Deep Dive · 8 min read
The Speech Mechanism: Respiration, Phonation, Resonance, Articulation
Speech is four subsystems. Most anatomy items just ask which one broke.
Cross-checked against the current ETS Praxis 5331 Speech-Language Pathology Test at a Glance and ASHA CCC-SLP standards.
The speech mechanism questions on the Praxis 5331 reward structure. Speech is four subsystems — respiration, phonation, resonance, articulation — and most items ask which one broke.
Respiration: the power source
The diaphragm and external intercostals drive inhalation; quiet exhalation is passive elastic recoil. Speech breathing differs from quiet breathing: a quick inhalation, then a long controlled exhalation with checking action of the inspiratory muscles early and abdominal muscles recruited late. Reduced respiratory support shows up as short phrase length, reduced loudness, and speaking on residual air.
Phonation: the source
- Vocal folds are layered: epithelium, lamina propria (superficial, intermediate, deep), and thyroarytenoid muscle — the cover-body model that explains why lesions in the superficial layer disrupt the mucosal wave.
- Adductors: lateral cricoarytenoid, interarytenoid, thyroarytenoid. Abductor: posterior cricoarytenoid — the only one, and a guaranteed test item.
- Tensor: cricothyroid, which lengthens the folds to raise pitch and is innervated by the superior laryngeal nerve; all other intrinsic muscles are innervated by the recurrent laryngeal nerve, both branches of the vagus (CN X).
- Myoelastic-aerodynamic theory: subglottic pressure blows the folds apart; elasticity and the Bernoulli effect pull them back together. Vibration is not neurally triggered cycle by cycle.
Resonance: the filter
The velopharyngeal port couples or decouples the nasal cavity. Levator veli palatini is the primary elevator. Failure to close produces hypernasality and nasal air emission; over-closure or obstruction produces hyponasality. Source-filter theory: the folds create the source, the vocal tract shapes formants.
Articulation: the valves
Tongue, lips, jaw, teeth, and palate shape the filtered signal. Most tongue muscles are innervated by the hypoglossal nerve (CN XII); facial muscles by CN VII; muscles of mastication by the trigeminal (CN V). Mapping a described weakness to its nerve is the classic item format.
How the subsystems get tested
A stem describing breathy voice with short phrases and a weak cough is pointing at respiration and phonation; hypernasality with intact voice points at resonance; imprecise consonants with normal voice points at articulation. That triage drives most motor speech items.
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