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speech
(spēch)
the utterance of vocal sounds conveying ideas; the faculty of conveying thoughts and ideas by vocal sounds. The process is
controlled through motor speech areas in the frontal lobe of the brain. The voice originates in the larynx, which is in the upper end of the air passage to the lungs, behind the oral cavity. Each of the vocal cords is attached at one end to the wall of the larynx with its other end attached to movable cartilages. When a person starts
to speak, sing, grunt, or shout, the ends of the vocal cords connected to the cartilages are brought across the larynx to
partly obstruct it. As air is forced between them, they vibrate and produce sound waves, which are what is known as the voice. Muscles in the region change the size and shape of the mouth and throat to make different consonant and vowel sounds.
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