ABSTRACT
Phonetics can be divided into three semi-interdependent areas: acoustic phonetics, auditory phonetics, and articulatory phonetics. Articulatory phonetics is the study of the production of speech sounds. Many natural events are basically continuous; speech is one of these events. The sounds of an utterance are strung together with minimal gaps. Yet we perceive the utterance to be made up of individual words, phrases, and sentences, each separated by various boundaries. The articulatory phonetician segments speech into units called phones. Even though a phone can be described in isolation, in actual speech the ideal "shape" of the phone will vary due to its phonetic environment. Speech sounds are initiated by an airstream. The airstream can then be altered when the vocal folds set it into vibration. This results in a voiced sound. Parted vocal folds cause a lack of vibration and a voiceless sound. The airstream can flow through the oral cavity exclusively, creating an oral sound.
