Voice (phonetics)
Encyclopedia
Voice or voicing is a term used in phonetics
and phonology
to characterize speech sounds, with sounds described as either voiceless (unvoiced) or voiced. The term, however, is used to refer to two separate concepts. Voicing can refer to the articulatory process in which the vocal cords vibrate. This is its primary use in phonetics
to describe phones, which are particular speech sounds. It can also refer to a classification of speech sounds that tend to be associated with vocal cord vibration but need not actually be voiced at the articulatory level. This is the term's primary use in phonology
when describing phoneme
s, or in phonetics when describing phones.
At the articulatory level, a voiced sound is one in which the vocal cords vibrate, and a voiceless sound is one in which they do not. Voicing is the difference between the pairs of sounds that are associated with the English letters "s" and "z". The two sounds are symbolically written [s] and [z] to distinguish them from the English letters, which have several possible pronunciations depending on context. If one places the fingers on the voice box (i.e. the location of the Adam's apple
in the upper throat), one can feel a vibration
when one pronounces zzzz, but not when one pronounces ssss. (For a more detailed, technical explanation, see modal voice
and phonation
.) In most European languages, with a notable exception being Icelandic, vowel
s and other sonorant
s (consonants such as m, n, l, and r) are modally voiced
.
When used to classify speech sounds, voiced and unvoiced are merely labels used to group phones and phoneme
s together for the purposes of classification. We return to this below.
has distinct letters for many voiceless and voiced pairs of consonants (the obstruent
s), such as [p b], [t d], [k ɡ], [q ɢ]. In addition, there is a diacritic for voicedness, 032C Diacritics are typically used with letters for prototypically voiceless sounds.
. The difference is best illustrated by a rough example. Words are composed of phonemes. The English word "pods" is made up of a sequence of phonemes, represented symbolically as /pɒdz/, or the sequence of /p/, /ɒ/, /d/, and /z/. Each letter is an abstract symbol for a phoneme. This is a part of our grammatical knowledge.
Consonant phonemes are classified as either voiced or voiceless. Some voiced phonemes of English are /b, d, ɡ, v, z/. Each of these obstruent
s has an unvoiced counterpart, /p, t, k, f, s/. The classification is useful for describing phonological processes such as vowel lengthening that occurs before voiced consonants but not before unvoiced consonants or vowel quality changes (i.e. the sound of the vowel) in some dialects of English that occur before unvoiced but not voiced consonants.
However, phonemes are not sounds. Rather, phonemes are, in turn, converted to phones before being spoken. The /z/ phoneme, for instance, can actually be pronounced as the [s] phone or the [z] phone because /z/ is frequently devoiced in fluent speech, especially at the end of an utterance. And so the sequence of phones for "pods" might be [pɒds] or [pɒdz]. The different type of brackets indicates that these are symbols for phones now. As described above, while the [z] phone has articulatory voicing, the [s] phone does not.
English has four pairs of fricative phones which can be divided into a table by place of articulation
and voicing. The voiced fricatives can readily be felt to have voicing throughout the duration of the phone.
However, in a class of consonants called plosives or stops, such as /p, t, k, b, d, ɡ/, the contrast is more complicated and can vary from language to language. Articulatory voicing does not generally occur throughout the sound since airflow is blocked by the tongue in the pronunciation of the consonant ("closure"). The difference between the unvoiced plosive phonemes and the voiced plosive phonemes is not just a matter of whether (articulatory) voicing is present or not. Rather, it includes when voicing starts
(if at all), the presence of aspiration (airflow burst following the release of the closure), and the duration of the closure and of the aspiration.
English voiceless plosives are generally aspirated or have longer aspiration than their voiced counterparts, do not have any voicing until after the aspiration (this is really the voicing of the following sound), and have a longer closure duration than their voiced counterparts. The voiced plosives can have voicing during closure, though often do not. The phone symbols are sometimes strictly considered to represent the presence of articulatory voicing, in addition with aspiration represented as a separate symbol (a superscript h), though these symbols may informally represent something more useful for the language at hand.
When these consonants come at the end of a syllable, however, such as at the end of a word, in many English dialects there is often little or no aspiration. The closure is not released, making it sometimes difficult to hear the difference between these pairs of word-final consonants. However, other auditory cues remain, such as what has been described above, e.g. the length of the preceding vowel.
