Place of articulation

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In articulatory phonetics, the place of articulation (also point of articulation) of a consonant is a location along the vocal tract where its production occurs.^[1]^: 10 It is a point where a constriction is made between an active and a passive articulator. Active articulators are organs capable of voluntary movement which create the constriction, while passive articulators are so called because they are normally fixed and are the parts with which an active articulator makes contact.^[2]^: 24 Along with the manner of articulation and phonation, the place of articulation gives the consonant its distinctive sound.

Since vowels are produced with an open vocal tract, the point where their production occurs cannot be easily determined. Therefore, they are not described in terms of a place of articulation but by the relative positions in vowel space. This is mostly dependent on their formant frequencies and less on the specific tongue position and lip rounding.^[3]^: 34

The terminology used in describing places of articulation has been developed to allow specifying of all theoretically possible contrasts. No known language distinguishes all of the places described in the literature so less precision is needed to distinguish the sounds of a particular language.^[1]^: 39

^ ^a ^b Ladefoged, Peter (1996). The sounds of the world's languages. Ian Maddieson. Oxford, OX, UK: Blackwell Publishers. ISBN 0-631-19814-8. OCLC 31867443.
^ Zsiga, Elizabeth C. (2013). The sounds of language: an introduction to phonetics and phonology. Chichester: Wiley-Blackwell. ISBN 978-1-4051-9103-6. OCLC 799024997.
^ Bickford, Anita C. (2006). Articulatory phonetics: tools for analyzing the world's languages. Rick Floyd (4 ed.). Dallas, Tex.: SIL International. ISBN 978-1-55671-165-7. OCLC 76160059.

[SOWL-1] Ladefoged, Peter (1996). The sounds of the world's languages. Ian Maddieson. Oxford, OX, UK: Blackwell Publishers. ISBN 0-631-19814-8. OCLC 31867443.

[Zsiga2013-2] Zsiga, Elizabeth C. (2013). The sounds of language: an introduction to phonetics and phonology. Chichester: Wiley-Blackwell. ISBN 978-1-4051-9103-6. OCLC 799024997.

[Bickford2006-3] Bickford, Anita C. (2006). Articulatory phonetics: tools for analyzing the world's languages. Rick Floyd (4 ed.). Dallas, Tex.: SIL International. ISBN 978-1-55671-165-7. OCLC 76160059.

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