What is the focus of articulatory phonetics?

The focus of articulatory phonetics is on the movements and configurations of the vocal tract and other speech organs involved in producing speech sounds. This subfield examines how different speech sounds are generated by the position and movement of the tongue, lips, jaw, and other articulators. By understanding these physical processes, one can analyze how consonants and vowels are formed and how different speech sounds can vary across languages.

Other options address related but distinct areas of study. For instance, one option pertains to sound wave properties, which aligns more closely with acoustic phonetics. Another option focuses on the acoustic analysis, which involves the measurement and description of the sound waves produced during speech. Finally, the option related to psychological aspects of speech pertains to how speech is processed or perceived, which falls under areas such as psycholinguistics rather than articulatory phonetics.