Place of articulation 24021 217787211 2008-06-07T17:56:42Z Kwamikagami 93143 /* See also */ [[Image:Places of articulation.svg|thumb|250px|Places of articulation (passive & active):<br>1. Exo-labial, 2. Endo-labial, 3. Dental, 4. Alveolar, 5. Post-alveolar, 6. Pre-palatal, 7. Palatal, 8. Velar, 9. Uvular, 10. Pharyngeal, 11. Glottal, 12. Epiglottal, 13. Radical, 14. Postero-dorsal, 15. Antero-dorsal, 16. Laminal, 17. Apical, 18. Sub-apical]] In [[articulatory phonetics]], the '''place of articulation''' (also '''point of articulation''') of a [[consonant]] is the point of contact, where an [[obstruction]] occurs in the [[vocal tract]] between an active (moving) articulator (typically some part of the tongue) and a passive (stationary) articulator (typically some part of the roof of the mouth). Along with the [[manner of articulation]] and [[phonation]], this gives the consonant its distinctive sound. A '''place of articulation''' is defined as both the active and passive articulators. For instance, the active lower lip may contact either a passive upper lip ([[bilabial consonant|bilabial]], like {{IPA|[m]}}) or the upper teeth ([[labiodental consonant|labiodental]], like {{IPA|[f]}}). The hard [[palate]] may be contacted by either the front or the back of the tongue. If the front of the tongue is used, the place is called [[retroflex consonant|retroflex]]; if back of the tongue ("dorsum") is used, the place is called "dorsal-palatal", or more commonly, just [[palatal consonant|palatal]]. There are five basic active articulators: the lip ("[[labial consonant]]s"), the flexible front of the tongue ("[[coronal consonant]]s"), the middle/back of the tongue ("[[dorsal consonant]]s"), the root of the tongue together with the [[epiglottis]] ("[[radical consonant]]s"), and the [[larynx]] ("[[glottal consonant|laryngeal consonants]]"). These articulators can act independently of each other, and two or more may work together in what is called ''coarticulation'' (see below). The passive articulation, on the other hand, is a continuum without many clear-cut boundaries. The places linguolabial and interdental, interdental and dental, dental and alveolar, alveolar and palatal, palatal and velar, velar and uvular merge into one another, and a consonant may be pronounced somewhere between the named places. In addition, when the front of the tongue is used, it may be the upper surface or ''blade'' of the tongue that makes contact ("[[laminal consonant]]s"), the tip of the tongue ("[[apical consonant]]s"), or the under surface ("[[sub-apical consonant]]s"). These articulations also merge into one another without clear boundaries. Consonants that have the same place of articulation, such as alveolar [n, t, d, s, z, l] in English, are said to be '''homorganic'''. A '''homorganic nasal rule''' is a case where the point of articulation of the initial sound is assimilated by the last sound in a prefix. An example of this rule is found in language Yoruba, where ''ba'', "hide", becomes ''mba'', "is hiding", while ''sun'', "sleep", becomes ''nsun'', "is sleeping". ===Table of active articulations and places of articulation=== {{Place of articulation}} {| border="1" cellpadding="4" style="border: 1px solid black; border-collapse: collapse;" ! colspan="2" | Active gesture !! Active + passive place of articulation |- | rowspan="2" colspan="2" valign="top" | '''[[Labial consonant|Labial]]''' || [[Bilabial]] |- | [[Labiodental]] |- | rowspan="12" valign="top" | '''[[Coronal consonant|Coronal]]''' || rowspan="6" valign="top" | '''[[Laminal consonant|Laminal]]''' || [[Linguolabial consonant|Linguolabial]] |- | [[Interdental]] |- | [[Laminal consonant|Laminal]] [[Dental consonant|dental]] |- | [[Laminal consonant|Laminal]] [[denti-alveolar]] |- | [[Laminal consonant|Laminal]] [[Alveolar consonant|alveolar]] |- | [[Laminal consonant|Laminal]] [[Postalveolar consonant|postalveolar]] ("[[retroflex]]" #1) |- | '''[[Domed consonant|Domed]]''' (partially [[palatalized]]) || [[Domed consonant|Domed]] [[Postalveolar consonant|postalveolar]] ("[[postalveolar|palato-alveolar]]") |- | '''[[Palatalized]]''' || [[Palatalized]] [[Postalveolar consonant|postalveolar]] ("[[alveolo-palatal]]") |- | rowspan="3" valign="top" | '''[[Apical consonant|Apical]]''' || [[Apical consonant|Apical]] [[Dental consonant|dental]] |- | [[Apical consonant|Apical]] [[Alveolar consonant|alveolar]] |- | [[Apical consonant|Apical]] [[Postalveolar consonant|postalveolar]] ("[[retroflex]]" #2) |- | '''[[Sub-apical consonant|Sub-apical]]''' || [[Sub-apical consonant|Sub-apical]] (pre)[[palatal]] ("[[retroflex]]" #3) |- | rowspan="6" colspan="2" valign="top" | '''[[Dorsal consonant|Dorsal]]''' || Pre[[palatal]] |- | [[Palatal]] |- | Pre[[Velar consonant|velar]] (or medio-[[palatal]]) |- | [[Velar consonant|Velar]] |- | Post[[Velar