Places of articulation

 Places of articulation refer to the points in your vocal tract where your articulators (tongue, lips, teeth, etc.) come together to produce different speech sounds. The sounds we make are created by shaping the airflow from your lungs as it passes through your mouth and nose. The place where this shaping happens is the place of articulation.

Here are some key places of articulation:

• Bilabial: Sounds produced with both lips.  Think of the /p/ in "pen" or the /b/ in "ball".
• Labiodental: Sounds made by touching your lower lip to your upper teeth.  The /f/ in "fish" and the /v/ in "van" are examples.
• Dental: Sounds produced with the tongue touching your upper teeth.  The /θ/ in "thin" and the /ð/ in "this" are examples (these are the "th" sounds).
• Alveolar: Sounds made with the tongue touching the alveolar ridge (the bumpy part behind your upper teeth).  The /t/ in "top", the /d/ in "dog", the /n/ in "no", the /s/ in "sun", and the /z/ in "zoo" are all alveolar sounds.
• Palatal: Sounds produced with the tongue touching the hard palate (the roof of your mouth).  The /ʃ/ in "ship" and the /ʒ/ in "measure" are examples (the "sh" and the "s" in "treasure" sounds).
• Velar: Sounds made with the back of your tongue touching the soft palate (velum).  The /k/ in "cat", the /g/ in "go", and the /ŋ/ in "sing" (the "ng" sound) are velar sounds.
• Glottal: Sounds produced in the glottis (the space between your vocal cords).  The /h/ in "hat" is a glottal sound.