Praxis SLP Licensure Exam

Contraction of which muscle will NOT occur during the production of the sound /m/?

1. /f/

2. /s/

3. /m/

4. /t/

The correct answer is: /m/

The production of the sound /m/ primarily involves the engagement of the lips and the soft palate, as it is a voiced bilabial nasal consonant. During the articulation of /m/, the lips come together to create a closure, and the velum is lowered to allow air to flow through the nasal cavity. The contraction of the muscle specifically related to the /m/ sound is crucial for its production since it relies on lip motion and nasal resonance. Therefore, the contraction of the muscle corresponding to the /m/ sound itself is not applicable since it is the sound being produced, not a separate action that would engage a muscle in isolation. In contrast, the other sounds, such as /f/, /s/, and /t/, require specific muscular actions to produce the respective articulatory features unique to those sounds, thus they do involve muscle contractions distinct from the action used in producing /m/. Understanding this helps in recognizing the importance of articulatory functions related to sound production and the distinct roles that different muscle contractions play in creating various phonemes.