VOICE & SPEECH
for the STAGE
THE FOUR PROCESSES OF SPEECH
 Respiration
 Inhalation
 Exhalation
 Phonation
 Resonance
 Articulation
Respiration
Yep, we’re talking about breathing.
 A good voice is “well supported”
• A steady flow of breath as controlled by the diaphragm
 Breath is the force that triggers the production of voice
• In this role, the breath is also known as the “excitor”
 An efficient inhalation of breath is both…
 Inaudible – simply allow the air to “fall in”
 Invisible throughout all areas of the face, neck, and throat (relaxed)
 Economical use of exhalation provides:
 Rhythmical Endurance (i.e., sufficient breath for long phrases)
 Support of Tone (particularly noticeable in singing)
The Diaphragm
 Separates the thoracic (chest)
and abdominal cavities
 It is the principal muscle of
respiration
 Inspiration (inhalation)
 Diaphragm contracts (lowers)
 Expiration (exhalation)
 Diaphragm relaxes (rises)
Phonation
The production of voice sounds
 Vibration of the vocal folds (aka, vocal cords/ligaments)
 Caused by pressurized breath passing over the vocal folds
 The opening between the folds is called the glottis
There are three aspects of voice influenced by
movements of the vocal folds:
 Pitch – frequency of the vibration/sound waves
 an increase in pitch means an increase in frequency (and vice-versa)
 the frequency range of a voice depends on:
 Mass and Length of the vocal folds
 Tension placed on the vocal folds
 Loudness – the intensity of the sound (aka, volume)
 The amount of energy generated by the vibrations of the vocal folds
 Intensity increases with greater air pressure from the lungs
(increases the amplitude of the vibrations)
 Quality – the sound quality of the voice
also referred to as timbre (pronounced “TAM-ber”) or color
 This is affected by the unique movement pattern of one’s vocal folds
 Pitch
 Loudness
Resonance
Sound waves are reinforced and amplified
Resonance describes a relationship that exists between two bodies vibrating
at the same frequency (or a multiple thereof). In other words, the vibrations
emanating from one body cause the other body to start vibrating in tune with
it. For example, the vibrations of the vocal folds cause vibrations of the…
 Resonators




Mouth (oral cavity)
Nose (nasal cavities)
Throat (pharynx: nasopharynx, oropharynx, hypopharynx)
Chest
 So, a resonator may be defined as a secondary vibrator
which is set into motion by the main vibrator and which adds its own
characteristics to the generated sound waves.
More on Resonance
There are two basic kinds of resonance:
 Sympathetic resonance (or free resonance) in which there is
no physical contact between the two bodies. The resonator starts
functioning because it receives vibrations through the air and
responds to them sympathetically.
 Conductive resonance (or forced resonance) in which the
resonator starts vibrating because it is in physical contact with a
vibrating body.
The essential difference between both types is what causes the
resonator to start vibrating.
Articulation
Shaping and manipulating the phonated voice into distinct sounds
which are further arranged into comprehensible words.
