LECTURE 2
The Production of Speech Sounds

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Articulators above the Larynx
• Articulators
– Articulators are the parts of the body involved in
producing speech sounds. These include the lungs, the
vocal cords (larynx), and various parts of the mouth (lips,
tongue, teeth, hard palate, soft palate, and uvula).

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Human Vocal Tract
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The Vocal Tract
• The Vocal Tract
– The vocal tract is the passage that extends from the lungs
to the mouth and nostrils, passing through the larynx.
– The larynx is a key part of the vocal tract where sound is
initially produced.
– The vocal cords (also known as vocal folds) in the larynx
vibrate to generate sound when air from the lungs passes
through them

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The Vocal Cords
• The position of the vocal cords (whether they are
together or apart) affects the voicing of sounds.
– Voiceless sounds occur when the vocal cords are apart,
– Voiced sounds occur when the vocal cords are together,
vibrating as air passes through.

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Speech Sound Production
• Vowels and Consonants:
– Vowels: Vowels are sounds produced without any
significant constriction or blockage in the vocal tract. The
shape and position of the tongue and the openness of the
mouth are crucial in creating different vowel sounds.
– Consonants: Consonants are produced when there is a
significant constriction or closure in the vocal tract.
Depending on where the constriction occurs (lips, teeth,
alveolar ridge, etc.), different consonant sounds are
produced.
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VOWEL SOUNDS
• …in what ways vowels differ from each other?
– firstly, the vertical distance between the upper
surface of the tongue and the palate and,
– secondly, the part of the tongue, between front
and back, which is raised highest.
– thirdly, vowels can be rounded or unrounded based on lip
shape.

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ENGLISH SHORT VOWELS

i: as a relatively close vowel
„ as a relatively open vowel

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VOWEL SOUNDS
In making the two vowels described above,
it is the front part of the tongue that is
raised. We could therefore describe i:
and
as comparatively front vowels.

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CARDINAL VOWELS
• Cardinal vowels are a set of reference vowels used in
phonetics to describe and classify vowel sounds across
different languages.

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ENGLISH SHORT VOWELS

English Vowel Quadrilateral

Cardinal Vowel Quadrilateral
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ENGLISH LONG VOWELS

English Long Vowel Quadrilateral

English Short Vowel Quadrilateral

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DIPHTHONGS

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DIPHTHONGS

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TRIPHTHONGS

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/ɔː/

/ɜː/

/ɔː/

/uː/
/iː/

/ɑː/

/ɜː/
/iː/
/ɜː/

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