Finally, there is a class of consonants called affricates which combines the properties of plosive and fricative:
Other English sounds, the vowels, nasals, and liquids (called sonorants), are normally fully voiced. However, these consonants and unstressed vowels may be devoiced in certain positions, especially after aspirated consonants, as in police, tree, and play, where the voicing is delayed to the extent of missing the sonorant altogether.
Beside the pairs of voiceless and voiced 'obstruent' consonants given above, other voiced sounds in English are the nasals
, i.e. /m, n, ŋ/; the approximants
, i.e. /l, r, w, j/ (the last spelled as the English letter ⟨y⟩); and the vowel
s. These sounds are called sonorant
s.
There are two variables to degrees of voicing: intensity (discussed under phonation
), and duration (discussed under voice onset time
). When a sound is described as "half voiced" or "partially voiced", it is not always clear whether that means that the voicing is weak (low intensity), or if the voicing only occurs during part of the sound (short duration). In the case of English, it is the latter.
s that are labelled /p t k f s x …/ vs. /b d ɡ v z ɣ …/ even though there is no involvement of voice (or voice onset time) in that contrast. This happens for instance in several Southern German dialects such as Alsatian
or Swiss German
. Since voice is not involved, this is explained as a contrast in tenseness
, called a fortis and lenis
contrast.
There is a hypothesis that the contrast between fortis and lenis consonants is related to the contrast between voiceless and voiced consonants, a relation based on sound perception as well as on sound production, where consonant voice, tenseness and length
are but different manifestations of a common sound feature.
Phonetics
Phonetics is a branch of linguistics that comprises the study of the sounds of human speech, or—in the case of sign languages—the equivalent aspects of sign. It is concerned with the physical properties of speech sounds or signs : their physiological production, acoustic properties, auditory...
and phonology
Phonology
Phonology is, broadly speaking, the subdiscipline of linguistics concerned with the sounds of language. That is, it is the systematic use of sound to encode meaning in any spoken human language, or the field of linguistics studying this use...
to characterize speech sounds, with sounds described as either voiceless (unvoiced) or voiced. The term, however, is used to refer to two separate concepts. Voicing can refer to the articulatory process in which the vocal cords vibrate. This is its primary use in phonetics
Phonetics
Phonetics is a branch of linguistics that comprises the study of the sounds of human speech, or—in the case of sign languages—the equivalent aspects of sign. It is concerned with the physical properties of speech sounds or signs : their physiological production, acoustic properties, auditory...
to describe phones, which are particular speech sounds. It can also refer to a classification of speech sounds that tend to be associated with vocal cord vibration but need not actually be voiced at the articulatory level. This is the term's primary use in phonology
Phonology
Phonology is, broadly speaking, the subdiscipline of linguistics concerned with the sounds of language. That is, it is the systematic use of sound to encode meaning in any spoken human language, or the field of linguistics studying this use...
when describing phoneme
Phoneme
In a language or dialect, a phoneme is the smallest segmental unit of sound employed to form meaningful contrasts between utterances....
s, or in phonetics when describing phones.
At the articulatory level, a voiced sound is one in which the vocal cords vibrate, and a voiceless sound is one in which they do not. Voicing is the difference between the pairs of sounds that are associated with the English letters "s" and "z". The two sounds are symbolically written [s] and [z] to distinguish them from the English letters, which have several possible pronunciations depending on context. If one places the fingers on the voice box (i.e. the location of the Adam's apple
Adam's apple
The laryngeal prominence—commonly known as the Adam's Apple—is a feature of the human neck. This lump, or protrusion, is formed by the angle of the thyroid cartilage surrounding the larynx...
in the upper throat), one can feel a vibration
Oscillation
Oscillation is the repetitive variation, typically in time, of some measure about a central value or between two or more different states. Familiar examples include a swinging pendulum and AC power. The term vibration is sometimes used more narrowly to mean a mechanical oscillation but sometimes...
when one pronounces zzzz, but not when one pronounces ssss. (For a more detailed, technical explanation, see modal voice
Modal voice
Modal voice is the vocal register used most frequently in speech and singing in most languages. It is also the term used in linguistics for the most common phonation of vowels...
and phonation
Phonation
Phonation has slightly different meanings depending on the subfield of phonetics. Among some phoneticians, phonation is the process by which the vocal folds produce certain sounds through quasi-periodic vibration. This is the definition used among those who study laryngeal anatomy and physiology...
