Speech organ

Speech organs produce the sounds of language. Organs used include the lips, teeth, tongue, alveolar ridge, hard palate, velum (soft palate), uvula and glottis.

Speech organs—or articulators—are of two types: passive articulators and active articulators. Passive articulators remain static during the articulation of sound. Upper lips, teeth, alveolar ridge, hard palate, soft palate, uvula, and pharynx wall are passive articulators. Active articulators move relative to these passive articulators to produce various speech sounds, in different manners. The most important active articulator is the tongue as it is involved in the production of the majority of sounds. The lower lip is other active articulator. But glottis is not active articulator because it is only a space between vocal folds.

See also

• articulatory phonetics
• vocal loading
• places of articulation and manner of articulation
• human anatomy