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Tongue

The tongue

   * is the large bundle of muscles on the floor of the mouth that
     manipulates food for chewing and swallowing.
   * is one of the organs of taste. Much of the surface of the tongue is
     covered in taste buds.
   * assists in forming the sounds of speech.
   * also plays a major role in the tongue kiss and in oral sex.
   * can be used as synonymous for language. e.g. mother tongue.

The tongue is made mainly of skeletal muscle and is attached to the hyoid
bone, mandible and the styloid processes of the temporal bone.

The muscles that attach the tongue are the extrinsic muscles of the tongue.
Inside the tongue, there are four pairs of intrinsic muscles that can alter
the shape of the tongue for talking and swallowing.

The dorsum (top side) of the tongue can be divided into two parts, an oral
part that lies mostly in the mouth, and a pharyngeal part (posterior third
of the tongue) which faces backwards to the oropharynx. The two parts are
separated by a V-shaped groove, the sulcus terminalis (or terminal sulcus).

The dorsal side of the anterior two-thirds (oral part) of the tongue is
covered in taste buds (or papillae), and the tongue appears velvety and
pink. There are four types of taste buds: filiform, fungiform, vallate and
foliate. At the back of the oral part of the tongue there are 3-14 vallate
papillae arranged in a V-shape in front of the sulcus terminalis.

There are no lingual papillae on the underside of the tongue. It is covered
with a smooth mucous membrane, with a fold (the lingual frenulum) in the
centre.

The upper side of the posterior tongue (pharyngeal part) has no visible
taste buds, but it is bumpy because of the lymphatic follicles lying
underneath. These follicles are known as the lingual tonsil.

Things related to the tongue are often called lingual which comes from the
Latin word, or glossal which comes from the Greek word for tongue.

Extrinsic muscles of the tongue

There are four pairs of extrinsic muscles that act to move the tongue, and
these are attached to various bones of the head and neck.

   * Genioglossus - this muscle comes from the genial tubercule of the
     mandible (lower jaw bone), and comprises most of the bulk of the
     tongue.
   * Hyoglossus - attached to the hyoid bone, ...
   * Styloglossus - comes from the styloid process of the temporal bone
   * Palatoglossus -

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