.) In most European languages, with a notable exception being Icelandic, vowel
Vowel
In phonetics, a vowel is a sound in spoken language, such as English ah! or oh! , pronounced with an open vocal tract so that there is no build-up of air pressure at any point above the glottis. This contrasts with consonants, such as English sh! , where there is a constriction or closure at some...
s and other sonorant
Sonorant
In phonetics and phonology, a sonorant is a speech sound that is produced without turbulent airflow in the vocal tract; fricatives and plosives are not sonorants. Vowels are sonorants, as are consonants like and . Other consonants, like or , restrict the airflow enough to cause turbulence, and...
s (consonants such as m, n, l, and r) are modally voiced
Modal voice
Modal voice is the vocal register used most frequently in speech and singing in most languages. It is also the term used in linguistics for the most common phonation of vowels...
.
When used to classify speech sounds, voiced and unvoiced are merely labels used to group phones and phoneme
Phoneme
In a language or dialect, a phoneme is the smallest segmental unit of sound employed to form meaningful contrasts between utterances....
s together for the purposes of classification. We return to this below.
Notation
The International Phonetic AlphabetInternational Phonetic Alphabet
The International Phonetic Alphabet "The acronym 'IPA' strictly refers [...] to the 'International Phonetic Association'. But it is now such a common practice to use the acronym also to refer to the alphabet itself that resistance seems pedantic...
has distinct letters for many voiceless and voiced pairs of consonants (the obstruent
Obstruent
An obstruent is a consonant sound formed by obstructing airflow, causing increased air pressure in the vocal tract, such as [k], [d͡ʒ] and [f]. In phonetics, articulation may be divided into two large classes: obstruents and sonorants....
s), such as [p b], [t d], [k ɡ], [q ɢ]. In addition, there is a diacritic for voicedness, 032C Diacritics are typically used with letters for prototypically voiceless sounds.
English examples
The distinction between the articulatory use of voice and the phonological use rests on the distinction between phone and phonemePhoneme
In a language or dialect, a phoneme is the smallest segmental unit of sound employed to form meaningful contrasts between utterances....
. The difference is best illustrated by a rough example. Words are composed of phonemes. The English word "pods" is made up of a sequence of phonemes, represented symbolically as /pɒdz/, or the sequence of /p/, /ɒ/, /d/, and /z/. Each letter is an abstract symbol for a phoneme. This is a part of our grammatical knowledge.
Consonant phonemes are classified as either voiced or voiceless. Some voiced phonemes of English are /b, d, ɡ, v, z/. Each of these obstruent
Obstruent
An obstruent is a consonant sound formed by obstructing airflow, causing increased air pressure in the vocal tract, such as [k], [d͡ʒ] and [f]. In phonetics, articulation may be divided into two large classes: obstruents and sonorants....
s has an unvoiced counterpart, /p, t, k, f, s/. The classification is useful for describing phonological processes such as vowel lengthening that occurs before voiced consonants but not before unvoiced consonants or vowel quality changes (i.e. the sound of the vowel) in some dialects of English that occur before unvoiced but not voiced consonants.
However, phonemes are not sounds. Rather, phonemes are, in turn, converted to phones before being spoken. The /z/ phoneme, for instance, can actually be pronounced as the [s] phone or the [z] phone because /z/ is frequently devoiced in fluent speech, especially at the end of an utterance. And so the sequence of phones for "pods" might be [pɒds] or [pɒdz]. The different type of brackets indicates that these are symbols for phones now. As described above, while the [z] phone has articulatory voicing, the [s] phone does not.
English has four pairs of fricative phones which can be divided into a table by place of articulation
Place of articulation
In articulatory phonetics, the place of articulation of a consonant is the point of contact where an obstruction occurs in the vocal tract between an articulatory gesture, an active articulator , and a passive location...
and voicing. The voiced fricatives can readily be felt to have voicing throughout the duration of the phone.
