Editing Place of articulation (section)

==Active articulators==
The active articulators are movable parts of the vocal apparatus that impede or direct the airstream, typically some part of the tongue or lips.{{r|Bickford2006|p=4}} There are five major parts of the vocal tract that move: the lips, the flexible front of the tongue, the body of the tongue, the root of the tongue together with the [[epiglottis]], and the [[glottis]]. They are discrete in that they can act independently of each other, and two or more may work together in what is called ''coarticulation''.{{r|SOWL|p=10-11}}

The five main active parts can be further divided, as many languages contrast sounds produced within the same major part of the vocal apparatus. The following 9 degrees of active articulatory areas are known to be contrastive (sorted such that the top-most is in the front-most area of the mouth and the bottom-most is in the rear-most area of the mouth):{{r|SOWL|p=10-15}}
*The lower lip (''{{lcons|labial}}'')
*Various parts of the front of the tongue (''{{lcons|coronal}}''):
**The [[Tongue tip|tip of the tongue]] (''{{lcons|apical}}'')
**The upper front surface of the tongue just behind the tip, called the [[Tongue blade|''blade'']] of the tongue (''{{lcons|laminal}}'')
**The surface of the tongue ''under'' the tip (''{{lcons|subapical}}'')
*The body of the tongue (''{{lcons|dorsal}}'') which is sometimes further divided into front and back
*The base {{aka}} root of the tongue and the throat (''{{lcons|pharyngeal}}'')
*The [[aryepiglottic fold]] inside the throat (''[[aryepiglottal]]'')
*The [[glottis]] at the very back of the windpipe (''[[Glottal consonant|glottal]])'' 

In [[bilabial consonants]], both lips move so the articulatory gesture brings the lips together, but by convention, the lower lip is said to be active and the upper lip passive. Similarly, in [[linguolabial consonant]]s the tongue contacts the upper lip with the upper lip actively moving down to meet the tongue; nonetheless, the tongue is conventionally said to be active and the lip passive if for no other reason than that the parts of the mouth below the vocal tract are typically active, and those above the vocal tract are typically passive.

In dorsal gestures, different parts of the body of the tongue contact different parts of the roof of the mouth, but it cannot be independently controlled so they are all subsumed under the term ''dorsal''. That is unlike coronal gestures involving the front of the tongue, which is more flexible.

The epiglottis may be active, contacting the pharynx, or passive, being contacted by the aryepiglottal folds. Distinctions made in these laryngeal areas are very difficult to observe and are the subject of ongoing investigation, and several still-unidentified combinations are thought possible.

The glottis acts upon itself. There is a sometimes fuzzy line between glottal, aryepiglottal, and epiglottal consonants and [[phonation]], which uses these same areas.