oral (adj.)

In PHONETICS, ‘oral’ is opposed to NASAL, referring either to the ARTICULATORY area of the mouth, as in the phrases ‘oral CAVITY’, ‘oral chamber’, or to the specific sounds that are made there. The opposition is usually with the nasal cavity (and with nasal sounds), but the PHARYNX, oesophagus and lungs are also excluded from the notion of ‘oral’. In the DISTINCTIVE FEATURE theory of PHONOLOGY, ‘oral’ is specifically opposed to ‘nasal’, these being postulated as two of the contrasts needed in order to specify fully the sound SYSTEM of a language. In some models of FEATURE GEOMETRY, an ‘oral cavity NODE’ is introduced, corresponding to the articulatory notion of an oral cavity CONSTRICTION. It is represented between the ROOT node and the PLACE node, thus DOMINATING place and [±CONTINUANT] nodes.

The usual adjective for the manifestation of LANGUAGE in its spoken, as opposed to its written form. The term oracy has been coined, on analogy with ‘literacy’, to refer to ability in speech and listening comprehension, but this term is used more in discussion of language skills and curricula in mother-tongue education, and will not generally be found in technical studies in LINGUISTICS and PHONETICS.