| Articulation | Voiceless | Voiced |
|---|---|---|
| Pronounced with the lip against the teeth: | [f] (fan) | [v] (van) |
| Pronounced with the tongue against the teeth: | [θ] (thin, thigh) | [ð] (then, thy) |
| Pronounced with the tongue near the gums: | [s] (sip) | [z] (zip) |
| Pronounced with the tongue bunched up: | [ʃ] (pressure) | [ʒ] (pleasure) |
However, in a class of consonants called plosives or stops, such as /p, t, k, b, d, ɡ/, the contrast is more complicated and can vary from language to language. Articulatory voicing does not generally occur throughout the sound since airflow is blocked by the tongue in the pronunciation of the consonant ("closure"). The difference between the unvoiced plosive phonemes and the voiced plosive phonemes is not just a matter of whether (articulatory) voicing is present or not. Rather, it includes when voicing starts
Voice onset time
In phonetics, voice onset time, commonly abbreviated VOT, is a feature of the production of stop consonants. It is defined as the length of time that passes between when a stop consonant is released and when voicing, the vibration of the vocal folds, or, according to the authors, periodicity begins...
(if at all), the presence of aspiration (airflow burst following the release of the closure), and the duration of the closure and of the aspiration.
English voiceless plosives are generally aspirated or have longer aspiration than their voiced counterparts, do not have any voicing until after the aspiration (this is really the voicing of the following sound), and have a longer closure duration than their voiced counterparts. The voiced plosives can have voicing during closure, though often do not. The phone symbols are sometimes strictly considered to represent the presence of articulatory voicing, in addition with aspiration represented as a separate symbol (a superscript h), though these symbols may informally represent something more useful for the language at hand.
| Articulation | Unvoiced | Voiced |
|---|---|---|
| Pronounced with the lips closed: | [p] (pin) | [b] (bin) |
| Pronounced with the tongue near the gums: | [t] (ten) | [d] (den) |
| Pronounced with the back of the tongue against the palate: | [k] (con) | [ɡ] (gone) |
When these consonants come at the end of a syllable, however, such as at the end of a word, in many English dialects there is often little or no aspiration. The closure is not released, making it sometimes difficult to hear the difference between these pairs of word-final consonants. However, other auditory cues remain, such as what has been described above, e.g. the length of the preceding vowel.
Finally, there is a class of consonants called affricates which combines the properties of plosive and fricative:
| Articulation | Aspirated | Partially voiced |
|---|---|---|
| Pronounced with the tongue bunched up: | [tʃ] (chin) | [dʒ] (gin) |
Other English sounds, the vowels, nasals, and liquids (called sonorants), are normally fully voiced. However, these consonants and unstressed vowels may be devoiced in certain positions, especially after aspirated consonants, as in police, tree, and play, where the voicing is delayed to the extent of missing the sonorant altogether.
Beside the pairs of voiceless and voiced 'obstruent' consonants given above, other voiced sounds in English are the nasals
Nasal consonant
A nasal consonant is a type of consonant produced with a lowered velum in the mouth, allowing air to escape freely through the nose. Examples of nasal consonants in English are and , in words such as nose and mouth.- Definition :...
, i.e. /m, n, ŋ/; the approximants
Approximant consonant
Approximants are speech sounds that involve the articulators approaching each other but not narrowly enough or with enough articulatory precision to create turbulent airflow. Therefore, approximants fall between fricatives, which do produce a turbulent airstream, and vowels, which produce no...
, i.e. /l, r, w, j/ (the last spelled as the English letter ⟨y⟩); and the vowel
Vowel
In phonetics, a vowel is a sound in spoken language, such as English ah! or oh! , pronounced with an open vocal tract so that there is no build-up of air pressure at any point above the glottis. This contrasts with consonants, such as English sh! , where there is a constriction or closure at some...
s. These sounds are called sonorant
Sonorant
In phonetics and phonology, a sonorant is a speech sound that is produced without turbulent airflow in the vocal tract; fricatives and plosives are not sonorants. Vowels are sonorants, as are consonants like and . Other consonants, like or , restrict the airflow enough to cause turbulence, and...
s.
