Voicing

Voicing

Voicing is the sound made with the vocal chords. Sounds made with the vocal chords nearly together causing vibration are voiced and sounds made with the vocal chords apart and no vibration are voiceless. Some sounds in English are voiced and some are voiceless. Contrast the sounds of /v/ and /f/. Place your fingers on your throat and make the sounds. You should feel a vibration when you make the /v/ sound and no vibration when you make the /f/ sound. the sound, /v/ is voiced and /f /is voiceless. Also, try saying the words fan and van. The difference between these 2 words is the voicing of the initial consonant.

The voiced sounds in English are:

b d g j l m n ŋ(ng) r v z ð(th in the) and all vowels

The voiceless sounds in English are:

ch f h k p s sh t θ(th in think)

Voicing is a distinctive feature in English, meaning that voicing serves to minimally distinguish phonemes in English. Consider /f/ and /v/ again. The place of articulation for both of these phonemes is between the upper teeth and the lower lip, labial-dental. Both /f/ and /v/ are fricatives; they are created by forcing air through a small opening causing friction. The only feature that distinguishes these two phonemes is voicing.

The pairs of phonemes that are distinguished by voicing in English are listed below.

These pairs of phonemes are identical in manner and point of articulation and only differ in voicing.