consonant|velar]] |- | [[Uvular]] |- | rowspan="4" colspan="2" valign="top" | '''[[Radical consonant|Radical]]''' || Upper [[pharyngeal]] |- | Lower [[pharyngeal]] |- | [[Epiglotto-pharyngeal consonant|Epiglotto-pharyngeal]] |- | [[Epiglottal consonant|(Ary-)epiglottal]] |- | colspan="2" | '''[[Laryngeal]]''' || [[Vocal cords|Glottal]] |} ===List of places where the obstruction may occur=== * [[Bilabial]]: between the lips * [[Labiodental]]: between the lower lip and the upper teeth * [[Linguolabial consonant]]: between the front of the tongue and the upper lip * [[Dental consonant|Dental]]: between the front of the tongue and the top teeth * [[Alveolar consonant]]: between the front of the tongue and the ridge behind the gums (the [[alveolus]]) * [[Postalveolar consonant]]: between the front of the tongue and the space behind the alveolar ridge * [[Retroflex]]: in "true" retroflexes, the tongue curls back so the underside touches the palate * [[Palatal]]: between the middle of the tongue and the hard palate * [[Velar]]: between the back of the tongue and the soft palate (the [[velum (anatomy)|velum]]) * [[Uvular]]: between the back of the tongue and the [[palatine uvula|uvula]] (which hangs down in the back of the mouth) (All of the above may be [[nasalization|nasalized]], and most may be [[lateral consonant|lateralized]].) * [[Pharyngeal]]: between the root of the tongue and the back of the throat (the [[pharynx]]) * [[Epiglotto-pharyngeal consonant|Epiglotto-pharyngeal]]: between the [[epiglottis]] and the back of the throat * [[Epiglottal consonant|Epiglottal]]: between the [[aryepiglottic folds]] and the epiglottis (see [[larynx]]) * [[Vocal cords|Glottal]]: at the [[glottis]] (see [[larynx]]) ===Nasals and laterals=== * In '''nasals''', the velum is lowered to allow air to pass through the nose (technically a place, but generally considered as a [[manner of articulation]]) * In '''laterals''', the air is released past the tongue sides and teeth rather than over the tip of the tongue. [[English language|English]] has only one lateral, /l/, but many languages have more than one, e.g. [[Spanish language|Spanish]] written "l" vs. "ll"; [[Hindi language|Hindi]] with dental, palatal, and retroflex laterals; and numerous [[Native American languages]] with not only lateral approximants, but also lateral [[fricative]]s and [[affricate]]s. Some [[Northeast Caucasian languages]] have five, six, or even seven lateral consonants. ===Coarticulation=== Some languages have consonants with two simultaneous places of articulation, called [[co-articulated consonant|coarticulation]]. When these are [[doubly articulated consonant|doubly articulated]], the articulators must be independently movable, and therefore there may only be one each from the categories labial, coronal, dorsal, and radical. (The glottis controls [[phonation]] and sometimes the [[airstream]], and is not considered an articulator.) However, more commonly there is a [[secondary articulation]] of an [[approximant consonant|approximantic]] nature, in which case both articulations can be similar, such as labialized labials, palatalized velars, etc. Some common coarticulations include: * [[Labialization]], rounding the lips while producing the obstruction, as in {{IPA|[kʷ]}} and English {{IPA|/w/}}. * [[Palatalization]], raising the body of the tongue toward the hard palate while producing the obstruction, as in [[Russian language|Russian]] {{IPA|/tʲ/}}. * [[Velarization]], raising the back of the tongue toward the soft palate ([[velum]]), as in the English dark l, {{IPA|[lˠ]}} or {{IPA|[ɫ]}}. * [[Pharyngealization]], constriction of the throat ([[pharynx]]), such as [[Arabic language|Arabic]] "emphatic" {{IPA|[tˤ]}}. * Doubly articulated stop: a stop produced simultaneously with another stop, such as [[labial-velar consonant|labial-velar]] consonants like {{IPA|[k͡p]}}, found throughout West and Central Africa. There are also [[labial-alveolar consonant]]s {{IPA|[t͡p d͡b n͡m]}}, found as distinct consonants only in [[Yélî Dnye language|a single language in New Guinea]], which also contrasts labial-postalveolar stops. [[Somali language|Somali]] has a [[uvular-epiglottal consonant|uvular-epiglottal]] stop {{IPA|[q͡ʡ]}}. ==See also== *[[Manner of articulation]] *[[Relative articulation]] *[[List of phonetics topics]] ==External links== *[http://www.chass.utoronto.ca/~danhall/phonetics/sammy.html Interactive places and manners of articulation] [[Category:Phonetics]] [[br:Lec'h distagañ]] [[de:Artikulationsort]] [[es:Punto de articulación]] [[eo:Loko de artikulacio]] [[fr:Point d'articulation]] [[ko:조음 위치]] [[it:Luogo di articolazione]] [[he:בסיס חיתוך]] [[lv:Artikulācijas vieta]] [[ja:調音部位]] [[no:Artikulasjonssted]] [[nn:Artikulasjonsstad]] [[pl:Miejsce artykulacji]] [[pt:Ponto de articulação]] [[ro:Loc de articulare]] [[fi:Ääntöpaikka]] [[sv:Artikulationsställe]] [[th:ตำแหน่งเกิดเสียง]] [[zh:发音部位]]