Speech Mechanism; The Instrument Of Producing Speech
Speaking especially in front of an audience is not an easy thing to do.It also requires some skills and if you don’t have these skills you need to know and develop them.
The potential speaker needs some experiences before becoming good, as well as he or she needs to know more about some basics in speech development including the speech instrument or the speech mechanism.
There is what we called as instruments of speech that are essential elements in speech delivery.These instruments are called as the speech mechanism and are divided into four parts namely; the Motor, the Vibrators, the Resonators and the Articulators or Modifiers.
One of the components of the motor part is the lungs that contain the air.Another component is the bronchial tubes that converge into the windpipe forming a nozzle out in which the air that was compressed is released.
The ribs and the other bones, the cartilage and the other tissues are also belonging to the motor part.They serve to hold the motor in place, giving leverage for the application of power.
The muscles are other motor components; these muscles expand alternately and contract the place that is occupied by the lungs.With this, the muscles serve alternately in order to draw air into the lungs and compress this air afterward for expulsion.
The vibrators are the second part of the speech mechanism.
The resonator is the third part of the speech mechanism; these are group of air chambers in the head and in the throat.The resonators are responsible for amplifying the sound from the larynx and making it louder as well as modifying the sound’s quality.The principal resonators are the vestibule, the pharynx, and the nasal cavity which include the mouth and the sinuses.
The fourth part of the speech mechanism is the articulator or the modifier.Belong to this part are the lips, the teeth, the jaw and the palate.These components are responsible in modifying the speech’s sound.They serve as the movable boundaries of the resonators.As the speaker moves the articulators, the shape of the resonators is modified as well as the quality of the tone that is produced.