Ch. 7PHYSIOLOGY OF

ARTICULATION

The process of joining two elements togetherArticulatory system is the system of mobile and

immobile articulators brought into contact for the purpose of shaping the sounds of speech

What happens to the sound after it reaches the oral cavity

Sounds=phonemes

ARTICULATION

SOURCE FILTER THEORY OF VOWEL PRODUCTION

Voice is generated by the vocal folds and routed through the vocal tract where it is shaped into the sounds of speech

Changes in the shape and confi guration of the tongue, mandible, soft palate and other articulators govern the resonance characteristics of the vocal tract, and the resonances of the tract determine the sound of a given vowel.

When you move your tongue around in your mouth, you are changing the shape of your oral cavity, making it smaller or larger, lengthening or shortening.

Change the shape of the oral cavity= change the resonant frequency=change the sound that comes out of the mouth

Vowels- source will always be phonationConsonants- sources will include turbulence of

frication or combination of voicing and turbulence

RESONANT FREQUENCY

Say the words “he” and “who”

Share with your partner what is happening with your tongue, mandible, lips when you say each of these words.

RESONANT FREQUENCY

Share with your friend the placement of your tongue for an /s/ sound and how it changes for the /sh/ sound

Be prepared to share

PRODUCTION OF /S/ , /SH/

Speech production requires execution of an extremely well-organized and integrated sequence of neuromotor events

Say the word “Tube”Tongue elevates to alveolar ridge while simultaneously

elevating and tensing the velumAir pressure builds up behind the tongueTongue actively drops to release the pressure and produce

the /t/As it releases it quickly retracts to produce the /u/

assisted by the rounding of your lipsLips then close tightly with buildup of air pressure for the

fi nal /b/All of this happens in less than 3/10 of a second and we

don’t even think about it

SPEECH FUNCTION

Lower lip achieves a greater velocity and force than the upper lip and seems to do most of the work in lip closure

The extra force is due to the mentalis muscle

Lower lip is attached to a movable articulator- the mandible

Lower lip is capable of rapidly altering its rate of closure

Lips are amazingly resistant to interference- they adjust and accommodate to physical restraints

Experiment on bottom of p. 378 with tongue depressors

LIPS

A helperAssists the lipsChanges position for tongue movementTightly closes when necessarySupportive role of carrying the lips, tongue, and teeth

to their targets in the maxillaAdjustments are rather smallMuscles of mandibular elevation are endowed with

muscle spindles- reflexes within the jawVery important for mastication- mandible elevates,

grinds laterally and then depresses in a rhythmic fashion

For speech- mandible elevates and depresses with slight modifications, quick adjustments

MANDIBLE

It is the most important of the articulators Involved in the production of the majority of the

phonemesTongue tip elevation /t/, /d/Tongue tip depression /k/, /g/Tongue tip deviation, left and rightLateral margins relaxation /l/Tongue narrowingCentral tongue groovingRetractionProtrusionPosterior Tongue elevation /k/Tongue body depression

TONGUE

Closed for non-nasal speechOpen for nasal sounds /n/, /m/, /ng/Opens and closes in coordination with other

articulators avoiding the eff ect of nasal resonance on other phonemes

Production of high pressure consonants requires greater velopharyngeal eff ort- superior pharyngeal constrictor and uvular muscles assist /v/, /d/, /b/

Hard and soft palate are richly endowed with receptors that provide feedback concerning pressure and they facilitate or inhibit motor lingual activity

VELUM

The development of articulation is a hierarchy and based on motor controlThe infant must balance muscle tone before being

able to sitHe must sit before he can establish independent head

and neck controlWith the control of the neck muscles comes freedom

to move the mandible and tongue independentlyStarts with babbling where they just have to open and

close the mouth /m/,/b/, /p/ and vowelsProgressively increases ability to articulate more

diffi cult sounds /s/, /z/, /th/.

ARTICULATORY DEVELOPMENT

Infant size 6-8 cm from lips to vocal folds

Adult size 15-18 cm from lips to vocal folds

As the infant grows The nasopharynx enlarges and

becomes more sharply angled Oral and pharyngeal cavities

grow Tongue descends Oropharyngeal space

increases Length and depth of mandible

increases to accommodate the tongue

Reaches adult oral cavity size by age of 7-18 years.

VOCAL TRACT DEVELOPMENT

Speech is the most complex sequential motor task performed by humans

Conceptual System We must first develop the idea to be expressed The idea represents the sentence to be spoken The idea must be mapped into a syntactical system, establish

language forms acceptable to match the concept “Tomorrow is Monday” is an idea that is chosen and the words

have been chosen to fit the syntax Phonological System

Phonological rules are applied to establish the correct phoneme combinations to meet the needs of the words

“Tomorrow is Monday” is further broken down into syllables, phonemes and features of the phonemes

/T/ is a lingua-alveolar stop, voiceless sound

COORDINATED ARTICULATION

Muscle Movement system Muscles are activated to meet the needs of the feature

selection process /T/ now becomes movement of the muscles of the tongue

that will produce the lingua alveolar gesture (superior longitudinal and genioglossus muscles)

Coarticulation: Overlapping effect of one articulatory pattern on another

COORDINATED ARTICULATION

Coarticulation in running speech Overlapping effect of one articulatory gesture on another /see/ and /sue/ lips are retracted and lips are rounded