TONGUE. A flexible mass of tissue attached to the lower back of the mouth of most vertebrate animals; an aid to chewing and swallowing, the organ of taste, and an important component in the articulation of
SPEECH. Words for ‘tongue’ in many languages stand for speech itself. English has a number of words and phrases of different origin which do this:
language, through French
langue, from Latin
lingua, tongue;
linguistics, directly from Latin;
polyglot and
isogloss, from the Greek
glṓssa, tongue; the phrases
mother tongue,
foreign tongue, and the Biblical
gift of tongues; such idioms as
Has the cat got your tongue? (said to someone who will not speak),
to bite one's tongue (to remain silent despite provocation),
it's on the tip of my tongue (I know it but I can't quite recall it),
Hold your tongue (Be quiet).
In terms of anatomy and
PHONETICS, the tongue has five parts: the
tip (
of the tongue), the
blade (
of the tongue), the
front (
of the tongue), the
back (
of the tongue), and the
root, which lies not in the mouth but in the pharynx. Sounds made at the tip (the ‘apex’ of the tongue) are
apical. The blade is immediately behind the tip, lies opposite the alveolar ridge of the upper mouth when the tongue is in a state of rest, and sounds made with the blade (Latin
lamina) are
laminal. The area behind the blade is the front, which lies opposite the hard palate when the tongue is in a state of rest, and sounds made with the front are
palatal. The back of the tongue lies opposite the soft palate or velum when the tongue is in a state of rest, and sounds made with the back include
velar consonants and
back vowels.
