What is "place of articulation"

n. (context phonetics of a consonant English) The point of contact, where an obstruction occurs in the vocal tract between an active (moving) articulator (typically some part of the tongue) and a passive (stationary) articulator (typically some part of the roof of the mouth).

In articulatory phonetics, the place of articulation (also point of articulation) of a consonant is the point of contact where an obstruction occurs in the vocal tract between an articulatory gesture, an active articulator (typically some part of the tongue), and a passive location (typically some part of the roof of the mouth). Along with the manner of articulation and the phonation, it gives the consonant its distinctive sound.

The terminology in this article has been developed for precisely describing all the consonants in all the world's spoken languages. No known language distinguishes all of the places described here so less precision is needed to distinguish the sounds of a particular language.