5. The vocal tract and points of articulation
There are many good sites you can visit to deepen your understanding and visual impression of the structure of the vocal tract. Here are some simple and clear line drawings (these are part of an entire online course in phonetics you may wish to try) from the Université de Lausanne:
Here,
from the University of Manitoba, is a similar view of the vocal tract created
with the aid of MRI, magnetic resonance imaging:
http://www.umanitoba.ca/faculties/arts/linguistics/russell/138/sec1/anatomy.htm
and here are two sites that explain what MRI is:
MRI
site #1 http://www.howstuffworks.com/mri1.htm
MRI site #2 http://www.radiologyinfo.org/content/mr_of_the_head.htm#Description
Below from the University of Aberdeen in Scotland
follow links to two detailed mid-sagittal views of the head (click on them to
enlarge them), and some useful phonetics links:
http://www.abdn.ac.uk/langling/resources/midsagsection.jpg
http://www.abdn.ac.uk/langling/resources/midsagsectionbw.jpg
http://www.abdn.ac.uk/langling/resources/phonetics.html
Here's another mid-sagittal view of the
head from SIL, with the
organs of articulation labeled. The labels are linked to definitions in an online
phonetics glossary:
http://www.sil.org/mexico/ling/glosario/e005bi%2Dorgansart.htm
Meet Sammy: A University of Toronto site offers an interactive (meaning you can play around with it!) mid-sagittal (cut in half lengthwise between the eyes) section of the head showing the position of the articulators for many different phonemes. Sammy Mansfield (the initials of this name are the same as for 'Speech Mechanism') was the name given to outline mid-saggital sketches used by William A. Smalley in his Manual of Articulatory Phonetics, first published in 1961, to illustrate vocal tract configurations during the articulation of different sounds. (His wife was a very 60s lady named Sally who liked to buy silly hats that Sammy didn't approve of.) Here is the modern-day digital Sammy:
Set
parameters such as voiced/voiceless; oral/nasal; lip position, and so forth, and
the figure of the head will assume the position required to make the sound with
those values. This can be useful in reviewing information in Chapter One of Ladefoged.
Here is a "Speech Animator" somewhat
similar to "Sammy" that can help you review the IPA symbols for English
consonants:
http://web.tiscali.it/davidbrett/phonology/Speech_anim.htm
You'll notice that Sammy and the Speech Animator
can only handle consonants. We're going to jump ahead of the text a bit
and have a look at the vowel space inside the mouth as well. Click on
the link for an excellent vowel
chart and accompanying information, to give you an idea about
the articulation of vowels. This site will also introduce you to a practical
career possibility for someone with extremely good phonetics training. The site
owner, Joel Goldes, is a dialect
coach who trains actors to speak English with various accents. He
also teaches ordinary folks to learn, for example, a neutral
American accent so their speech style doesn't distract too much from
their intended message. Native speakers sometimes take special classes to learn
more standard pronunciation too!
Here's
another vowel chart, with sound files, from the University
of Aberbeen:
http://www.fanamtutor.de/Pages/sounds/vowels.htm
Even more
amazing graphics coming up.