articulatie

Articulatie, or articulation, refers to the point of contact between elements of the skeleton in anatomy and, in linguistics, to the production of speech sounds. In anatomy, a joint is a junction where two or more bones or skeletal elements meet, allowing varying degrees of movement and contributing to stability. Joints are organized into tissue-based groups: fibrous joints (such as sutures and syndesmoses) are generally immovable or slightly movable; cartilaginous joints (such as synchondroses and symphyses) allow limited movement; and synovial joints (the most movable) feature a joint cavity, synovial fluid, articular cartilage, and often ligaments, menisci, and bursae.

Joints are also classified functionally as synarthroses (immovable), amphiarthroses (slightly movable), and diarthroses (freely movable). Within synovial joints, common types include hinge, pivot, ball-and-socket, condyloid, saddle, and plane joints, with stability provided by the joint capsule and surrounding ligaments. Examples include the knee, elbow, shoulder, and hip.

In linguistics, articulation describes how speech sounds are formed by configuring the vocal tract. This includes places of articulation (bilabial, labiodental, dental, alveolar, postalveolar, palatal, velar, glottal) and manners of articulation (stop, fricative, affricate, nasal, trill, approximant, lateral). Voicing contrasts add further distinction.

Disorders affecting articulation can involve the musculoskeletal joints themselves or neural control of speech, leading to conditions such as arthritis-related joint pain or dysarthria, apraxia, and related speech-language disorders.