A branch of linguistics studying how humans make sounds

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Articulatory phonetics</span>

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Articulatory phonetics

<p>The field of <b>articulatory phonetics</b> is a subfield of <a href="/en/Phonetics" title="Phonetics" class="wl">phonetics</a> that studies <b>articulation</b> and ways that humans produce speech. Articulatory phoneticians explain how humans produce speech <a href="/en/Sound" title="Sound" class="wl">sounds</a> via the interaction of different <a href="/en/Physiological" title="Physiological" class="mw-redirect wl">physiological</a> structures. Generally, articulatory phonetics is concerned with the transformation of <a href="/en/Aerodynamic" title="Aerodynamic" class="mw-redirect wl">aerodynamic</a> <a href="/en/Energy" title="Energy" class="wl">energy</a> into <a href="/en/Acoustics" title="Acoustics" class="wl">acoustic</a> energy. Aerodynamic energy refers to the airflow through the <a href="/en/Vocal_tract" title="Vocal tract" class="wl">vocal tract</a>. Its <a href="/en/Potential_energy" title="Potential energy" class="wl">potential</a> form is <a href="/en/Air_pressure" title="Air pressure" class="mw-redirect wl">air pressure</a>; its <a href="/en/Kinetic_energy" title="Kinetic energy" class="wl">kinetic</a> form is the actual <a href="/en/Dynamics_(physics)" title="Dynamics (physics)" class="mw-redirect wl">dynamic</a> airflow. Acoustic energy is variation in the air pressure that can be represented as <a href="/en/Sound_waves" title="Sound waves" class="mw-redirect wl">sound waves</a>, which are then perceived by the human <a href="/en/Auditory_system" title="Auditory system" class="wl">auditory system</a> as sound.<span class="mw-ref reference" id="cite_ref-1"><a href="#cite_note-1" style="counter-reset: mw-Ref 1;" data-mw-group="lower-alpha"><span class="mw-reflink-text">[lower-alpha 1]</span></a></span></p>

