palate (n.)

The arched bony structure which forms the roof of the mouth, and which is much used for the ARTICULATION of speech sounds. The delimitation and classification of the PALATAL area has not been without controversy, as is shown by the several different classificatory systems for describing the types of pathological condition known as cleft lip and palate. In one such system, the whole of the upper oral area (including lips and alveolum) is referred to as palatal, on the grounds that this constituted a single embryological process. In PHONETICS, a much more restricted sense is used: here, the term applies to the whole area from behind the ALVEOLAR ridge to the UVULA. It is divided into two parts: the hard palate, which is the immobile bony area immediately behind the alveolar ridge, and the soft palate or ‘velum’, which is the mobile fleshy continuation of this, culminating in the uvula. Only sounds articulated in the area of the hard palate are called ‘palatal’ sounds; soft-palate sounds are either VELAR or UVULAR. The soft palate is particularly important in the production of speech, as it is under muscular control which enables it to be raised (closing the upper part of the PHARYNX) for the production of ORAL sounds, or lowered (keeping the passage to the nose open) for the production of NASAL sounds. Poor control of the soft palate (which may result from several neurological or anatomical conditions, such as cleft palate) leads to abnormal nasal resonance or friction.