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posture

Oral posture refers to a dialect or accent's "home base" in terms of articulatory settings - specifically the jaw, the lips, the tongue, the cheeks, and the velum (soft palate). 

JAW

  • Minimal movement

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LIPS

  • tendency for lip corner retraction

  • The bottom lip can have the appearance of being trumpeted or slightly protruded

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TONGUE

  • tip and blade of the tongue are active, especially for sounds such as the retroflex /r/

Oral posture in action: Mandarin

Oral Posture in Action: English

ORAL POSTURE QUICK TIP: THE HESITATION SOUND

A clue to a speaker's oral posture can be their thinking or hesitation sounds, something every speaker has. 

00:00 / 00:01

[ ə ]

Hesitation sound in action

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