In the context of phonetics, what does "articulation" specifically refer to?

Articulation specifically refers to the process of producing speech sounds. This involves the movement and positioning of various speech organs, such as the tongue, lips, and vocal cords, to create distinct sounds that form the basis of spoken language. The clarity and precision with which these speech sounds are produced significantly affect speech intelligibility. As articulators adjust to form different phonemes, they contribute to the richness and diversity of speech.

The other options, while related to aspects of spoken language, do not capture the essence of "articulation." The emotional tone pertains to prosody and the expressiveness of speech, sentence organization addresses the syntactical structure, and speaking speed relates to fluency rather than the physical production of sounds.