Principal Glossary
• Anatomy: a branch of morphology that deals with the structure of organisms.
• Phonetics: the science of studying speech sounds.
• Alveolar ridge: the ridge of gum-covered bone behind the upper teeth.
• Articulator: an organ of the vocal tract used in speech production.
• Articulators are the parts of the body that are used in the production of speech. Some of
these (e.g. the tongue, the lips) can be moved, while others (e.g. the hard palate, the teeth)
are fixed. Passive articulators are sometimes called fixed articulators, and their most
important function is to act as the place of an articulatory stricture.
• Consonant: a speech sound involving significant obstruction of airflow.
• International Phonetic Alphabet (IPA): a convention for phonetic transcription, widely used by linguists.
• Obstruction: Blockage, specifically blockage of airflow in the vocal tract.
• Palatal: Produced by the tongue body in the region of the palate.
• Phonation: the state of the larynx during a speech sound.
• Trachea: the 'windpipe,' lead from the through down to the lungs.
• The epiglottis: is a flap below the pharynx (the back of the throat): it covers the trachea (or 'windpipe') when you swallow, so that food goes down the esophagus instead.
• Velo-pharyngeal port: the space between the velum and the pharynx, leading into the nasal passages.
• Vocal tract: the lungs, throat, mouth and nose, particularly as used in speech.
• Vowel: sounds produced without significant obstruction of airflow in the vocal tract.
• Larynx: hollow muscular organ situated in the upper part of the trachea (windpipe)
behind the Adam's apple.
• Oral sounds are those produced with the velum raised to prevent air from escaping out the nose.
• Nasal sounds are those produced with the velum lowered to allow air to escape out the nose.
• Velum is the back part of the roof of the mouth.
• Air-stream mechanism: the type of air movement used to produce speech sounds.
glottis The space between the vocal folds, located behind the Adam's apple in the larynx.
• Transcription refers to the process or the use of sequences of phonetic symbols to represent speech.
• Phonetic Chart
It is usual to display sets of phonetic symbols on a diagram made of a rectangle divided
into squares, usually called a chart, but sometimes called a matrix or a grid. The best known phonetic chart is that of the alphabet of the International Phonetic Association (the IPA chart).