Lecture 2

How speech sounds

are made
Organs of speech

3 major systems:
articulatory system Head
phonatory system Throat
respiratory system Chest
Respiratory system

z Eggresive pulmonic airstream

– Most common way speech sounds are made

z Ingressive pulmonic airstream

– Used for non speech sounds
e.g. gasping

– Some speech sounds uses this too

e.g. clicks in Zulu
Phonatory system
z Trachea (windpipe)
z Larynx (voice box)
– Vocal cords: voicing (phonation)
– Glottis (opening between the vocal folds)

Q:What glottal settings do you need for:

a) voiceless sounds
b) voiced sounds
c) a glottal stop
A: in textbook
Q: What are the different glottal settings for
different voice quality ?

z Voice
z Whisper
z Breathy
z Creaky

z Listen to Track 7
A: in textbook
Q: Why do we care about these different voice qualities?
(for discussion)
Articulatory system

z Resonating cavities:
– Throat (pharyngeal cavity)
– Mouth (oral cavity)
– Nose (nasal cavity)

z Analogy to wind instruments

Exercise on page 39

z Let’s go over this

Articulatory system
Major Articulators:
1. Lips:
2. Tongue:
3. Teeth/ Jaw
4. Velum
5. Tongue Root
6. Larynx (phonatory system)

Speech sounds are made with a combination of

articulators
Online resources

University of Iowa
anatomy diagram
sound and symbol matching
step-by-step description of how speech sounds
are made