soft palate
- Also called:
- palatal velum, velum, or muscular palate
soft palate, in mammals, structure consisting of muscle and connective tissue that forms the roof of the posterior (rear) portion of the oral cavity. The soft palate, along with the hard palate, forms the palate, or the roof of the mouth, which separates the oral and nasal cavities. The soft palate is continuous with the hard palate, which forms in the anterior roof of the mouth. The soft palate plays an essential role in blocking food and other substances from entering the nasal passages during swallowing and is important in the formation of certain sounds in speech production.
Unlike the bony hard palate, the soft palate is very flexible. It is composed of a strong, thin, fibrous sheet, known as the palatine aponeurosis, and the glossopalatine and pharyngopalatine muscles. A small projection called the uvula hangs free from the posterior of the soft palate. At the rear of the oral cavity, the soft palate is continuous with the mucous membrane covering the floor of the nasal cavity.
During swallowing, the soft palate is pulled up, causing it to press against the posterior pharyngeal wall. When elevated in this way, it completely blocks and separates the nasal cavity and nasal portion of the pharynx from the mouth and the oral part of the pharynx. While elevated, the soft palate creates a vacuum in the oral cavity, which keeps food out of the respiratory tract.
The soft palate, because of its position in the oral cavity and its flexibility, has an important function in the production of certain sounds used in human speech. When the soft palate is down, so that air can still go out through the nose, there is said to be a nasal stop. Sounds of this kind occur at the beginning of words such as my and nigh. Nasalized vowels, in which the soft palate is lowered so that part of the airstream goes out through the nose, occur in many languages. If, in addition to the articulatory closure in the mouth, the soft palate is raised so that the nasal tract is blocked off, then the airstream will be completely obstructed, the pressure in the mouth will be built up, and an oral stop will be formed.
The soft palate is involved in several conditions and diseases in humans, including cleft palate, sleep apnea, and cancer. In cleft palate, the soft palate may have a fissure, causing failure of the palatal shelves (in the roof of the mouth) to close during prenatal development. In sleep apnea, tissues such as the soft palate in the upper airway collapse during sleep, cutting off airflow and interrupting breathing. Cancer of the soft palate can also occur; risk factors include tobacco use, alcohol consumption, and infection with human papillomavirus (HPV).