Voiced and Voiceless Consonants

One problem that many students face in pronunciation is whether a consonant is voiced or
voiceless. This guide should help you understand the differences and give you some simple rules.
To help you I've recorded this voiced and voiceless consonant page so you can listen to the
examples. (Suggestion: open the sound file in another page or tab so you can read along while
you listen)

What is Voiced?

A simple explanation of voiced consonants is that they use the voice. This is easy to test by
putting your finger on your throat. If you feel a vibration the consonant is voiced. Here is a list of
some voiced consonants. Pronounce each consonant sound (not the letter) and feel the vibration
of your vocal chords.

b
d
th (as in then)
v
l
r
z
j (as in Jane)

What is Voiceless?

Voiceless consonants do not use the voice. They are percussive and use hard sounds. Once again,
you can test if a consonant is voiceless by putting your finger on your throat. You will feel no
vibration in your throat, just a short explosion of air as you pronounce. Pronounce each of these
consonant sounds and feel NO vibration in your throat.

p
t
k
s
sh
ch
th (as in thing)

Careful! Some Consonants Voiced, but are Voiceless

When consonants are put in groups they can change the voiced or voiceless quality of the
consonant that follows. A great example of this is the past simple form of regular verbs. As you
know, regular verbs add -ed to the end of the verb in the past simple.
play - played
wash - washed
live - lived etc.

These past simple verbs all end in '-ed'. However, some of the verbs are pronounced with a
voiceless 't' sound and some are pronounced with the voiced 'd' sound. Why? Here are the rules:

• If -ed is preceded by a voiceless consonant sound (p, k, sh, etc.) -ed sounds as a voiceless
't'. Remember that the 'e' is silent.
• If -ed is preceded by a voiced consonant sound (d, b, v, etc.) -ed sounds as a voiced 'd'.
Remember that the 'e' is silent.
• If -ed is preceded by a vowel sound (often 'ay') -ed sounds as a voiced 'd' because vowels
are always voiced. Remember that the 'e' is silent.
• Exception: If -ed is preceded by 't' pronounce a voiced -id. In this case, the 'e' is
pronounced.

This pattern can also be found with plural forms. If the consonant preceding the 's' is voiced, 's'
will sound as voiced 'z':

chairs
machines
bags

If the consonant preceding the 's' is voiceless, 's' will sound as voiceless 's':

bats
parks
pipes

In order to improve your American English pronunciation you must recognize the difference
between voiced and voiceless sounds. Voiced sounds cause your vocal chords to vibrate.
Voiceless sounds do not cause your vocal chords to vibrate.

American English has 15 voiced consonants including /z/, /b/, /d/, /r/ and /m/. There are 9
voiceless consonants including /s/, /p/, /t/ and /h/. All of the vowels (about 15) are voiced. Try
this simple technique so you can see what I mean by the term voiced.

Put your fingers lightly on your throat and say "zoo". The /z/ is a voiced sound so you should
feel a vibration when you say it. Keep your fingers on your throat but this time say "Sue". The /s/
is voiceless so you should not feel a vibration when you say it.

English plurals, possessives and third person singular verbs that end with "s" can have three
different sounds- /s/ /z/ /ez/. In order to pronounce these words correctly you need to know if it
ends with a voiced sound /z/ or /ez/. Or if it ends with a voiceless sound /s/.
How do you know which to use at the end of plurals, possessives and verbs? Here are three rules
or patterns you can use to help you get it right.

Rule #1. When a word ends in a voiceless consonant the added "s" is pronounced /s/.

Here is an example: map/s/ - since the /p/ in the word maps is voiceless, the "s" ending is also
voiceless.

Rule # 2. When a word ends in a voiced sound the "s" ending is pronounced /z/.

Here is an example: love/z/-since the /v/ in the word loves is voiced, the "s" ending is also voiced
and sounds like /z/.

Rule # 3. Words that end in the three sibilant sounds take the voiced /ez/ plural ending.
This /ez/ adds a syllable to the word.

