Phonetic The Production of Speech Sounds Arranged by: 1. Linda karlina (1401050066) 2. Novi Widiarti (1401050068) 3. Faizal Amir (1401050069) ENGLISH EDUCATION STUDY PROGRAM TEACHER TRAINING AND EDUCATION FACULTY MUHAMMADIYAH UNIVERSITY OF PURWOKERTO 2015 A. The Production of Speech Sounds 1.The Organs of Speech Speech sounds that we use in speaking a language are produced by the speech or vocal organs which include the mouth and respiratory apparatus. The function of human vocal organs that are used in speaking primally for breathing and eating to preserve our lives. The organs in the mouth cavity such as,teeth,tongue,lips,jaws are daily used to chew the food when we feel hungry or drink some water or sip some liquid subtance whwn we feel thirsty. Whereas inside our body,the lungs with the respiratory organs are essentially used to inhale and exhale air to get some oxygen and circulate it throughout our body. Those speech organs mentioned above are kept in three areas of human body that are the chest,the throat and the head. In the study of Phonetics represent the human head,seen from the side,the throat amd the chest. In the chest are the lungs,which are very important in speaking because all speech sounds are produced with some air flowing from the lungs. In breathing,the air passes out in smoothly and freely through the vocal tract (the throat and mouth).without msking a noise. In speaking,on the other hand,various things will happen to this air stream coming from the lungs,which goes out through the vocal tract,and these make the speeh sounds produced. In the throat is the larynx,which is located just inside the Adam’s Apple (the part of the throat that potrudes) in a man and the corresponding area in a woman. It has an important apparatus called vocal cords,that is the two thick flaps of muscle rather like a pair of lips. These vocal cords are situated horizontally in the larynx which can be made to assume variuos positions. In normal breathing th etwo vocal cords are widely separated and thus the aircan go in and out freely. They can be made in tight contact with each otheror complety closed, so that no air can pass out through the larynx. This happen when someone wants to collect his strength in lifting something heavy (or, for instance, at childbirth). In speaking, the vocal cords can interfere with the flow air in various ways. They can be put in light contact to each other, so that there is a small opening in between, this is called glotts. When the air is forced to go out through the samll opening between the two vocal cords, it causes them to open and close successively, it means the vocal cord are made to vibrate. The vibration of vocal cord produces the speech sound called ‘voice’. Very is very important in speaking a language since most of the speech sounds are voiced sounds. The first interference with the air stream, therefore, take place, in the larynx by the activity of vocal cords. Accordingly, in the production of speech sounds, the vocal cord can be made to vibrate in producing voiced sounds, or not to vibrate in producing voiceless sounds. Above the larynx is located the pharynx or parhyngeal cavity, which act as a resanoting chamber for the sounds produced by vibration of vocal cord. The shape of this cavity can be modified so that airstreams can be completely or partially obstructed by the action of the soft palate or the tongue. In the human head are the organs of articulation, which one are called articulator, and two cavities: the oral cavity (mouth) and nasal cavity (nose). The speech organs above the larynx are called ‘articulators’ because they fucntion to interrupt the out-going air in production of speech sounds, especially consonants, the oral or nasa cavities are used as resonating chambers, which strengthen the soumds that are already produced. Based on whether or not they can be moved, these articulators can be distinguished into two kinds: movable and unmovable. The movable articulators are lips, tongue, and soft palate and the uvula, whereas the unmovable articulators include the teeth, the teeth ridge, the hard palate. For the sake of further discussion, the tongue is divided into the following parts that is the tip or apex, the front, the center the back of the tongue (as shown in figure 2). The tongue is the most flexible speech organ since every part of it can be moved in the direction of sound production. 2. The Diagram of Articulators When a one speaks or produces speech sounds,the speech system functions are a whole. It acts in totalintegrated response. Therefore,on the basis of the function,the vocal organs can be divided into three subsystems as the following. 1) The respiratory system which is the source of the air stream needed to produce speech sounds. This system includes a speech organ called ”initiator” that refers to the lungs by which the air is set into motion for the production of sounds. 2) The phonatory system which provides interruption in the vocal tract needed to produce voice.The main organ that involves in this system is called ”phonator” that refers to the vocal cords in the larynx. 