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It allows us to speak and keeps our food in between our teeth when we chew.

The tongue has three main functions. First, it carries on its surface the taste buds which send information to the brain about the nature of the food being eaten. It seems likely that the sensation of taste is not merely to make eating a pleasure, but also to act as a protective mechanism designed to cause the rejection of noxious (harmful) foods.

Secondly, the tongue plays an important part in the process of digestion. It enables the food to be moved about the mouth and to be placed in a position where it can most effectively be ground down by the molars. When the contents of the mouth are ready to be swallowed, the tongue forms them into a ball, or bolus, which is moved toward the pharynx at the beginning of swallowing.

Finally, the tongue is concerned in speech. By assuming different positions in the mouth it alters the shape of the air passage through which pass the sounds made by the vocal cords.

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13y ago
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6y ago

The tongue is able to move in nearly every direction, expand, compress and display a fine degree of articulation.

Such muscular control allows us to manipulate our food and speak. The organ's ability to transform into a variety of shapes comes from its composition of skeletal muscle interspersed with fat.

It is especially important for speech and deglutition, or swallowing food and an important organ for the perception of taste.

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13y ago

Tongue is important to speak.without tongue no one can speak.

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13y ago

because you roll your tongue to make noises for example in spanish with the r

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11y ago

It's important because you can eliminate bacteria and to kill bad breath!

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15y ago

so they can have taste buds to taste food

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Q: What role does the tongue play?
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