ARTICULATION

The physical production of the sounds of speech. Fluent articulation is a highly complex motor skill, involving the co-ordination of about 100 muscles at a speed that enables around 15 speech sounds to be produced every second. The process is also highly automatic: we can only produce speech at this rate because we do not pay conscious attention to the process.

 An articulatory gesture involves co-ordinated manipulation of the respiratory system, the larynx and the vocal tract. The first of these regulates the flow of air; the second, which includes the vocal cords, determines pitch and loudness, and applies voicing where appropriate. The vocal tract serves as a resonator, with changes in the oral, nasal and pharyngeal cavities affecting the timbre of the sounds that are made. The articulators within the oral part of the tract (tongue, jaw, lips and velum) serve to constrict or facilitate the air stream.

Some commentators suggest that the smallest articulatory gesture takes the form not of a phone but of a syllable, with the adult speaker possessing a repertoire of gestures which cover all the syllables of their language. The reason for favouring the syllable is that the articulation of any individual phoneme varies according to its place in the syllable and according to the phonemes which occur before and after it (a phenomenon known as co-articulation). As part of planning for an utterance, the speaker thus has to weave phones into the phonetic context in which they will occur, and to pre-determine the appropriate duration of each phone relative to the others.

 In Levelt’s model of speech production, articulation is the product of an articulatory or phonetic plan which anticipates the forthcoming chunk of speech. The chunk covers one or more complete phonological phrases. It is stored in a temporary buffer in the form of a programme which specifies the neuromuscular operations that will be necessary to produce the desired sequence of sounds. The articulatory system then translates the programme into instructions to the muscles controlling the larynx, the articulators and the respiratory system.

A number of theories attempt to account for how we manage to produce speech sounds so consistently.

Alocation-programming account suggests that motor commands sent by the brain direct the articulators to a target position for each phoneme. This explanation does not accord with evidence that the operation of the muscles involved in speech is highly co-ordinated and variable: if any are obstructed in their movement (e.g. if the speaker is chewing gum), others compensate to ensure that the articulatory goal is achieved.

An auditory theory suggests that the motor commands are coded in terms of the phonetic features that the speaker knows as a listener. This view envisages a systematic relationship between the perception and production of speech. However, it entails that the speaker has to wait for auditory feedback until he/she can decide if the articulatory target has been met or if an error of pronunciation has occurred.

 Amodel-referenced approach assumes that each speaker has an internal model of their own vocal apparatus. Tactile and kinaesthetic receptors in the vocal tract enable the speaker to build up a sensory image of the patterns in which the articulators are engaging. This image can be compared against the phonetic goal that the speaker aims to achieve. An even more rapid checking mechanism is provided by proprioceptive feedback in which part of the nerve impulse to the articulators loops back and is compared to the intended signal.

Aco-ordinative structures theory holds that articulation is achieved by means of a string of tasks. Each task triggers a motor command to not one but a group of muscles which function temporarily as a single unit.

The attractiveness of the last theory is that it accounts for the way in which speech impinges upon other activities. The co-ordination involved in articulation is highly complex, not just because of the need to combine different articulators, but also because the vocal organs serve purposes other than speech. The demands of speech have to be balanced against those of breathing (by the respiratory system), chewing and ingesting food (by some articulators) and protecting the air passages from intrusive food (by the larynx). During speech, the speaker switches to a distinctive respiratory pattern (or speech mode), with greater air displacement and a more constant rate of outflow. Similarly, although the same muscles are used in speech as in chewing and swallowing, they are co-ordinated in a very different way.

Articulatory settings (the positions adopted by tongue, lips, palate etc.) vary from speaker to speaker. They do so partly because every individual has differently shaped articulators (vocal tract, tongue, mouth and dental structure). Settings also vary due to personal speaking style.

See also: Buffer, Speech production, Vocalisation

Further reading: Laver (1994); Levelt (1989: Chap. 11); Pickett (1999)

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مواضيع ذات صلة

AUTONOMOUS

AUTOMATICITY

AUTISM

AUGMENTED TRANSITION NETWORK (ATN)

ATTRITION

ATTENTION2 (ATTENTIONAL CAPACITY)

ATTENTION1 (SELECTIVE ATTENTION)

ASSOCIATION

ARTIFICIAL INTELLIGENCE (AI)

ARTICULATORY SUPPRESSION

ARTICULATION RATE

ARGUMENT STRUCTURE