articulatorios

Articulatorios (articulators) are the organs of the vocal tract used to produce speech sounds. In articulatory phonetics, they modify the airstream to shape the oral and pharyngeal cavities, enabling the production of consonants and vowels.

Primary articulators are mobile structures that actively create constrictions. The tongue, in its various regions (apex, blade, dorsum), the lips (labial), the teeth, the alveolar ridge, the hard palate, the velum (soft palate), and the glottis (vocal folds) are central. The tongue and lips are typically considered the main active articulators, while the teeth, alveolar ridge, palate, velum, and glottis provide passive points of articulation against which the active organs constrict the airstream.

Consonant and vowel production relies on the coordination of place (where the constriction occurs), manner (how the airstream is modified), and voicing (vocal fold vibration). Secondary articulators, such as lip rounding, jaw position, epiglottis adjustments, and pharyngeal walls, influence articulation and resonance, especially for vowels and certain consonants.

Velum position determines nasality: lowering the velum opens the velopharyngeal port to the nasal cavity; raising it closes it. Lip rounding and jaw height also affect vowel quality and contrastive features across languages.

Researchers study articulation with imaging and sensing techniques such as electropalatography, ultrasound, MRI, X-ray, and palatography, to observe how articulators move during speech.