What is the focus of articulatory phonetics?

The focus of articulatory phonetics is on the body parts used in speech production. This branch of phonetics examines how different articulators, such as the lips, tongue, teeth, palate, and vocal folds, work together to create speech sounds. By analyzing the movements and positions of these articulators, one can understand how various phonetic sounds are produced.

Articulatory phonetics explores factors such as voicing, place of articulation, and manner of articulation, allowing us to describe and categorize sounds based on how and where they are made in the vocal tract. This understanding is crucial for language learning, speech therapy, and linguistics, as it provides insights into the physical mechanics behind sound production.

The other choices, while related to phonetics in different ways, do not capture the central theme of how speech sounds are articulated by the human body.