En af de discipliner man skal igennem som fonetikstuderende er artikulatorisk beskrivelse. Man skal kunne beskrive artikulationen af en lyd eller et ord, dvs. gøre rede for taleorganernes position og bevægelser i forhold til hinanden.
I betragtning af hvor gode vi er til at koordinere vores taleorganer, så er vi ikke altid lige gode til at bevidstgøre os selv om hvad det rent faktisk er vi gør dem. Det volder tit problemer for nye lingvistikstuderende.
Nedenfor er nogle morsomme uddrag af nogle studerendes besvarelser fra en prøve hvor de skulle beskrive lyden [w] (snuppet fra det seneste nummer af SpecGram):
Question.
Describe the articulation of [w].
Answers.
- The articulators come into contact but do not touch.
- The back of tongue makes a complete contact with the tongue.
- The tongue of the body is retracted, then the body moves upwards.
- The lower lips and the upper lips come close together. The body of the tongue is then raised, though still at the back of the tongue.
- The hard palate of the tongue comes into contact with the back of the tongue.
- Upper lip and the back of the tongue come into close approximation.
- The tongue is lowered and advanced towards the hard palate.
- The back of the tongue touches the velum in quick succession.
- The body of the tongue is lowered and moves towards the mid, back section of the tongue.
- The back of the tongue is raised towards the velum to form a gap. The air passes out smoothly until the lips are lowered.
- The tongue is backward.
- The articulators are not close enough together to allow air to pass through.
- The back of the tongue touches the alveolar ridge.
- The sides of the tongue are rounded so they come into contact with the hard palate.
Man behøver vist ikke at være lingvist for at gennemskue at nogle af disse beskrivelser er temmelig vanskelige at udføre, fx den med at få overlæben til at røre det bagerste af tungen.