Articulators:
 Lips
 Teeth
 Alveolar Ridge
 Tongue
 Hard Palate
 Soft Palate (also called the velum)
 Uvula (not used in English)
 Epiglottis (not used in English)
WRITTEN LANGUAGE
 Written Language is organized by:
 Punctuation
 Visual arrangement of words on a page
 The Elements of Written Language are SEEN:
 Letters of the alphabet
 Words
 Sentences
 sksk
SPOKEN LANGUAGE
 Spoken Language is governed by:
 Time
 Rhythm and Phrasing
 Tempo (Pacing)/Pauses
 Melody
 Inflection is the adjustment of vocal intonation
 Intonation is the pattern of pitch changes
 Emphasis
 The Elements of Spoken Language are HEARD:
 Vowel, Diphthong, and Consonant sounds
 Syllables
 Phrases or Rhythmic Thought Groups
VOWELS
In spoken English, a vowel sound is…
 Made with an open, uninterrupted flow of air, the breath
flowing through the mouth only (an oral sound)
 By contrast, French has nasalized vowel sounds with
breath flowing through the mouth and nose
simultaneously
 A single sound, involving no movement or change of the
articulators during the creation of the sound (i.e., pure
sounds)
 Always a voiced sound
 “voiced” means that vibration of the vocal folds is involved
In spoken English, every vowel sound is…
 Made with the tip of the tongue resting behind
and touching the back of the lower front teeth
 The front, middle, or back of the tongue arches
to various heights to create distinct, pure vowel
sounds
 Made with a relaxed lower jaw
 Made with the soft palate raised
 This prevents the vibrated breath from escaping
into the nasal passage
Examples of pure vowel sounds
 We
 Bit
 Death
 Plaid
 Flood
 Do
 Should
 Law
 Dog
 Calm
DIPHTHONGS
 Made by movement of the articulators that can be seen, heard, and
felt by the speaker
 A blend of two vowel sounds into a single phonetic unit
 Perceived as one sound
Examples of words with a single diphthong sound:
 Day
 Eye
 No
 Now
CONSONANTS
 Made with a stopped, impeded, or interrupted breath, either
through the mouth or nose
 May be voiced (vibration through the vocal folds) or
voiceless/unvoiced (no vibration of the vocal folds)
 May have stationary articulators during the formation of the
sound itself, or moving articulators forming the sound
 Plosives, Fricatives, Affricates, Nasals, Laterals, Glides
PLOSIVES
 A consonant in which the outgoing breath stream is completely
stopped by the action of the articulators.
 Also called “stop-plosives”
 May be:
 Unreleased, i.e., held in check (like the t in bit)
 Released, i.e., exploded (like the t in talk)
 There are 8 plosive consonant sounds in spoken English:
pie
two
key
chin
buy
die
go
gin
FRICATIVES
 A consonant sound produced with the breath stream obstructed or
constricted in particular ways by the articulators so that there is an
audible friction of the outgoing breath.
 There are 11 fricative sounds in spoken English:
fine
shin
vine
thigh
genre
thine
red
sue
he
zoo
behalf
AFFRICATES
 Comprised of a stop-plosive and a fricative consonant blended
together so closely as to seem like a single sound
 Considered part of the plosive family of consonant sounds
There are only two affricate sounds in spoken English:
 Cheese, Catch
 June, Sponge
NASALS
Consonant sound in which the breath stream is impeded or
made to detour through the nose.
Accomplished by:
 relaxing and lowering the soft palate, and…
 closing the mouth
There are only 3 nasal sounds in spoken English:
 me
 no
 sing
SEMI-VOWELS/CONSONANT GLIDES
LATERAL
Consonant sound made with…
 the tip of the tongue touching the alveolar ridge, and…
 the sides of the tongue released downward…
…so that the breath stream passes over the sides of the tongue.
There is only one lateral consonant in spoken English:
lateral
The International Phonetic Alphabet
 A set of symbols designed to represent each distinctive sound, or
phoneme, in a language
 Phoneme – in linguistics, the smallest unit of speech that distinguishes
one word (or word element) from another.
 For example, the element p in “tap” separates that word from “tab,” “tag,”
and “tan.”
 Developed to facilitate more accurate learning and recording of the
pronunciation of any language
Plosives
Fricatives
p
b
t
d
tʃ
dʒ
k
g
Pen
Big
Ten
Dog
Church
Judge
Cake
Guess
f
v
θ
ð
s
z
ʃ
ʒ
Far
Very
With
The
Bus
Buzz
Cash
Leisure
Nasals
Approximants
m
n
ŋ
Mouse
Nose
Ring
w
l
r
j
h
Water
Lion
Run
Yes
Hello
VOWELS
i
ɪ
ʊ
u
SLEEP
SIT
BOOK
BOOT
ɛ
ə
ɜɝ
ɔ
EGG
ACTION
BIRD
SAW
æ
ʌ
aɑ
ɒ
CAT
CUP
AH
BOUGHT
or
or
DIPHTHONGS
ɪə
eɪ
NEAR
PLAY
ʊə
ɔɪ
əʊ
PURE
BOY
NO
eə
aɪ
aʊ
AIR
SKY
COW