Here are some examples: /sh/ pushes, /tch/ watches, /dgz/ judges

Learning to use voicing correctly is just one technique that you can use to improve the way you
speak American English. You can learn many more techniques by taking accent reduction
classes, working with an accent reduction coach or buying books and CDs.

There are many other steps you can take to reduce your accent so don't delay! Accent
improvement is not easy, but once you get started you will be happy that you took the first step.

In linguistics, the term voiceless describes the pronunciation of sounds when the larynx does not
vibrate. Phonologically, this is a type of phonation, which contrasts with other states of the
larynx, but some object that the word "phonation" implies voicing, and that voicelessness is the
lack of phonation. (See phonation for more.)

The International Phonetic Alphabet has distinct letters for many voiceless and modally voiced
pairs of consonants (the obstruents), such as [p b], [t d], [k ɡ], [q ɢ] [f v], [s z], and also a
diacritic for voicelessness, [ ̥ ] (the under-ring) that can be used with letters for prototypically
voiced sounds, such as vowels and nasal consonants: [ḁ], [n̥]. (The ring is placed above letters
with descenders, as with [ŋ̊].)

Voiceless vowels and other sonorants

Sonorants are those sounds, such as vowels and nasal consonants, which are voiced in most of
the world's languages. However, in some languages sonorants may be voiceless, usually
allophonically. For example, the Japanese word sukiyaki is pronounced [su̥kijaki]. This may
sound like [skijaki] to an English speaker, but the lips can be seen compressing for the [u̥].
Something similar happens in English with words like peculiar [pʰə̥ˈkjuːliɚ] and potato [pʰə̥
ˈteɪtoʊ].
Sonorants may also be contrastively voiceless, not just voiceless due to their environment.
Tibetan, for example, has a voiceless /l̥/ in Lhasa, which sounds similar to, but is not as noisy as,
the voiceless lateral fricative /ɬ/ in Welsh, and which contrasts with a modally voiced /l/. Welsh
contrasts several voiceless sonorants: /m, m̥/, /n, n̥/, /ŋ, ŋ̊/, and /r, r̥/, the latter represented by
"rh".

On the other hand, although contrastively voiceless vowels have been reported several times,
they have never been verified (L&M 1996:315).

[edit] Lack of voicing contrast in obstruents

Many languages lack a distinction between voiced and voiceless obstruents (plosives, affricates,
and fricatives). This is nearly universal in Dravidian languages and Australian languages, but is
widely found elsewhere, for example in Mandarin Chinese, Korean, Finnish, and the Polynesian
languages. Consider Hawaiian, which has a /p/ and /k/, but no /b/ or /ɡ/. In many such languages
(though not in Polynesian), obstruents are realized as voiced in voiced environments, such as
between vowels or between a vowel and a nasal, and voiceless elsewhere, such as at the
beginning or end of the word or next to another obstruent. Usually these sounds are transcribed
with the voiceless IPA letters, though in Australia the letters for voiced consonants are
sometimes used.

It appears that voicelessness is not a single phenomenon in such languages. In some, such as the
Polynesian languages, the vocal cords are required to actively open to allow an unimpeded
(silent) airstream. This is sometimes called a breathed /ˈbrɛθt/ phonation (not to be confused
with breathy voice). In others, such as many Australian languages, voicing ceases during the
hold of a plosive (few Australian languages have any other kind of obstruent) because airflow is
insufficient to sustain it, and if the vocal cords open this is due to passive relaxation.
Correspondingly, Polynesian plosives are reported to be held for longer than Australian plosives,
and are seldom voiced, whereas Australian plosives are prone to having voiced variants (L&M
1996:53). In Southeast Asia, when stops occur at the end of a word they are voiceless because
the glottis is closed, not open, and so these are said to be unphonated (have no phonation) by
some phoneticians who considered "breathed" voicelessness to be a phonation.[1]