The following diagram shows the basic structure of the vocal tract that will be important in how sounds are made.
(The unlabelled picture was created by the Visual Human Viewer using data from the Visual Human Project.)
In addition to their normal names, many of the parts of the vocal tract have fancy names derived from Latin and Greek. The adjectives we use to describe sounds made with each part are usually based on the Latin/Greek name.
| Normal name | Fancy name | Adjective |
|---|---|---|
| lips | labia | labial |
| teeth | dental | |
| alveolar ridge | alveolar | |
| (hard) palate | palatal | |
| soft palate | velum | velar |
| uvula | uvular | |
| upper throat | pharynx | pharyngeal |
| voicebox | larynx | laryngeal |
| tongue tip | apex | apical |
| tongue blade | lamina | laminal |
| tongue body | dorsum (back) | dorsal |
| tongue root | radical |
In phonetics, the terms velum, pharynx, larynx, and dorsum are used as often or more often than the simpler names.
