Air Stream Mechanism in Phonetics

DEFINITION:

“Airstream that produces sounds is called

airstream mechanism.”

It means the air that we produce by our lung.

TYPES OF AIR STREAM:

There are two different air streams for sounds.

1.   Egressive Air Stream:

When the air flows outward, it is said to be egressive. Most sounds in English are egressive.

2.   Ingressive Air Stream:

And when the air flows inward,  it is ingressive airstream. This airstream is not helpful to speech, but it is used for paralinguistic purposes in various languages. For example, gesture or sign languages or semi-linguistics things.  In Scandinavian languages, when people wish to signal their sympathy with the speaker that time they produce sounds by ingressive pulmonic airflow. Dutch and French, we also find ingressive airstream.

THREE TYPES OF INITIATORS:

“The organ generating the airstream is called the initiator.”

There are three initiators used in spoken languages around the world:

 1. Lungs / Diaphragm (together with the diaphragm and the ribs): (these sounds are called pulmonic sounds)

 

2. Glottis: (these sounds are called glottalic sounds)

3. Tongue:(these are called linguial or velaric sounds)

Watch a video on Organs of Speech.