Phonetics

• laminodental (tongue blade and upper teeth) ⇒ dental • dorsopalatal (tongue back and hard palate) ⇒ palatal • dorsouvular (tongue back and uvula) ⇒ uvular • radicopharyngeal (tongue root and pharyngeal wall) ⇒ pharyngeal • epiglottopharyngeal (epiglottis and pharyngeal wall) ⇒ epiglottal

labial (articulated at the upper lip) 2. dental (articulated at the upper teeth) 3. alveolar (articulated at the alveolar ridge) 4. postalveolar (articulated at the back wall of the alveolar ridge) 5. palatal (articulated at the palate) 6. velar (articulated at the velum) 7. uvular (articulated at the uvula) 8. pharyngeal (articulated at the pharyngeal wall)

1. the upper lip, which is used for the consonants at the beginning of the English words pin and bin 2. the upper teeth, which are used for the consonants at the beginning of the English words fin and thin 3. the alveolar ridge (the firm part of the gums that extends just behind the upper teeth, recognizable as the part of the mouth that often gets burned from eating hot food), which is used for the consonants at the beginning of the English words tin and sin (though some speakers may use the upper teeth instead or in addition) 4. the postalveolar region (the back wall of the alveolar ridge), which is used for the consonants at the beginning of the English words shin and chin 5. the hard palate (the hard part of the roof of the mouth; sometimes called the palate for short), which is used for the consonant at the beginning of the English word yawn 6. the velum (the softer part of the roof of the mouth; also called the soft palate), which is used for the consonants at the beginning of the English words kin and gone 7. the uvula (the fleshy blob that hangs down from the velum), which is not used for consonants in English but is used for consonants in some languages, such as Uspanteko (an endangered Greater Quichean language of the Mayan family, spoken in Guatemala; Bennett et al. 2022) 8. the pharyngeal wall (the back wall of the pharynx), which is not used for consonants in English but is used in languages that have consonants with the tongue root or epiglottis as an active articulator (such as Nuu-chah-nulth and Archi mentioned earlier)

The overall combination of an active articulator and a passive articulator is called a consonant’s place of articulation, or simply place for short. Places of articulation are usually described with a compound adjective that refers to both articulators, with the adjective for the active articulator first (without the –al ending), then a linking –o-, followed by the adjective for the passive articulator. For example, the consonant at the beginning of the English word fin is a labiodental consonant, because it is articulated with the lower lip (labi-) at the upper teeth (-dental), as circled in the midsagittal diagram in Figure 3.5a. Similarly, the consonant at the beginning of the English word kin is dorsovelar, because it is articulated with the tongue back (dors-) at the velum (-velar), as circled in the midsagittal diagram in Figure 3.5b.