ABSTRACT
Sounds in general are produced by currents of air forced from the lungs by pressure of the diaphragm into the bronchial tubes, thence into the trachea or windpipe and thence through the larynx into those organs of speech which, by change of positions, shape or articulate the sound. By an act of the will the organs required for the production of the sound are placed by muscular action in the position to produce it; and this putting of the organs in the required position is called articulation. The organs of respiration—lungs and diaphragm—are always active. In ordinary breathing the organs which modulate the emission of air are in a 'position of rest', or, to use another term, in the 'neutral position', but become active when speech is to be produced. The mode of articulation for different sounds differs not only for the same language in different localities, but also from language to language.
