PHONETICS - VOWELS, DIPHTHONGS & CONSONANTS
AIM: To prove that for the production of speech sounds we need an air-stream mechanism and that most sounds of most languages in the world are produced with a pulmonic aggressive air-stream mechanism.
ACTIVITY: Awareness raising followed by practical application tasks.
APPARATUS: The respiratory system, the phonatory system &the articulatory system.
LEVEL: Pre-Intermediate to Upper-Intermediate.: The air that we breathe out comes out of the lungs, before it gets out into the outer atmosphere. Various organs in our body convert it into speech sounds. These organs are called the organs of speech. The lungs, the vocal cords, the tongue, the teeth and the lips are some of the organs that are described commonly in phonetic literature as organs of speech. They can be divided into three:
1. The respiratory system: This comprises the lungs, the muscles of the chest and the wind
pipe (trachea).
2. The phonatory system: This comprises the larynx(Adams apple)
3. The articulatory system: This comprises the nose, the teeth, the tongue, the roof of the mouth and the lips.
The vibrations of the vocal cords play an important role in the production of certain speech sounds. The sounds produced when the vocal cords vibrate are called voiced sounds. We can decide whether a sound is voiceless or voiced by conducting a simple experiment. If we produce a sound and place our fingers lightly on the Adam’s apple during the production our fingers will feel the vibration of the vocal cords if the sound produced is a voiced sound. If the sound produced is voiceless, our fingers will feel nothing.
Ex:Voiced: Prolonged ZZZ (a buzzing sound) our fingers feel the vibration.
Voiceless: Prolonged SSS (a hissing sound)our fingers feel nothing (no vibration)