ABSTRACT
This chapter introduces the organs of speech, studying how these relate to the concept of place of articulation. A distinction is made between active and passive speech organs. Places are rather like 'ports of call' around a coastline. In speech production, these 'ports' or places are the passive articulators found along the upper surface of the vocal tract. After flowing between the vocal folds, the first space the egressive pulmonic airstream enters is the pharynx, otherwise known as the pharyngeal cavity. The extreme flexibility of the tongue makes it inappropriate to treat it as a single organ of speech. Certain parts of the tongue can move relatively independently of each other and it is best to regard each part as a separate active articulator. For the greater part, places of articulation are points along the upper surface of the vocal tract which are approached by the corresponding active articulator during the production of a speech sound.
