Tongue shape
Encyclopedia
Linguistics
Linguistics is the scientific study of human language. Linguistics can be broadly broken into three categories or subfields of study: language form, language meaning, and language in context....
(articulatory phonetics
Articulatory phonetics
The field of articulatory phonetics is a subfield of phonetics. In studying articulation, phoneticians explain how humans produce speech sounds via the interaction of different physiological structures....
), tongue shape describes the shape that the tongue assumes when making a sound. Tongue shape is primarily important for the sibilant sounds. Because these sounds have such a high perceptual prominence, small changes in tongue shape are easily audible, and can be used to produce different speech sounds, even within a given language.
For non-sibilant sounds, the relevant variations in tongue shape can be adequately described by the concept of secondary articulation
Secondary articulation
Secondary articulation refers to co-articulated consonants where the two articulations are not of the same manner. The approximant-like secondary articulation is weaker than the primary, and colors it rather than obscuring it...
, in particular palatalization
Palatalization
In linguistics, palatalization , also palatization, may refer to two different processes by which a sound, usually a consonant, comes to be produced with the tongue in a position in the mouth near the palate....
(raising of the middle of the tongue), velarization
Velarization
Velarization is a secondary articulation of consonants by which the back of the tongue is raised toward the velum during the articulation of the consonant.In the International Phonetic Alphabet, velarization is transcribed by one of three diacritics:...
(raising of the back of the tongue) and pharyngealization (retracting of the root of the tongue). Usually, only one of these secondary articulations can co-occur with a given sound. In addition, the acoustic quality of velarization and pharyngealization is very similar; as a result, no language uses both of these articulations contrastively. (That is, no language has two sounds that differ only in one being velarized while the other is pharyngealized.)
Shape distictions
The following varieties of tongue shapes are defined for sibilants, from sharpest and highest-pitched to dullest and lowest-pitched:(e.g. [s z]): with a groove running down the centerline of the tongue. This groove channels a high-velocity jet of air into the teeth, which results in a high-pitched, piercing "hissing" sound. Because of the prominence of these sounds, they are the most common and most stable of sibilants cross-linguistically. They occur in English
English language
English is a West Germanic language that arose in the Anglo-Saxon kingdoms of England and spread into what was to become south-east Scotland under the influence of the Anglian medieval kingdom of Northumbria...
, where they are denoted with a letter s or z, as in soon or zone. palatalized (e.g. [sʲ zʲ]): Combination of grooved shape with palatalization
Palatalization
In linguistics, palatalization , also palatization, may refer to two different processes by which a sound, usually a consonant, comes to be produced with the tongue in a position in the mouth near the palate....
(raising/bowing of the middle of the tongue).
- Alveolo-palatal (e.g. [ɕ ʑ]), i.e. "flat" palatalized: with a convex, V-shaped tongue, and highly palatalized.
- Palato-alveolar (e.g. [ʃ ʒ]), i.e. "domed": with a "domed" tongue (convex and moderately palatalized). These sounds occur in EnglishEnglish languageEnglish is a West Germanic language that arose in the Anglo-Saxon kingdoms of England and spread into what was to become south-east Scotland under the influence of the Anglian medieval kingdom of Northumbria...
, where they are denoted with letter combinations such as sh, ch, g, j or si, as in shin, chin, gin and vision. - Retroflex (e.g. [ʂ ʐ]): with a flat or concave (curled back) tongue, and no palatalization. These sounds occur in a large number of varieties, some of which also go by other names (e.g. "flat postalveolar" or "apico-alveolar"). The or "true retroflex" sounds are the very dullest and lowest-pitched of all the sibilants, and have the greatest amount of concavity (i.e. the most curling back) of the tongue.
The latter three types of sounds are often known as "hushing" sounds because of their quality, as opposed to the "hissing" grooved sounds. Note that palatalization
Palatalization
In linguistics, palatalization , also palatization, may refer to two different processes by which a sound, usually a consonant, comes to be produced with the tongue in a position in the mouth near the palate....
is an inherent part of the definition of the above varieties, and cannot normally be varied independently.
See also
- Place of articulationPlace of articulationIn articulatory phonetics, the place of articulation of a consonant is the point of contact where an obstruction occurs in the vocal tract between an articulatory gesture, an active articulator , and a passive location...
- Manner of articulationManner of articulationIn linguistics, manner of articulation describes how the tongue, lips, jaw, and other speech organs are involved in making a sound. Often the concept is only used for the production of consonants, even though the movement of the articulars will also greatly alter the resonant properties of the...
- PhonationPhonationPhonation has slightly different meanings depending on the subfield of phonetics. Among some phoneticians, phonation is the process by which the vocal folds produce certain sounds through quasi-periodic vibration. This is the definition used among those who study laryngeal anatomy and physiology...
- Airstream mechanismAirstream mechanismIn phonetics, the airstream mechanism is the method by which airflow is created in the vocal tract. Along with phonation, it is one of two mandatory aspects of sound production; without these, there can be no speech sound....
- Relative articulationRelative articulationIn descriptions of phonetics and phonology, the manner and place of articulation of a speech sound may be specified relative to some point of comparison...
- List of phonetics topics
- Vocal tractVocal tractThe vocal tract is the cavity in human beings and in animals where sound that is produced at the sound source is filtered....
- Human VoiceHuman voiceThe human voice consists of sound made by a human being using the vocal folds for talking, singing, laughing, crying, screaming, etc. Its frequency ranges from about 60 to 7000 Hz. The human voice is specifically that part of human sound production in which the vocal folds are the primary...
- Source-filter model of speech productionSource-filter model of speech productionThe source–filter model of speech production models speech as a combination of a sound source, such as the vocal cords, and a linear acoustic filter, the vocal tract . An important assumption that is often made in the use of the source-filter model is the independence of source and filter...