In any language people speak (if they have no physical defects) using their organs of speech. Speech apparatus is just the same in all people except Hottentots and Bushmen, it’s connected with the special clicking sounds which they make during the process of speaking.
All the organs of speech can be divided into two groups: active and passive.
The air released from the lungs comes up through the windpipe and arrives first at the larynx (гортань). Vocal cords are the special flappers which control the passing of the air from the lungs. When the vocal cords are brought together tightly no air can pass through them and if the lungs are pushing air from below this air is compressed.
The palate forms the roof of the mouth and separates the mouth cavity from the nose (or nasal) cavity.
The lower front teeth are not too important in speech except that if they are missing it will be difficult to make certain sounds, e.g. s and z. But the two upper front teeth are used in English to some extend.
The tongue is the most important of the organs of speech because it has the greatest variety of movement. Although the tongue has no obvious natural divisions like the palate, it is useful to think of it as divided into four parts: the back part, the front, the tip and blade.
It is obvious that the lips can take up various different positions. But English speaking people do not move their lips with very much energy: their lips are never very far apart, they do not take up very rounded shapes, and they are rarely spread very much and almost never pushed forward or protruded. Watch English people talk either in real life or on films and notice how little the lips and lower jaw move; some people make more lip-movement then others, but it is never necessary to exaggerate these movements. The same is true for movements of the jaw: in normal speech there is rarely more than half an inch between the lips or a quarter of an inch between the teeth even when the mouth is at its widest open. No wonder English can be spoken quite easily whilst holding a pipe between the teeth!