<div class="shortdescription nomobile noexcerpt noprint searchaux" style="display:none" about="#mwt1">A branch of linguistics studying how humans make sounds</div>
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.sidebar-content-with-subgroup{padding:0.1em 0.4em 0.2em}.mw-parser-output .sidebar-above,.mw-parser-output .sidebar-below{padding:0.3em 0.8em;font-weight:bold}.mw-parser-output .sidebar-collapse .sidebar-above,.mw-parser-output .sidebar-collapse .sidebar-below{border-top:1px solid #aaa;border-bottom:1px solid #aaa}.mw-parser-output .sidebar-navbar{text-align:right;font-size:115%;padding:0 0.4em 0.4em}.mw-parser-output .sidebar-list-title{padding:0 0.4em;text-align:left;font-weight:bold;line-height:1.6em;font-size:105%}.mw-parser-output .sidebar-list-title-c{padding:0 0.4em;text-align:center;margin:0 3.3em}@media(max-width:720px){body.mediawiki .mw-parser-output .sidebar{width:100%!important;clear:both;float:none!important;margin-left:0!important;margin-right:0!important}}</style><table class="sidebar nomobile nowraplinks"><tbody><tr><td class="sidebar-pretitle" style="padding-bottom:0.3em;">Part of <a href="/en/Category:Phonetics" title="Category:Phonetics" class="wl">a series</a> on</td></tr><tr><th class="sidebar-title-with-pretitle notheme" style="background:#f2f2f2;padding-top:0.2em;"><a href="/en/Phonetics" title="Phonetics" class="wl">Phonetics</a></th></tr><tr><td class="sidebar-above">
Part of the <a href="/en/Category:Linguistics" title="Category:Linguistics" class="wl">Linguistics Series</a></td></tr><tr><th class="sidebar-heading notheme" style="padding:0.2em;background:#f2f2f2;">
Subdisciplines</th></tr><tr><td class="sidebar-content hlist" style="border-top:#ddd 1px solid;text-align:center;padding-bottom:0.7em;">
<ul><li><a href="/en/Acoustic_phonetics" title="Acoustic phonetics" class="wl">Acoustic</a></li>
<li><a href="/en/Articulatory_phonetics" title="Articulatory phonetics" class="wl">Articulatory</a></li>
<li><a href="/en/Auditory_phonetics" title="Auditory phonetics" class="wl">Auditory</a></li></ul></td>
</tr><tr><th class="sidebar-heading notheme" style="padding:0.2em;background:#f2f2f2;">
<a href="/en/Speech_production" title="Speech production" class="wl">Articulation</a></th></tr><tr><td class="sidebar-content hlist" style="border-top:#ddd 1px solid;text-align:center;padding-bottom:0.7em;">
<table class="sidebar nomobile nowraplinks notheme" style="background-color: transparent; border-collapse:collapse; border-spacing:0px; border:none; width:100%; margin:0px; font-size:100%; clear:none; float:none"><tbody><tr><th class="sidebar-heading">
<a href="/en/Places_of_articulation" title="Places of articulation" class="mw-redirect wl">Places of articulation</a></th></tr><tr><td class="sidebar-content" style="padding-top:0;padding-bottom:0.6em;">
<ul><li><a href="/en/Labial_consonant" title="Labial consonant" class="wl">Labial</a></li>
<li><a href="/en/Dental_consonant" title="Dental consonant" class="wl">Dental</a></li>
<li><a href="/en/Coronal_consonant" title="Coronal consonant" class="wl">Alveolar</a></li>
<li><a href="/en/Postalveolar_consonant" title="Postalveolar consonant" class="wl">Postalveolar</a></li>
<li><a href="/en/Palatal_consonant" title="Palatal consonant" class="wl">Palatal</a></li>
<li><a href="/en/Velar_consonant" title="Velar consonant" class="wl">Velar</a></li>
<li><a href="/en/Uvular_consonant" title="Uvular consonant" class="wl">Uvular</a></li>
<li><a href="/en/Laryngeal_consonant" title="Laryngeal consonant" class="wl">Laryngeal</a></li></ul></td>
</tr><tr><th class="sidebar-heading">
<a href="/en/Manners_of_articulation" title="Manners of articulation" class="mw-redirect wl">Manners of articulation</a></th></tr><tr><td class="sidebar-content" style="padding-top:0;padding-bottom:0.6em;">
<ul><li><a href="/en/Consonant" title="Consonant" class="wl">Consonant</a></li>
<li><a href="/en/Plosive" title="Plosive" class="wl">Plosive</a></li>
<li><a href="/en/Affricate" title="Affricate" class="wl">Affricate</a></li>
<li><a href="/en/Fricative" title="Fricative" class="wl">Fricative</a></li>
<li><a href="/en/Nasal_consonant" title="Nasal consonant" class="wl">Nasal</a></li>
<li><a href="/en/Approximant" title="Approximant" class="wl">Approximant</a></li>
<li><a href="/en/Liquid_consonant" title="Liquid consonant" class="wl">Liquid</a></li>
<li><a href="/en/Lateral_consonant" title="Lateral consonant" class="wl">Lateral</a></li>
<li><a href="/en/Vowel" title="Vowel" class="wl">Vowel</a></li></ul></td>
</tr><tr><th class="sidebar-heading">
<a href="/en/Airstream_mechanism" title="Airstream mechanism" class="wl">Airstream mechanisms</a></th></tr><tr><td class="sidebar-content" style="padding-top:0;padding-bottom:0.6em;">
<ul><li><a href="/en/Pulmonic_consonant" title="Pulmonic consonant" class="wl">Pulmonic</a></li>
<li><a href="/en/Glottalic_consonant" title="Glottalic consonant" class="wl">Glottalic</a></li>
<li><a href="/en/Click_consonant" title="Click consonant" class="wl">Lingual</a></li>
<li><a href="/en/Percussive_consonant" title="Percussive consonant" class="mw-redirect wl">Percussive</a></li></ul></td>
</tr></tbody></table></td>
</tr><tr><th class="sidebar-heading notheme" style="padding:0.2em;background:#f2f2f2;">
<a href="/en/Acoustics" title="Acoustics" class="wl">Acoustics</a></th></tr><tr><td class="sidebar-content hlist" style="border-top:#ddd 1px solid;text-align:center;padding-bottom:0.7em;">
<table class="sidebar nomobile nowraplinks notheme" style="background-color: transparent; border-collapse:collapse; border-spacing:0px; border:none; width:100%; margin:0px; font-size:100%; clear:none; float:none"><tbody><tr><th class="sidebar-heading">
