What is Articulatory phonetics? Describe in brief the type of strictures involved in articulation of different consonant sounds in English.

 

What is Articulatory phonetics? Describe in brief the type of strictures involved in articulation of different consonant sounds in English.

Articulatory Phonetics is a branch of phonetics that explains how speech sounds are made by the organs of speech in the human body. When a person talks, air comes out from the lungs and passes through the throat, mouth, and nose. The different parts of the mouth, such as the tongue, lips, teeth, and the soft palate, help shape this air into meaningful sounds. These parts are called articulators, and each one has a special role in producing consonants and vowels. For example, the lips help in making sounds like /p/ and /b/, while the tongue helps in forming sounds like /t/, /d/, and /l/.

The way in which the articulators come together to control the flow of air is called stricture. The degree of closure between the articulators decides what kind of sound will be produced. When there is a complete closure in the mouth and the air is suddenly released, the sound is called a plosive, such as /p, b, t, d, k, g/. When the mouth is closed but the air passes out through the nose, it creates nasal sounds like /m, n, ŋ/. If the air is first stopped and then released slowly with some friction, the sound becomes an affricate, as in /tʃ/ (chair) and /dʒ/ (jam).

Some sounds are made when the air passes through a narrow space, creating a soft hissing noise. These are called fricatives, like /f/ in fan and /s/ in sun. Another type of sound happens when the air escapes along the sides of the tongue instead of the center — this is known as a lateral sound, like /l/ in light. Finally, when the articulators are close but do not touch each other tightly, and the air passes freely without noise, it produces approximant sounds such as /w, r, j/ in wet, red, and yes.

Articulatory phonetics helps to understand how different speech sounds are formed and why they sound the way they do. It also shows how even a small movement of the tongue or lips can completely change the sound of a word. This study is very important in learning pronunciation and speaking any language correctly.