GROUP A TOPICS:-• LANGUAGE AND LINGUISTICS• ORGANS OF SPEECH• AIR STREAM MECHANISM

LANGUAGE

Language is a system of communication through speech, and written language is an attempt to represent the spoken language by visual symbols.

In English, the correspondence between the written form and the spoken form is not consistently maintained.

The medium of speech is more important than the medium of writing. This is because, speech comes first in the history of any language community.

Secondly, speech comes first in the history of any individual.

LINGUISTICS The word ‘linguistics’ has been

derived from Latin word ‘Lingua’ (tongue) and ‘istics’ (knowledge) or science 

Etymologically (going to the basic roots), therefore ‘linguistics’ is the scientific study of language. It attempts to describe and analyze language. The field of ‘linguistics’ comprises language in all its form and manifestation.

 

So, ‘linguistics’ is that science which studies the origin, organization,

nature and development of language descriptively, historically,

comparatively and explicitly and formulates the general rule related to

language.

FORMS OF LINGUISTICS Diachronic Linguistics: -It studies the development of language

through history, through time, for e.g.: - the way in which French and Italian have evolved from Latin.

Synchronic Linguistics: - It investigates how the people speak

and use language in each speech community at a given time.

• Comparative Linguistics: -

It is concerned with comparing two or more different languages. 

AIR-STREAM MECHANISM A moving current of air is

called as ‘Air-Stream’. For the production of speech sounds we need an ‘Air-Stream’.

Speech is also known as ’modified breathing'. The mechanism involved in the modification of moving current of air (air stream) into speech sounds by the various organs of speech is called ‘air-stream mechanism’.

The air that flows out of our mouth is modified into speech sounds by the action of certain organs of our body commonly referred to as ‘organs of speech'. Thus, an airstream is the basis of speech sounds. For the articulation of most speech sounds of most languages, lung-air is used.

TYPES OF AIR-STREAM MECHANISM

• Pulmonic air-stream mechanism• Gottalic air-stream mechanism• Velaric air-stream mechanism

PULMONIC AIR-STREAM MECHANISM It consists of lungs and

the respiratory muscles.

The walls of lungs acts as the initiator. They are moved by the respiratory muscles so that, air is drawn into the lungs or pushed out of them.

When the Air-stream mechanism is used to push air out, it is called ‘egressive’ and when it is used to draw air in, it is called ‘ingressive’.

It is possible to speak using a pulmonic ‘ingressive’ air stream mechanism but no language uses this air-stream mechanism for the production of speech sounds.

We use this air-stream mechanism for yawning and snoring but ‘not for speaking’.

All the sounds of English and most Indian languages except ‘Sindhi’ are produced with this air-stream mechanism.

GLOTTALIC AIR-STREAM MECHANISM

• In this air-stream mechanism, the air stream above the glottis, which is closed, is used for the production of speech sounds.

• The closed glottis acts as the initiator and the air in the pharynx is used.

• This air-stream mechanism is also referred as ‘pharyngeal’.

• Among Indian languages, Sindhi has sounds articulated with a glottalic ingressive air-stream mechanism, known as ‘Implosive’.

VELARIC AIR-STREAM MECHANISM

In Velaric Air-Stream Mechanism, sounds are produced with the air in front of the velum or soft palate.

And the passage of the air from the lungs is blocked by the back of the tongue, which makes a firm contact with the velum. This is known as ‘Velaric Air-Stream Mechanism.

• The back of the tongue acts as a initiator and the air in the mouth(with oral) is set in motion during this air-stream mechanism. Due to this, it is also known as ‘Oral Air-Stream Mechanism’.

• Sounds produced with a Velaric ingressive mechanism exists in several African languages, and sounds produced with a Velaric egressive air-stream mechanism do not seem to exist in any language of the world.

THE ORGANS OF SPEECH AND THEIR FUNCTIONS

Besides a brain (and the knowledge of the language), what do you need to

use the spoken language?

These are the Speech Organs.

SPEECH ORGANS THAT BELONG TO THE ARTICULATORY SYSTEMLIPSThey serve for creating different

sounds – mainly the labial, bilabial (e.g. /p/, /b/, /m/, /hw/, and /w/) and labio-dental consonant sounds (e. g. /f/ and /v/ - and thus create an important part of the speech apparatus.

Upper Lip

Lower Lip

TEETH Small

whitish structures found in jaws.Responsible for creating sounds mainly the labio-dental (e.g. /f/ and /v/and lingua-dental (e.g. /ð/and /θ/) .

Teeth

TONGUEWith its wide

variety of possible movements, it assists in forming the sounds of speech.

BackMiddle(Dorsum)

Tip(Apex)

Front(Blade)

ALVEOLAR RIDGE

Hard ridge behindthe upper front teeth. It is between the roof of the mouth and the upper teeth.

For the sound /s/, air from the lungs passes continuously through the mouth, but the tongue is raised sufficiently close to the alveolar ridge (the section of the upper jaw containing the tooth sockets) to cause friction as it partially blocks the air that passes.

Alveolar Ridge

HARD PALATE

A thin horizontal bony plate of the skull, located in the roof of the mouth.

the interaction between the tongue and the hard palate is essential in the formation of certain speech sounds, notably /t/, /d/, and /j/.

Hard Palate

VELUM (Soft Palate)

It should have holes forming that function during speech to separate the oral cavity (mouth) from the nose, in order to produce the oral speech sounds. If this separation is incomplete, air escapes through the nose during speech and the speech is perceived as hyper nasal.

Velum

UVULA It functions in tandem with the back of the throat, the palate, and air coming up from the lungs to create a number of guttural and other sounds. In many languages, it closes to prevent air escaping through the nose when making some sounds.

Uvula

GLOTTIS combination of vocal

folds and space in between the folds

as the vocal folds vibrate, the resulting vibration produces a “buzzing” quality to the speech called voice or voicing or pronunciation.

sound production involving only the glottis is called glottal. Example is the sound /h/.

Glottis

SPEECH ORGANS

ANY QUESTIONS?

Project by students of CEMS-1:• Pragyan Agrawal

(01)• Mitali Priya (05)• Parul Priya (14)• Tarannum (17)• Medha (23)• Jyotshana Rani (27)