From "Forward Focus" to the Biomechanics of Speech: Rethinking English and Russian Articulation

This article analyzes the origin and persistence of the “forward focus” concept in phonetics and vocal pedagogy. Using English and Russian as comparative material, it demonstrates that the traditional notion of “forward sound direction” reflects not a bodily action but an acoustic consequence. Even embodied approaches such as embodied phonetics have interpreted phenomenological sensations as motor realities. The biomechanical framework of Vocal Garden reveals the opposite nature of this difference: English phonation is based on internal compression and axial pressure, while Russian relies on frontal exhalation. Shifting from phenomenological description to biomechanical modeling restores causality between movement and sound and explains accent patterns as results of motion rather than articulation. The biomechanical phonetics model described in this paper is an original concept by Anna Bilobzhytska (Anna Mia), developed as part of the Vocal Garden system (2025). Any use of this model or it`s provisions (including in scientific publications, educational materials, or research) must reference the author, the system name, and the DOI of this publication.