the organs of speech发音器官

Eight organs of speech Speech organs produce the many sounds needed for language Organs used include the lips teeth tongue alveolar ridge hard palate velum soft palate uvula and glottis Speech organs or articulators are of two types passive articulators and active articulators Passive articulators remain static during the articulation of sound Upper lips teeth alveolar ridge hard palate soft palate uvula and pharynx wall are passive articulators Active articulators move relative to these passive articulators to produce various speech sounds in different manners The most important active articulator is the tongue The lower lip and glottis are other active articulators 1 Lips Lips are a visible body part at the mouth of humans and many animals Lips are soft movable and serve as the opening for food intake and in the articulation of sound and speech Human lips are a tactile sensory organ and can be erogenous when used in kissing and other acts of intimacy The lips serve for creating different sounds mainly the labial bilabial and labiodental consonant sounds and thus create an important part of the speech apparatus The lips enable whistling and the performing of wind and brass instruments such as the trumpet clarinet flute and saxophone 2 Teeth Sounds can be formed by using the teeth to shape the lips in combination with the tongue or to block air from escaping the mouth 3 Tongue The tongue is a muscular hydrostat on the floors of the mouths of most vertebrates which manipulates food for mastication It is the primary organ of taste as much of the upper surface of the tongue is covered in papillae and taste buds It is sensitive and kept moist by saliva and is richly supplied with nerves and blood vessels In humans a secondary function of the tongue is phonetic articulation 4 Alveolar ridge An alveolar ridge also known as the alveolar margin is one of the two jaw ridges either on the roof of the mouth between the upper teeth and the hard palate or on the bottom of the mouth behind the lower teeth The alveolar ridges contain the sockets alveoli of the teeth They can be felt with the tongue in the area right above the top teeth or below the bottom teeth Its surface is covered with little ridges Sounds made with the tongue touching the alveolar ridge while speaking are called alveolar Examples of alveolar consonants in English are for instance t d s z n l like in the words time dragon silly zeal nasty and lollipop There are exceptions to this however such as speakers of the New York Accent who pronounce t and d at the back of their teeth When pronouncing these sounds the tongue touches t d n or nearly touches s z the upper alveolar ridge which can also be referred to as gum ridge In many other languages these same consonants are articulated slightly differently and are often described as dental consonants In many languages consonants are articulated with the tongue touching or close to the upper alveolar ridge The former are called alveolar plosives and the latter alveolar fricatives 5 hard palate The hard palate is a thin horizontal bony plate of the skull located in the roof of the mouth It spans the arch formed by the upper teeth It is formed by the palatine process of the maxilla and horizontal plate of palatine bone It forms a partition between the nasal passages and the mouth This partition is continued deeper into the mouth by a fleshy extension called the soft palate The interaction between the tongue and the hard palate is essential in the formation of certain speech sounds notably t d j and 6 velum soft palate The soft palate also known as velum or muscular palate is the soft tissue constituting the back of the roof of the mouth The soft palate is distinguished from the hard palate at the front of the mouth in that it does not contain bone The soft palate is movable consisting of muscle fibers sheathed in mucous membrane It is responsible for closing off the nasal passages during the act of swallowing and also for closing off the airway During sneezing it protects the nasal passage by diverting a portion of the excreted substance to the mouth The uvula hangs from the end of the soft palate Research shows that the uvula is not actually involved in snoring processes This has been shown through inconsistent results from uvula removal surgery Snoring is more closely associated with fat deposition in the pharynx enlarged tonsils of Waldeyer s Ring or deviated septum problems Touching the uvula or the end of the soft palate evokes a strong gag reflex in most people 7 Palatine uvula The uvula pronounced ju vj l is the conic projection from the posterior edge of the middle of the soft palate composed of connective tissue containing a number of racemose glands and some muscular fibers musculus uvulae 1 The uvula plays a key role in the articulation of the sound of the human voice to form the sounds of speech 2 The uvula functions in tandem with the back of the throat the palate and air coming up from the lungs to create a number of guttural and other sounds Uvular consonants are not found in most dialects of English though they are found in many Semitic Caucasian and Turkic languages as well as several languages of Western Europe such as German French Portuguese and a few Celtic languages Certain African languages such as the Khoisan languages use the uvula to produce click consonants as well though other than that uvular consonants are fairly uncommon in Sub Saharan Africa 8 Glottis The glottis is defined as the combination of the vocal folds and the space in between the folds the rima glottidis As the vocal folds vibrate the resulting vibration produces a buzzing quality to the speech called voice or voicing or pronunciation Sound production involving only the glottis is called glottal English has a voiceless glottal fricative spelled h In many accents of English the glottal stop made by pressing the folds t