Languages & Linguistics
Voiced
"Voiced" refers to sounds produced with the vibration of the vocal cords. In phonetics, voiced sounds are distinguished from voiceless sounds, which are produced without vocal cord vibration. Voiced consonants, such as /b/, /d/, and /g/, are characterized by the presence of vocal cord vibration during their production.
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4 Key excerpts on "Voiced"
eBook - PDF- Ingo Plag, Maria Braun, Sabine Lappe, Mareile Schramm(Authors)
- 2011(Publication Date)
- De Gruyter Mouton(Publisher)
The flexibility of the vocal cords makes it possible to vary the width of this opening. When the vocal cords are apart, the air can pass relatively freely into the vocal tract. In this case, no vibration of the vocal cords is caused. This is the normal situation when we breathe out, but also in many speech sounds such as [ p , t , k , t S , f , T , s , S , h ]. These sounds are called voiceless . However, the vocal cords may also come together to close the space be-tween them. If the airstream from the lungs now pushes its way through, it forces the vocal cords apart. Since the folds are very elastic, they bounce back to their original position close to each other, and the cycle of opening and clo-sure repeats itself. The result is a vibration of the vocal cords: the vibration you felt in our small experiment above. Sounds which are produced with this vibration are said to be Voiced . They include all vowels, approximants and nasals, but also a number of fricatives, stops, and affricates. Finally, we are in a position to uniquely identify each consonant of English by stating its articulatory properties. The criteria are usually given in the sequence: 1. voicing, 2. place of articulation, 3. manner of articulation. The 14 The sounds: phonetics phonetic symbols can thus be regarded as abbreviations for specific combi-nations of articulatory features: [ p ] means a voiceless bilabial stop, [ v ] a Voiced labio-dental fricative, [ N ] a Voiced velar nasal, and so on. The inventory of English consonants is given below in a so-called conson-ant chart. The sounds are sorted in different columns according to their place of articulation and in different rows according to their manner of articulation. In cells with more than one symbol, the right one describes a voiceless sound, all other symbols stand for Voiced sounds. Note that stops and fricatives often come in pairs: one Voiced and one voiceless sound for the same place of articulation.
eBook - PDFIntroducing Linguistics
Theoretical and Applied Approaches
- Joyce Bruhn de Garavito, John W. Schwieter(Authors)
- 2021(Publication Date)
- Cambridge University Press(Publisher)
When the vocal folds are held tightly together, they vibrate very rapidly when air passes between them as seen in Figure 2.4(a). This produces Voiced sounds. Voicing is a low buzzing or vibrat- ing sound that accompanies vowels and some consonants. These include [z], [ɡ], [v], and many others. Epiglottis Thyroid cartilage Arytenoid cartilage Cricoid cartilage Trachea Figure 2.3 The larynx from the back 30 Phonetics If the vocal folds are pulled apart, air passes through them easily as shown in Figure 2.4(b). The vocal folds do not vibrate, the airstream is relatively unaffected and the sounds that result are voiceless sounds. Voiceless consonants in English include [s], [k], and [f]. (a) (b) Figure 2.4 The larynx as seen from the top when producing (a) Voiced (b) voiceless sounds. PAUSE AND REFLECT 2.2 i. To determine whether a sound is Voiced or voiceless, place your fingers on your neck, near your vocal cords, and feel for vibration as you speak. Do not whisper. Pay attention to the vibration of your vocal folds while you say the beginning and end of the word shush or the last part of the word whisk. You should not feel any vibration. Now try the words zig zag and vigor. You should be able to feel that your vocal folds vibrate for the duration of the word. Now compare the words bag and tag. What do you notice about the first sounds of those words? Which one is Voiced and which one is voiceless? Do the same for the pair fan and van. ii. In English, ‘s’ and ‘z’ distinguish between words (e.g., Sue and zoo, sap and zap). This is not the case in all languages, however. In Latin American Spanish, for example, ‘z’ and ‘s’ are both pronounced as ‘s’. What do you think this might mean for Spanish speakers learning English? We can produce many different kinds of voicing (e.g., singing, shouting, changing our voice to imitate a small child or to imitate an evil villain). These voicing options, also known as phonation, can be realized in different ways across languages.