Degrees of voicing
| Voice onset time Voice onset time In phonetics, voice onset time, commonly abbreviated VOT, is a feature of the production of stop consonants. It is defined as the length of time that passes between when a stop consonant is released and when voicing, the vibration of the vocal folds, or, according to the authors, periodicity begins... |
|---|
Aspiration (phonetics) In phonetics, aspiration is the strong burst of air that accompanies either the release or, in the case of preaspiration, the closure of some obstruents. To feel or see the difference between aspirated and unaspirated sounds, one can put a hand or a lit candle in front of one's mouth, and say pin ... |
| 0 Tenuis Tenuis consonant In linguistics, a tenuis consonant is a stop or affricate which is unvoiced, unaspirated, and unglottalized. That is, it has a "plain" phonation like , with a voice onset time close to zero, as in Spanish p, t, ch, k, or as in English p, t, k after s .In transcription, tenuis consonants are not... |
| − Voiced |
There are two variables to degrees of voicing: intensity (discussed under phonation
Phonation
Phonation has slightly different meanings depending on the subfield of phonetics. Among some phoneticians, phonation is the process by which the vocal folds produce certain sounds through quasi-periodic vibration. This is the definition used among those who study laryngeal anatomy and physiology...
), and duration (discussed under voice onset time
Voice onset time
In phonetics, voice onset time, commonly abbreviated VOT, is a feature of the production of stop consonants. It is defined as the length of time that passes between when a stop consonant is released and when voicing, the vibration of the vocal folds, or, according to the authors, periodicity begins...
). When a sound is described as "half voiced" or "partially voiced", it is not always clear whether that means that the voicing is weak (low intensity), or if the voicing only occurs during part of the sound (short duration). In the case of English, it is the latter.
Voice and tenseness
There are languages with two sets of contrasting obstruentObstruent
An obstruent is a consonant sound formed by obstructing airflow, causing increased air pressure in the vocal tract, such as [k], [d͡ʒ] and [f]. In phonetics, articulation may be divided into two large classes: obstruents and sonorants....
s that are labelled /p t k f s x …/ vs. /b d ɡ v z ɣ …/ even though there is no involvement of voice (or voice onset time) in that contrast. This happens for instance in several Southern German dialects such as Alsatian
Alsatian language
Alsatian is a Low Alemannic German dialect spoken in most of Alsace, a region in eastern France which has passed between French and German control many times.-Language family:...
or Swiss German
Swiss German
Swiss German is any of the Alemannic dialects spoken in Switzerland and in some Alpine communities in Northern Italy. Occasionally, the Alemannic dialects spoken in other countries are grouped together with Swiss German as well, especially the dialects of Liechtenstein and Austrian Vorarlberg...
. Since voice is not involved, this is explained as a contrast in tenseness
Tenseness
In phonology, tenseness is a particular vowel quality that is phonemically contrastive in many languages, including English. It has also occasionally been used to describe contrasts in consonants. Unlike most distinctive features, the feature [tense] can be interpreted only relatively, that is, in...
, called a fortis and lenis
Fortis and lenis
In linguistics, fortis and lenis are terms generally used to refer to groups of consonants that are produced with greater and lesser energy, respectively, such as in energy applied, articulation, etc....
contrast.
There is a hypothesis that the contrast between fortis and lenis consonants is related to the contrast between voiceless and voiced consonants, a relation based on sound perception as well as on sound production, where consonant voice, tenseness and length
Gemination
In phonetics, gemination happens when a spoken consonant is pronounced for an audibly longer period of time than a short consonant. Gemination is distinct from stress and may appear independently of it....
are but different manifestations of a common sound feature.
See also
- PhonationPhonationPhonation has slightly different meanings depending on the subfield of phonetics. Among some phoneticians, phonation is the process by which the vocal folds produce certain sounds through quasi-periodic vibration. This is the definition used among those who study laryngeal anatomy and physiology...
- Voice onset timeVoice onset timeIn phonetics, voice onset time, commonly abbreviated VOT, is a feature of the production of stop consonants. It is defined as the length of time that passes between when a stop consonant is released and when voicing, the vibration of the vocal folds, or, according to the authors, periodicity begins...
- Manner of articulationManner of articulationIn linguistics, manner of articulation describes how the tongue, lips, jaw, and other speech organs are involved in making a sound. Often the concept is only used for the production of consonants, even though the movement of the articulars will also greatly alter the resonant properties of the...
- Place of articulationPlace of articulationIn articulatory phonetics, the place of articulation of a consonant is the point of contact where an obstruction occurs in the vocal tract between an articulatory gesture, an active articulator , and a passive location...
- DyscraviaDyscraviaDyscravia is a voicing substitution dysgraphia, i.e., a type of writing disorder, in which the affected person confuses letters denoting sounds that differ in their voicing attribute...