3) The articulatory system which modifies the out going air stream in various ways to produce and differentiate speech sounds.This system covers all speech organs above larynx,which are called “articulators”. They function to pbstruct the air stream that is forced out of the lungs through the vocal tract. Of the three systems,articulatory system plays an important role in producing speech sounds.It is also useful to talk about articulators dealing with their positions in the mouth,either along the upper jaw. The articulators that are situated along the upper jaw,are : the upper lip,the upper teeth,the upper teeth ridge,the hard palate,the soft palate. Whereas the articulators along the lower jaw consist of the lower lip,the lower teeth and the tongue.These lower articulators are certainly used and moved a lot in speaking,particularly the tongue which seems to be the important one,it can be moved into many different places and different shape.In order to know better the articulatory system, figure 3 below provides the cross section diagram of articulators. 3.Speech Sound Production Speech sounds are defined as sounds produced by the human speech organs. All sounds are basically produced when there is some interruption made by speech organs against the out going air somewhere along the vocal tract.The muscles of the lungs in the chest that are used for breathing produce the air system that is needed for the sound production. After passing through the larynx,the air goes through the vocal tract,which ends at the mouth and nostrils.Here,the air from the lungs escapes into the atmosphere.When we breathe restfully,the air stream goes in and out without obstruction.and thus no speech sound are heard.The interruption of the out going air may take place in the larynx,that is the air flow is forced out through small opening made by the vocal cords so that it causes them to open and close successively,in the other words ,it causes the vocal cords vibrating.The vibration of vocal cords produces the speech sounds called “voice”. In another case,the obstruction may take place in the mouth cavity which is formed by the speech organs above the larynx to interrupt the air stream forced out from the lungs.And the human speech organs above the larynx are called articulators.When the obstruction of the out going air takes place in the mouth cavity,it can be accompanied by the vibration or not vibration of vocal cords in producing sounds produced are not accompained by the vibration of vocal cords. In obstructing the out going air usually two articulators are involved,one articulator is of the upper jaw and the other is of the lower jaw. The two articulators used are closely situated to each other so that they can be easily moved to make contact or come closer to each other for obstruction of the air stream.To move the lower lip against the teeth is easier than to move it against the teeth ridge,let alone the use of two articulators that exist in the same jaw to interrupt the air. The act moving two articulators to each ither for the obstruction of the air stream is called articulation.In the other words,articulation takes place above the larynx made by two articulators.In the production of sounds,the two articulators may be moved in such a way that are touching or almost touching each other. The place where they make contact or come closer towards each other is called ‘place of articulation’ or ‘point of articulation’. Speech sound are, further, classified on the basis of point or place or articulation, thus there are bilabial-sounds, if the two lips-it must be lower lip and upper lip- are used to obstruck the out-going air. In further discussion, the speech sounds are classified into several types on this criterian Beside that, speech sounds are laso distinguished into several groups on the basis of the ways in which the out-going air is obstructed, this basis is called ‘type of articulation’ or ‘manner of articulation’ . if the two articulators, for instance, make contact tightly to each other in orer to obstruct the air stream completely and then this obstruction is released to let the air escape with a sudden force through the mouth so the sounds produced are plosives, such as /p/,/b/,/d/,/g/,etc. but when there is a complete obstruction made by the tongue in the center of the mouth and the air can escape through one or both sides of the tongue, the sound produced is called lateral, for example : /1/. There are many other types of speech sounds that are classified on the basis of this criterion. The airstream may pass to the outer atmosphere through either the oral or nasal cavity. The oral cavity is separated from the nasal cavity by the movement or the soft palate of velum. When the soft palate is raised to close the nasal cavity, the air can escape trhough the oral cavity (the mouth), so the sounds produced are called oral sound, but when the soft palate is lowered to let the air pass out through the nose, so the sounds produced belong to nasal sounds There is another typical sound called “resonant”. A resonant is a sound which is principally produced by means of vibrating the vocal cords, while the functions of the pharynx, the mouth, and the nose are only to modifi it. There three cavities act as resonating chambers, especially the mouth, which strengthen the sounds already produced by the vibration of vocal cords. The sounds like /a:/. /e/, /u/,etc. are caused by the different shapes and sizes of the mouth or oral cavity.