Three Stages in the Articulation of a Speech Sound. Three Stages of Articulation of the Sounds: [B], [], [Æ], [U: ].

Three stages in the articulation of a speech sound. Three stages of articulation of the sounds: [b], [], [æ], [u:]. Every speech sound pronounced in isolation has three stages of articulation. They are the on-glide, or the initial stage, the retention stage, or the medial stage, and the off-glide, or the final stage. The on-glide stage or the beginning of a sound, is the stage during which the organs of speech move away from a neutral position to take up the position necessary for the pronunciation of a consonant or a vowel. The on-glide produces no audible sound. The retention stage or the middle of a sound, is the stage during which the organs of speech are kept for some time either in the same position necessary to pronounce the sound or move from one position to another. For the retention stage of a stop consonant the term stop-stage may also be used. The off-glide stage or the end of a sound, is the stage during which the organs of speech move away to a neutral position. The off-glide of most sounds is not audible, the exception being plosives whose off-glide produces the sound of plosion before a vowel and in a word-final position before a pause. To illustrate these three articulatory stages let us analyse the work of the organs of speech pronouncing the consonants [b], [], [æ], [u:]. During on-glide of the consonant [b] the lips are brought together to form a complete obstruction. At the same time the vocal cords are drawn near together and vibrate, because [b] is a voiced consonant. As soon as the lips are closed to form a complete obstruction the stop-stage of the sound begins. The retention stage is immediately followed by the off-glide, or release. During this stage the lips are quickly opened, and the air escapes from the mouth with plosion. During on-glide of the consonant [] the back of the tongue raised and touching the soft palate, thus forming a complete obstruction to the air flow through