<a href="/en/Phonation" title="Phonation" class="wl">Phonation</a> (<a href="/en/Voice_(phonetics)" title="Voice (phonetics)" class="wl">Voicing</a>)</th></tr><tr><td class="sidebar-content" style="padding-top:0;padding-bottom:0.6em;">
<ul><li><a href="/en/Fundamental_frequency" title="Fundamental frequency" class="wl">Fundamental frequency</a></li>
<li><a href="/en/Glottis" title="Glottis" class="wl">Glottis</a></li>
<li><a href="/en/Pitch_(music)" title="Pitch (music)" class="wl">Pitch</a></li>
<li><a href="/en/Pitch_accent" title="Pitch accent" class="mw-redirect wl">Pitch accent</a></li>
<li><a href="/en/Source-filter_model" title="Source-filter model" class="mw-redirect wl">Source–filter theory</a></li>
<li><a href="/en/Tone_(linguistics)" title="Tone (linguistics)" class="wl">Tone</a></li>
<li><a href="/en/Voicelessness" title="Voicelessness" class="wl">Voicelessness</a></li></ul></td>
</tr><tr><th class="sidebar-heading">
Phonation types</th></tr><tr><td class="sidebar-content" style="padding-top:0;padding-bottom:0.6em;">
<ul><li><a href="/en/Modal_voice" title="Modal voice" class="wl">Modal</a></li>
<li><a href="/en/Creaky_voice" title="Creaky voice" class="wl">Creaky</a></li>
<li><a href="/en/Breathy_voice" title="Breathy voice" class="wl">Breathy</a></li></ul></td>
</tr></tbody></table></td>
</tr><tr><th class="sidebar-heading notheme" style="padding:0.2em;background:#f2f2f2;">
<a href="/en/Speech_perception" title="Speech perception" class="wl">Perception</a></th></tr><tr><td class="sidebar-content hlist" style="border-top:#ddd 1px solid;text-align:center;padding-bottom:0.7em;">
<table class="sidebar nomobile nowraplinks notheme" style="background-color: transparent; border-collapse:collapse; border-spacing:0px; border:none; width:100%; margin:0px; font-size:100%; clear:none; float:none"><tbody><tr><td class="sidebar-content" style="padding-top:0;padding-bottom:0.6em;">
<ul><li><a href="/en/Acoustic_cues" title="Acoustic cues" class="mw-redirect wl">Acoustic cues</a></li>
<li><a href="/en/Aphasia" title="Aphasia" class="wl">Aphasia</a></li>
<li><a href="/en/Categorical_perception" title="Categorical perception" class="wl">Categorical perception</a></li>
<li><a href="/en/Hearing" title="Hearing" class="wl">Hearing</a></li>
<li><a href="/en/Neural_encoding_of_sound" title="Neural encoding of sound" class="wl">Neural encoding of sound</a></li>
<li><a href="/en/Prosody_(linguistics)" title="Prosody (linguistics)" class="wl">Prosody</a></li></ul></td>
</tr><tr><th class="sidebar-heading">
Theories of speech perception</th></tr><tr><td class="sidebar-content" style="padding-top:0;padding-bottom:0.6em;">
<ul><li><a href="/en/Acoustic_landmarks" title="Acoustic landmarks" class="mw-redirect wl">Acoustic landmarks</a></li>
<li><a href="/en/Exemplar_theory" title="Exemplar theory" class="wl">Exemplar theory</a></li>
<li><a href="/en/Motor_theory_of_speech_perception" title="Motor theory of speech perception" class="wl">Motor theory</a></li></ul></td>
</tr></tbody></table></td>
</tr><tr><td class="sidebar-below notheme" style="background:#f2f2f2;padding-top:0.2em;">
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<p><a href="/en/Respiratory_sounds" title="Respiratory sounds" class="wl">Respiratory sounds</a> can be produced by expelling air from the lungs. However, to vary the sound quality in a way useful for speaking, two speech organs normally move towards each other to contact each other to create an obstruction that shapes the air in a particular fashion. The point of maximum obstruction is called the <i><a href="/en/Place_of_articulation" title="Place of articulation" class="wl">place of articulation</a></i>, and the way the obstruction forms and releases is the <i><a href="/en/Manner_of_articulation" title="Manner of articulation" class="wl">manner of articulation</a></i>. For example, when making a <i>p</i> sound, the lips come together tightly, blocking the air momentarily and causing a buildup of <a href="/en/Air_pressure" title="Air pressure" class="mw-redirect wl">air pressure</a>. The lips then release suddenly, causing a burst of sound. The place of articulation of this sound is therefore called <i><a href="/en/Bilabial_consonant" title="Bilabial consonant" class="wl">bilabial</a></i>, and the manner is called <i><a href="/en/Stop_consonant" title="Stop consonant" class="mw-redirect wl">stop</a></i> (also known as a <i><a href="/en/Plosive" title="Plosive" class="wl">plosive</a></i>).</p>



The field of articulatory phonetics is a subfield of phonetics that studies articulation and ways that humans produce speech. Articulatory phoneticians explain how humans produce speech sounds via the interaction of different physiological structures. Generally, articulatory phonetics is concerned with the transformation of aerodynamic energy into acoustic energy. Aerodynamic energy refers to the airflow through the vocal tract. Its potential form is air pressure; its kinetic form is the actual dynamic airflow. Acoustic energy is variation in the air pressure that can be represented as sound waves, which are then perceived by the human auditory system as sound. Respiratory sounds can be produced by expelling air from the lungs. However, to vary the sound quality in a way useful for speaking, two speech organs normally move towards each other to contact each other to create an obstruction that shapes the air in a particular fashion. The point of maximum obstruction is called the place of articulation, and the way the obstruction forms and releases is the manner of articulation. For example, when making a p sound, the lips come together tightly, blocking the air momentarily and causing a buildup of air pressure. The lips then release suddenly, causing a burst of sound. The place of articulation of this sound is therefore called bilabial, and the manner is called stop . 