HUMAN SPEECH

AND THE SOUNDS

OF ENGLISH

How did we learn to

speak as a child?
How doid

SPEECH
is the act , faculty or power of
speaking; oral communication;
the ability to express ones
thoughts and emotions by
sounds and gesture.

THREE BODY PARTS USE

IN HUMAN SPEECH
BRAIN - for language memory and speech
coordination
EARS - to monitor pronunciation
MOUTH - to make the sounds

ORGAN
OF
SPEECH

LL

Lips

TT

Teeth

TR

Alveolar/teeth ridge, convex part of the mouth, immediately

behind the teeth

Hard palate, concave part of the roof of the mouth

Soft palate in lowered position

Uvula, the loose hanging end of the soft palate

Pharynx

BL

Blade of the tongue, including the tip, the part opposite the teeth
ridge

Front of the tongue, the part opposite the hard palate

Back of the tongue, the part opposite the soft palate

Epiglottis; this is drawn over the windpipe when swallowing

Windpipe

FP

Food passage

Vocal cords or vocal lips

Larynx

The upper extremity of the windpipe (Adams apple) which

contains and protects the vocal cords

ORGANS OF SPEECH

LIPS - they serve for creating different sounds

mainly the labial, bilabial (/p/, /b/, /m/,
/hw/,/w/) and labio - dental consonant sounds
(/f/ and /v/)

ORGANS OF SPEECH

TEETH - small whitish structure

found in your jaws.
Responsible for creating sounds
mainly the labio -dental (/f/ and /v/)

ORGANS OF SPEECH

ALVEOLAR/TEETH RIDGE - convex part of

the mouth, immediately behind the teeth

ORGANS OF SPEECH

HARD PALATE - concave part of the

roof of the mouth. (/t/, /d/ and /j/)

ORGANS OF SPEECH

SOFT PALATE - in lowered position. It holes

forming that function during speech to
separate the oral cavity from the nose, in
order to produce the oral speech sound.

ORGANS OF SPEECH

UVULA - the loose hanging end of the soft

palate

ORGANS OF SPEECH
BLADE OF THE TONGUE
- including the tip, the
part opposite the teeth
ridge.
FRONT OF THE TONGUE
- the part opposite of the
hard palate.
BACK OF THE TONGUE the part opposite of the
soft palate.

ORGANS OF SPEECH

EPIGLOTTIS- is drawn the windpipe when

swallowing. As the vocal folds vibrate, the
resulting vibration produces a buzzing

ORGANS OF SPEECH

WINDPIPE

FOOD PASSEGE

VOCAL CORD OR VOCAL

LIPS
LARYNX - the upper
extremity of the windpipe
(Adams apple) which
contains and protects the
vocal cords.

SPEECH
ARTICULATION

ARTICULATION

how speech
sounds are made

PHONEME
is the smallest unit of sound.
One or more phonemes combine to
form a SYLLABLE
One or more syllables combine to
form a WORD
Phonemes can be divided into two
groups: vowels and consonants

SPEECH ARTICULATION
Vowels are always voiced. Consonants may
be voiced and unvoiced
A dipthong is a combination of two or more
vowels into one phoneme
Consonants may be classified according to their
manner of articulation as plosive, fricative,
nasal, liquid and semivowel.

PHONETICS
is the study of sounds
phonetic transcriptions, dictionaries
tell you about the pronunciation of
words.

Phonetic transcription is
necessary, because the
spelling of a word does
not tell you how you
should pronounce it.

Phonetic transcriptions
are usually written in the
International
Phonetic Alphabet
(IPA), in which each
English sound has a
special symbol.

(International
Phonetic
Alphabet)

IPA Vowels