner), together with voicing, which underlies the consonant chart of the IPA.
- Airstream mechanisms
- Catford's framework distinguishing the sources of airflow used in speech—pulmonic, glottalic, and velaric—which accounts for the production of ordinary egressive sounds as well as ejectives, implosives, and clicks.
History
Articulatory description of speech has roots in ancient Indian and Greek grammatical traditions, but its modern form developed through nineteenth- and twentieth-century work by phoneticians such as Henry Sweet and Daniel Jones, and was consolidated in the International Phonetic Alphabet. Peter Ladefoged's instrumental and cross-linguistic fieldwork, especially with Ian Maddieson, extended the framework to document the full range of articulations found in the world's languages.
Debates
- Discreteness of articulatory categories
- A recurring question is whether articulation is best modeled with discrete categories such as fixed places of articulation or as continuously variable gestures, given that real articulations vary gradiently and overlap in time.
Key figures
- Peter Ladefoged
- Ian Maddieson
- J. C. Catford
- Keith Johnson
Related topics
Seminal works
- ladefoged2015
- ipa1999
- ladefoged1996
Frequently asked questions
- What is the difference between place and manner of articulation?
- Place of articulation refers to where in the vocal tract the airflow is constricted (for example, the lips or the alveolar ridge), while manner of articulation refers to how the airflow is obstructed (for example, complete closure for a stop versus narrow constriction for a fricative).
- What is an airstream mechanism?
- An airstream mechanism is the way moving air is generated for speech. Most sounds use a pulmonic egressive airstream from the lungs, but some use glottalic or velaric mechanisms to produce ejectives, implosives, and clicks.