THE ORGANS OF SPEECH

The organs, which take part in the production of speech sounds, are called speech
organs. When we speak, air comes out through the lungs and it is interfered at
various places for the production of sounds. Sounds cannot occur without air. The
following diagram shows the main organs of speech.

Important organs
1. Lips 7. Epiglottis
2. Teeth . !har"n#
$. %lveolar ridge &. Soft palate
'. Tongue 1(. )vula
*. Lar"n# 11. +ard palate
,. -ocal cords
Descriptions and functions of some important organs of speech
The oca! cords
The lar"n# contains two small .ands of elastic tissues. The" are called
vocal cords. The opening .etween the vocal cords is called epiglottis. When
we .reathe in or out, the glottis is open. This is the position of the
production of voiceless sounds. e.g. /f/, /s/, /h/, etc are voiceless sounds in
English. The sounds produced when the glottis comes together are called
voiced sounds. So the main function of the vocal cords is to produce voiced
and voiceless sounds.
0igure of organs of speech
The soft pa!ate
The soft palate is also called velum. 1t is the roof of the mouth. 1t separates
the oral and nasal cavit". The last part of the soft palate is called uvula.
When it is lowered, the nasal sounds 2/m, n, 3/4 are produced. When it is
raised, the air passes out through the oral cavit" and the oral sounds 2/p, t, k,
s, etc/4 are produced.
The tongue
The tongue is an important organ of speech. 1t has the greatest variet" of
movement. 1t is divided into four parts5 the tip, the .lade, the front and the
.ack. The num.er of vowels is produced with the help of the tongue.
-owels differ from each other .ecause of the position of the tongue.
The tip of the tongue helps to produce /t, d, 6, etc/. The .lade of the tongue
helps to produce /t7, d, 7, etc/. The front of the tongue helps to produce
palatal sound /8/ and the .ack of the tongue helps to produce /k, g/
sounds.
The !ips
The upper lip and lower lip help to produce .ila.ial sounds /p, ., m/. 1f
the" are held together, the sounds produced in that position are .ila.ial stops
5 / p, ./. 1f the lips are held together, the" produce different vowels.
The teeth
The teeth take part in the production of consonant sounds. The upper
teeth onl" take part in the production of speech sounds. The lower teeth
don9t take part for the production of sounds. The sound produced with the
help of the upper teeth are called dental sound 2, r4
The a!eo!ar ridge
The alveolar ridge is the part .etween the upper teeth and the hard palate.
The sound produced with the tongue touching the alveolar ridge is called
alveolar sounds, e.g. /s/, /t/, /d/, etc.
!roducing different speech sounds depends on the movement of speech
organs. 1t is essential to know the movement and the placement of each
organ to produce particular sounds. The a.ove descriptions and functions of
the organ of speech help "ou to guide students to produce the consonants
and vowels in a right wa".