eBook - PDFPhonetics
Transcription, Production, Acoustics, and Perception
- Henning Reetz, Allard Jongman(Authors)
- 2020(Publication Date)
- Wiley-Blackwell(Publisher)
Phonetics: Transcription, Production, Acoustics, and Perception , Second Edition. Henning Reetz and Allard Jongman. © 2020 John Wiley & Sons, Inc. Published 2020 by John Wiley & Sons, Inc. Companion website: www.wiley.com/go/reetz/phonetics An important component of phonetics is the description of sounds. One mode of description is articulatory; that is, it involves an articulatory description of how speech sounds are produced. First of all, the production of any kind of sound requires a source of energy. For speech this energy source is the flow of air. For most sounds of the world’s languages, this airflow is generated by the lungs, which are described in detail in Section 5.1. Air flows from the lungs through the trachea (windpipe) and then through the larynx (voice box), where the vocal folds are located. The larynx and its role in the complex process of voice formation are discussed in detail in Section 5.2. Finally, the physiological details of the upper part of the speaking apparatus, namely the pharynx (throat), oral tract (mouth), and nasal tract (nose) are presented in Section 5.3. In this chapter, aspects of the speaking apparatus that are easy to observe will be introduced, including phona-tion at the larynx and articulation in the vocal tract. This description will help to explain terms used for phonetic transcription (Chapter 3). Articulation in a nutshell Most speech sounds of the world’s languages, and all English ones, can be classi-fied as Voiced or voiceless , depending on whether the vocal folds in the larynx vibrate or not. Sounds with a full or partial obstruction in the vocal tract, made by the tongue and lips, are called consonants . These are categorized in a two‐ dimensional grid by the manner of articulation , that is, the extent of the obstruc-tion, and by the place of articulation , where the obstruction is made.
eBook - PDFThe Pronunciation of English
A Course Book
- Charles W. Kreidler(Author)
- 2008(Publication Date)
- Wiley-Blackwell(Publisher)
The glottis also closes in order to lock air into the lungs so that our bodies can exert greater force, as in lifting a heavy object. When they are neither fully open nor completely closed, the vocal cords are somewhat tense, and then the pressure of the outgoing air causes them to vibrate. The vibration is not audible; speech is produced above the larynx. As we produce a stream of speech, the vocal cords are sometimes vibrating, sometimes not vibrating. Speech sounds produced while the vocal cords are vibrating are Voiced ; those made without vibration are unVoiced, or voiceless . Arytenoid cartilages Arytenoids Vocal cords closed Vocal cords open for normal breathing Thyroid Sound . . . and Voice 21 If the cords are vibrating, they can be stretched to different degrees of tension, so that they vibrate at different frequencies, producing different pitches in the sounds articulated above the vocal cords. Speech has melody – different melodies or intonation patterns – as a result of these different frequencies of vibration. How can you tell if a speech sound is Voiced or voiceless? There are three good tests. Take the sound [z] as at the end of the word buzz and the sound [s] as at the end of the word hiss . Make a long [z-z-z] and a long [s-s-s] as you apply the tests. (1) Put your thumb and fingers on your throat, on each side of the Adam’s apple. You should feel vibration as you say one of these sounds, but not the other. (2) Cover your ears with your hands while making the two sounds. You should hear greater noise while making the sound that uses vibration in the larynx. (3) Try to sing up and down the scale while making each of these sounds. Singing means changing pitch, which means changing the fre-quency of vocal cord vibration. If the cords are vibrating, you can sing; if not, you can’t. By this time you should have decided – if you didn’t already know – that [z] is Voiced and [s] is voiceless.
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