Languages & Linguistics
Voiceless
"Voiceless" refers to a speech sound produced without vibration of the vocal cords. In phonetics, voiceless sounds are characterized by the absence of vocal cord vibration during their production. These sounds are contrasted with their voiced counterparts, which involve vibration of the vocal cords. In English, examples of voiceless sounds include the sounds /p/, /t/, and /k/.
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- Victoria Fromkin, Robert Rodman, Nina Hyams, , Victoria Fromkin, Robert Rodman, Nina Hyams(Authors)
- 2018(Publication Date)
- Cengage Learning EMEA(Publisher)
Cengage Learning reserves the right to remove additional content at any time if subsequent rights restrictions require it. 192 CHAPTER 5 Phonetics: The Sounds of Language Speech sounds also vary in the way the airstream is affected as it flows from the lungs up and out of the mouth and nose. It may be blocked or partially blocked; the vocal cords may vibrate or not vibrate. We refer to this as the manner of articulation. Voiced and Voiceless Sounds Sounds are Voiceless when the vocal cords are apart so that air flows freely through the glottis into the oral cavity. [s] and [p] in super [supər] are two of the several Voiceless sounds of English. If the vocal cords are together, the airstream forces its way through and causes them to vibrate. Such sounds are voiced. [b] and [z] in buzz [bʌz] are two of the many voiced sounds of English. To get a sense of voicing, try putting a finger in each ear and say the voiced “z-z-z-z-z.” You can feel the vibrations of the vocal cords. If you now say the Voiceless “s-s-s-s-s,” you will not sense these vibrations (although you might hear a hissing sound). When you whisper, you are making all the speech sounds Voiceless. Try it! Whisper “Sue” and “zoo.” No difference, right? The voiced/Voiceless distinction is very important in English. This phonetic property distinguishes the words in pairs like the following: rope/robe fate/fade rack/rag wreath/wreathe [rop]/[rob] [fet]/[fed] [ræk]/[ræg] [riu]/[rið] The first word of each pair ends with a Voiceless sound and the second word with a voiced sound. All other aspects of the sounds in each word pair are iden- tical; the position of the lips and tongue is the same.
eBook - PDFThe Anthropology of Language
An Introduction to Linguistic Anthropology
- Harriet Ottenheimer, Judith Pine(Authors)
- 2018(Publication Date)
- Cengage Learning EMEA(Publisher)
Cengage Learning reserves the right to remove additional content at any time if subsequent rights restrictions require it. 56 ● CHAPTER THREE vibrating when you say z . Switch to saying s , and you will feel the vocal cords stop vibrating. The difference between voiced and Voiceless sounds is an important one to learn. Nearly every language in the world makes use of it in some way. In English, for example, the difference in meaning between the words kill and gill is signaled by how the first sound in those two words is produced: voiced or Voiceless. Articulation above the Larynx After passing through the vocal cords, air reaches the mouth and nose areas (the supralaryngeal vocal tract) where there are a lot of ways that it can be articulated , or modified. One important way that the air can be modified is by constriction in the mouth, or oral cavity. The tongue, in particular, can be moved around in the mouth to affect the quality of the air moving through the mouth and nose areas. In addition, the velum can open and close the passage into the nasal cavity, and the lips can be opened or closed, so the way that the air finally escapes can be through either the nose or the mouth. All of these details of articulation will affect the outcome of a sound. The articulation of speech sounds is described in terms of place ( where the air is being modified) and manner ( how the air is being mod-ified). If you want to identify a speech sound and pronounce it accu-rately, then you need to know something about the place and manner in Velum Larynx Vocal Cor ds Lungs Nasal Cavity Lips Tongue Trachea FIGURE 3.1 Diagram of the speech organs. See the workbook/reader for a more detailed diagram. Source: Alan Joseph, used by permission. Copyright 2019 Cengage Learning. All Rights Reserved. May not be copied, scanned, or duplicated, in whole or in part. Due to electronic rights, some third party content may be suppressed from the eBook and/or eChapter(s).
