The term articulation refers to the bio-mechanical process of
altering the flow of air through the vocal tract to produce
sounds. Sounds are described not by how they sound to the ear,
but rather how they are produced in the vocal tract. In the
posts below dealing with the different sounds in English, they
are so named, and each sound is described based on how the vocal
organs interact with each other in producing each specific
sound. In fact, the word articulate actually means move. Sounds
are produced my moving the articulators (things that can be
moved) within the vocal tract (lips, tongue, etc). Terminology
relating to the vocal organs, articulators, and points of
articulation is defined below. Click the head diagram to the
right for an interactive map showing the locations and shapes
discussed. Alveolar refers to the alveolar ridge (purple in
diagram), which is flat area just behind the front upper teeth
but before the edge of the roof of the mouth. When pronouncing
these sounds the tongue touches (/t/,