The laryngeal articulator, consisting of the glottal mechanism, the supraglottic tube, the pharyngeal/ epiglottal mechanism, and including three levels of folds: the vocal folds, the ventricular folds, and the aryepiglottic folds, is shown to be responsible for the generation of multiple source vibrations and for the complex modification of the pharyngeal resonating chamber that accounts for a wide range of contrastive auditory qualities. Laryngoscopic evidence drawn from Tibeto-Burman, Semitic, Cushitic, Kwa, and Gur languages demonstrates the distinctive use of the laryngeal articulator in pharyngeal trilling combined with glottal voicing, voiceless pharyngeal trilling, and epilaryngeal tube shaping to create opposing vocal register series. One such series is the [ATR/–ATR] contrast.