How people produce sound.

Guiding Question: How do vocal chords affect the sounds you make? and observe how your lips, tongue, and teeth influence the sounds you make?

Procedure:

1. Pronounce the words in the list below to your partner. Pay attention to how you pronounce the first letter of each word.
2. Together decide if you are stopping your breath when you are pronouncing the first letter of each word. Use a check mark to record in the Data and Observations section if the consonant is stopped or open.

Boat - open	Dog - open
Fan - closed	Vote - open
Kite - open	Gate - closed
Pen - open	Zebra - closed
Sister - closed	Tone - open

Data and Observations:

First Letter	Stopped	Open
B	X
F		X
K	X
P	X
S		X
D	X
V	X
G		X
Z		X
T	X

Conclusion:

1. Is the shape of your mouth or the position of your teeth or tongue different when you pronounce a "d" than when you pronounce a "t"? It is the same feeling.
2. What is the difference between the sound of a "d" and the sound of a "v"? With d it's more tongue and teeth and v it is more tongue and bottom lip.
3. For which first-letter sound(s) in the table do you use your lips and your voice, but not your tongue or your teeth? These sounds are B, P, M.
4. What part of the larynx is like the strings of a guitar? The voice box.

Going Further:

1. Why are women's voices usually of a higher pitch than men's? Probably because they have tighter vocal chords than men do.
2. Why, then, are the voices of young girls and boys of about the same pitch? (You may need to use reference material to answer this question.) They are the same pitch because boys voices have not really developed yet.