eBook - PDFListening and Voice
Phenomenologies of Sound, Second Edition
- Don Ihde(Author)
- 2012(Publication Date)
- SUNY Press(Publisher)
If this is the movement that is opened by the decentering of voiced word on behalf of written word, there is also the countermovement in the opposite direction. Just as there are Voiceless words, there are wordless voices, the voices of things which are a wordless speaking. Such voices are pregnant with significance but not yet word. Thus I recognize the voice of the truck that sounds differently than the car, or the voice of the neighbor’s dog that barks differently than the occasional harbor seal, which also “barks.” The voice of each thing bespeaks something of its per-sona. Here lie possibilities of another extension from the center of language, perhaps not so fully developed as the first flight away from voiced word. There are anticipations of these possibilities in the ordinary “understandings” which occur, for example, between humans and animals. My dog “understands” something from my speech: she knows her name, even when it is spelled (which she has learned to recognize). And in the new sciences there is hope of “understanding” dolphin or whale “language” sometime in the future. But in this direction often lie only the projections of our worded voices extending to speechless things a certain hearing of speech where there is no word. If awaiting a guest in the summer, the wind and more particularly the “babbling” brook carry sounded voices for my keen anticipations. Try as I may, I do not succeed in eliminating these occasional “voices” in the “babble.” In this direction lies the seduction of the musical which is near lan- guage-as-word. Music embodies significance in sound, but it is the sounded counterpart to the wordless “languages” which arise out of the possibilities of written language-as-word. In the history of phenomenology it has been Merleau-Ponty above all who has pointed to the intimacy of language and music.
Available until 9 Dec |Learn more- Celia Kerslake, Aslı Göksel(Authors)
- 2004(Publication Date)
- Routledge(Publisher)
The voiced/Voiceless contrast is the most prevalent one in processes involving phonology and word structure ( 2.1 , 6.1.2 ). Voiceless consonants Voiced consonants /p/ /b/ /t/ /d/ /k/ /g/ /c/(‘k’) (‘g’) (‘ç’) (‘c’) /f/ /v/ /s/ /z/ / ∫ /(‘ ş ’) (‘j’) /h/ / γ /(‘ ğ ’) /m/ /n/ / ł /(‘l’) /l/ /r/ /j/(‘y’) 1.1.1.1 Consonants and their allophones The following factors affect the pronunciation of particular consonants in certain environments: (i) palatalization (producing a consonant with the tongue against the hard palate) affects the velar consonants /k/, /g/ and / ł /, and the glottal consonant /h/ in front vowel environments (ii) aspiration (producing a consonant with force) affects the Voiceless plosives /p/, /t/, /k/, /c/, and the Voiceless affricate (iii) bilabialization (producing a consonant by bringing the lips together) affects the voiced labio-dental consonant /v/ and to a lesser extent, its Voiceless counterpart /f/ The descriptions below regarding the pronunciation of consonants in ‘word-final position’ apply only to those cases where a word is followed by a pause or uttered in isolation. Otherwise, the pronunciation of a word-final consonant is, in most cases, conditioned by the initial sound in the following word. For example, /p/ which is described below as aspirated at the end of a word or before a vowel sounds so only if it is followed by a pause or a word beginning with a vowel. If it is followed by a word starting with a consonant it is an unaspirated /p/. In other words, the ‘p’ of t ı pa ‘stopper’, T ı p A nsiklopedisi ‘Encyclopaedia of Medicine’ and t ı p ‘medicine’ (pronounced in isolation) are all aspirated, whereas the ‘p’ in t ı pk ı ‘just like’ or in T ı p D ergisi ‘Journal of Medicine’ is unaspirated. Another point about pronunciation concerns two identical consonants that occur next to each other.
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.
- Charles Hall, Christopher Hastings(Authors)
- 2017(Publication Date)
- Red Globe Press(Publisher)
When we voice a consonant, the vocal folds in the larynx vibrate just as if we were letting air leak out of a balloon. The space between the folds is called the glottis , 40 PHONETICS, PHONOLOGY & PRONUNCIATION FOR THE LANGUAGE CLASSROOM and the adjective is glottal . Say the [h] sound in Hall . Try to feel where the [h] is produced. It is in your throat and is basi-cally just ‘breathy’. The [h] is a Voiceless glottal fricative . It is an odd sound, and many linguists have been trying to give it many different names; some even want to call it a voice-less vowel. That is too much bother for us; we will stick with the old-fashioned Voiceless glottal fricative. ’Urricanes ’ardly ’appen in phonetics classes: the case of the missing, changed or overeager [h] You know that this [h] is a sound that is ‘dropped’ by some speakers of British English and by many French speakers of English. It is also a sound that is difficult for speakers of other languages, such as Russian, who don’t have it and substitute the [x] sound that is found at the end of the name Bach (German pronunciation) or in the Scottish loch , which neither author has actually ever heard someone say, although it’s always mentioned, just as we just did, as an example of that sound. That [x] is actually a Voiceless velar fricative that English once had in words such as right , night , light and other words that now have the silent gh combination. We assume that you never really thought (see what we did there?) about what the gh might (are you paying attention?) have been throughout (another one!) the history of English. Well, now you know, though (!), it might not be the most interesting thing you’ve ever learnt. Of course, to round out the discussion, there has to be a case when someone overuses the [h] sound. We’ll only give one example but one that ticks off many Americans and even some British people, although not us because we are objective linguists who value all sounds equally.
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