ns in pronunciation from dialect to dialect have proved beyond the scope of articulatory phonetics by itself. So has the fact that the human apparatus can produce an infinity of sounds.
Close attention to both phonetic quality and distribution generally provides accurate identification of the vowel phonemes and compound nuclei. Speech production is an incidental activity of the respiratory system. Most of the time, air passes into and out of the lungs more or less silently; only when there is some obstruction is appreciable sound produced. Speech further requires that there be easy and effective control of these sound-producing obstructions. This limits the mechanisms of interest to linguists largely to movements within the mouth, pharynx, and larynx. Yet, the motive power for sound production arises largely in the activity of the thorax which, therefore, has an important, though quite different, effect on speech production. Traditionally, phonetics classifies speech sounds into 1)the activity, if any, in the larynx (voiced and voiceless sounds); 2) the point of articulation, i.e. the place of maximum constriction in the mouth or pharynx; and 3) the manner of articulation, i.e. the type of sound-producing or sound-modifying mechanisms in the mouth or pharynx.
Investigation in articulatory phonetics can be carried on with a minimum of el
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