ufpb speech organs exercise(phonolgy i)

8/14/2019 UFPb Speech Organs Exercise(Phonolgy I)

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UFPb-CCHLA-DLEM.

English Phonetics and Phonology I

Speech OrgansExercise 1.

Fill in the following sentences in a suitable way.

1. Man posseses,in common with other animals ,the ability to produce sounds byusing certain of his bodys .. . The human being,however,differsfrom other animals in that he has been able to

the range of sounds which he can emit into a highly efficient system

of .

2. . is thus concerned with describing the speech sounds that occur inthe languages of the world.

This description involves diverse but nevertheless interrelated stages:

.,Auditory,Acoustic,etc.

3. Speech depends upon a source of energy that causes a movement of air. Innearly all speech this basic source of energy is the respiratory system pushing air out of the

..,so in other words,

most speech sounds are produced by a . .........

. .

4. Air from the lungs goes up the ..(trachea) and into the ,atwhich point it must pass

between two small muscular folds called the . . .

5. If the .. are apart,as they normally are when breathingout,the air from the lungs will

have a relatively passage into the pharynx and the mouth.But if the

vocal cords are .

so that there is only a narrow passage between them,the pressure of the

airstream will cause them to

.. . Sounds produced when the vocal cords are vibrating are said to

be , as opposed

to those in which the vocal cords are apart,which are said to be . .

Vowels sounds are usually

,whereas consonants sounds may be either . or

.

6. The vocal cords can also be tightly closed with the air-pressure from the lungspent up behind the closure.

The sound produced when the vocal cords are in this position is called a

.. . Such a sound

may occur in the pronunciation of words like butter and cottonin some

dialects of English. This is also the

position taken by the vocal cords for coughs and . .

7. The air passages above the larynx are known as the .. .,whichcan be divided into the

. within the mouth and the and the

.. within the . .

The shape of the oral tract may take is a very important factor in the

production of speech as it gives a


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variety of qualities and resonances to the . produced. In the case

of a vowel sound, the cavity

within the mouth is somewhat ..and the quality of the vowel is

determined largely by the shape

of the tongue and the position of the lips. For consonant sounds,there may

be either a complete ...or a narrowing of the cavity causing friction. An example of the former is

the sound /p/ in which there is

a complete closure made by the . The sound /s/ exemplifies the

latter,where there is a friction

caused by a narrowing in the . tract.

8. The parts of the oral tract that can be used to form sounds are called the.. . The ones that

form the . surface of the oral tract often move towards those that form

the upper surface.

The principal parts of the upper surface of the oral tract are: the upper lip,theupper, the

,the palate,the soft palate or ,the . and the

pharynx.

The soft palate is a muscular flap that can be to press against the

back wall of the ..

and shut off the ,preventing air from going through the

nose. In this case there is said

to be a velic closure and an . sound is produced. When on the other

hand,the soft palate is in its

lower position,the air can escape both through the mouth and the nose.If,however,the mouth is blocked, the

air ,escapes only through the nose,and a sound is produced.

9. The principal parts of the lower surface of the oral tract are the lower.,and the . The .

is usually divided into four parts: the , the ., the .. and

the . . There is also

the part lying opposite the walls of the pharynx,which is sometimes identified

as the .. . The

and the are the most mobile parts of the tongue and they lie under the

alveolar ridge when the tongueis at rest,whereas the front and the back lie opposite the hard and soft palate

respectively.

10.The lips are also important in the production of speech,taking up variousdifferent . They can be held

together,completely blocking the mouth as when /p,b,m/ are

pronounced.Conversely,they can be kept apart in a

spread or neutral position or with different degrees of rounding,such as the

close-rounded or open-rounded

positions.

Bibliography:

OConnor,J.D. Better English Pronunciation. Cambridge 1967. Chap.2.


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Gimson,A.C. An Introduction to the Pronunciation of English. London 2nd

edn. 1970. Chap.2.

Robins,R.H. General Linguistics (An Introduction Survey). London 1971. Pp. 76-84.

Wallwork,J.F. Language and Linguistics. London. HeinemanEducational Books. Chap.2.

ufpb speech organs exercise(phonolgy i)

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