Palate

The arched bony structure which forms the roof of the mouth. The palatal area applies to the whole area from behind the alveolar ridge to the uvula. There are two parts: the hard palate (immediately behind the alveolar ridge) and the soft palate or velum (which is the more fleshy and mobile part at the back). The term palatal sounds applies to sounds articulated in the area of the hard palate.

Links
Utrecht Lexicon of Linguistics