Reflection 2

THE PRODUCTION OF SPEECH SOUNDS

 

     As human beings, we have the capacity to speak and communicate orally our thougts or feelings. When we talk, we are using our oral cavity and our nasal cavity; both are pat of the vocal apparatus. We use many important parts to produce each sound correctly, because each phoneme has its particular way to be made, according the part where is produced. These parts are called articulators, and these are:

·    The pharynx: that is divided into two parts, one belongs to the oral cavity and the other belongs to the nasal cavity.

·    The velum: is the soft part of the palate, that the tongue reaches when we produce some sound like /k/ and /g/

·        The hard palate: Is known as “the roof of the mouth”, and has a smooth curved surface.

·    The alveolar ridge: This part is locate behind the upper teeth and near the hard palate. Is possible to fell this part with the tip of the tongue.

·    The tongue: Is the only one that could be moved in different places. It is very important, because it makes possible the production of speech sounds, according the position of the tongue into the oral cavity.

·      The teeth: are hard pieces located up and down along the gums. The teeth surround the oral cavity, and are used to make a kind of barrier to produce dental sounds.

·    The lips: upper and lower lips are located out of the oral cavity, but are very important, because they are used to produce sounds by themselves, or with help of the teeth.

·       The nose and the jaws: are considered articulators in a different way than the other ones, but they are used to make sounds, and are important parts of the vocal apparatus.

     Some sound in that the movement of these parts are demanded to be produced are vowel sounds, called vocoids. According the movement and the place of production, these could be classified into cardinal, short and long. To know more about them, I leave these web pages and videos that are very useful.

Videos:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GArmTOv7Q3Q
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=U4E86gqzyO4
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PsfQESpi-Ec&feature=related

Web sites:

http://lovelylanguage.com/pronunciation/sounds/speech-organs/
http://www.slideshare.net/MariaMarthaManetteMadrid/the-organs-of-speech-and-their-function
http://www.eslgold.com/pronunciation/english_vowel_sounds.html
http://www.bbc.co.uk/worldservice/learningenglish/grammar/pron/sounds/