Place Of Articulation

Place of Articulation

[Diagram of human vocal tract showing places of articulation]

Definition: Location in the vocal tract where the airstream is constricted

Articulators: Active articulator (typically mobile) and passive articulator (typically fixed)

Major places: Bilabial, Labiodental, Dental, Alveolar, Postalveolar, Retroflex, Palatal, Velar, Uvular, Pharyngeal, Glottal

IPA Representation: Determines the base consonant symbol

In phonetics and phonology, the place of articulation (also point of articulation) refers to the location in the vocal tract where the speech organs (articulators) interact to create a constriction that shapes the sound being produced. This is one of the three main aspects of consonant articulation, alongside manner of articulation and voicing.

Description

The articulation of a consonant typically involves two articulators:

Active articulator: Usually the lower and more mobile articulator (such as the lower lip or the tongue)
Passive articulator: Usually the upper and less mobile articulator (such as the upper lip, teeth, or the roof of the mouth)

The place of articulation is defined by where these articulators interact. While some consonants can be produced at multiple places simultaneously (co-articulation), most consonants have a primary place of articulation that defines their main acoustic and articulatory characteristics.

Major Places of Articulation

The International Phonetic Alphabet recognizes several major places of articulation, moving from the front to the back of the vocal tract:

Place of Articulation	Articulators Involved	Example Sounds	Example Languages
Bilabial	Both lips	[p], [b], [m]	English "pat" [pæt], "bat" [bæt], "mat" [mæt]
Labiodental	Lower lip and upper teeth	[f], [v]	English "fee" [fi], "vee" [vi]
Dental	Tongue tip/blade and upper teeth	[θ], [ð]	English "thin" [θɪn], "this" [ðɪs]
Alveolar	Tongue tip/blade and alveolar ridge	[t], [d], [s], [z], [n]	English "top" [tɑp], "dip" [dɪp], "sip" [sɪp], "zip" [zɪp], "nip" [nɪp]
Postalveolar	Tongue blade and post-alveolar area	[ʃ], [ʒ], [tʃ], [dʒ]	English "ship" [ʃɪp], "measure" [ˈmɛʒər], "chip" [tʃɪp], "jeer" [dʒɪr]
Retroflex	Curled-back tongue tip and post-alveolar area	[ʈ], [ɖ], [ʂ], [ʐ]	Hindi "टमाटर" [ʈəmaʈər], "डाल" [ɖal], Mandarin "上" [ʂɑŋ], Russian "журнал" [ʐurnal]
Palatal	Tongue body and hard palate	[c], [ɟ], [ç], [ʝ], [ɲ]	Hungarian "tyúk" [cuk], "gyár" [ɟaːr], German "ich" [ɪç], Spanish "ñandú" [ɲandu]
Velar	Tongue back and soft palate (velum)	[k], [g], [x], [ŋ]	English "kite" [kaɪt], "goat" [goʊt], German "Bach" [bax], English "sing" [sɪŋ]
Uvular	Tongue back/root and uvula	[q], [ɢ], [χ], [ʁ]	Arabic "قلب" [qalb], Greenlandic "Kalaallit" [qalaːɬit], French "rue" [ʁy]
Pharyngeal	Tongue root and pharynx	[ħ], [ʕ]	Arabic "حب" [ħub], "عين" [ʕajn]
Glottal	Vocal folds	[ʔ], [h]	English "uh-oh" [ʔʌʔoʊ], "hat" [hæt]

Secondary Articulation

In addition to their primary place of articulation, consonants can have secondary articulations, where another constriction is made simultaneously at a different location. Common secondary articulations include:

Labialization: Rounding of the lips (e.g., [kʷ])
Palatalization: Raising of the tongue body toward the palate (e.g., [tʲ])
Velarization: Raising of the tongue back toward the velum (e.g., [lˠ] as in English "dark l")
Pharyngealization: Constriction in the pharynx (e.g., [tˤ] in Arabic)
Nasalization: Lowering of the velum allowing air to pass through the nose (e.g., [z̃])

Active Articulators

Consonants can also be classified by the active articulator involved:

Labial: Using the lips (includes bilabial and labiodental)
Coronal: Using the front part of the tongue (includes dental, alveolar, postalveolar, retroflex)
Dorsal: Using the back part of the tongue (includes palatal, velar, uvular)
Radical: Using the tongue root (includes pharyngeal)
Laryngeal: Using the vocal folds (includes glottal)

Relevance to Consonant Classification

The place of articulation is a key feature in phonetic classification and often determines the base symbol used in the IPA. For example, all bilabial plosives use variants of [p] and [b], while all alveolar plosives use variants of [t] and [d].

Different languages use different sets of places of articulation, and the exact place can vary slightly between languages or even between speakers. For example, the exact location of "t" and "d" in English is typically alveolar, while in Spanish or French it tends to be dental.

Back to IPA Chart