Voicing

Each sound in a language is either voiced or voiceless. For example, the difference between [s] in "class" and [z] in "maze" is only whether or not the vocal folds are vibrating. In the word "class" the vocal folds are not vibrating. If you wrap your hand around the front of your throat, you won't feel any vibrations when you pronounce the "ss". However, in the word "maze", you'll feel vibrations around your throat as you hold the "z" sound.

The vocal folds are responsible for voicing sounds.

These two diagrams take a look at the glottis, the site where the vocal folds are.

In the diagram on the left, the vocal folds are wide open. When air flows upwards from the lungs, the vocal folds are so far apart that they don't vibrate. This creates a sound like [s].

In the diagram on the right, the vocal folds are tightly closed. When air flows upwards from the lungs, the vocal folds are so tightly packed together, the air causes vibrations like a guitar string. This creates a sound like [z].

The arytenoid cartilage is responsible for creating closure in the vocal folds.

Voiceless Sounds

In English, only some consonants are voiceless. Here is the list of consonant sounds in English that are voiceless along with some example words. You shouldn't feel much of a vibration for these sounds.

• [p]: peach, happy, soup
• [f]: flavor, calf, muffin
• [θ]: think, path, filth
• [t]: touch, mat, interrupt
• [s]: soup, pass, massive
• [ʃ]: ship, wash, rushing
• [t͡ʃ]: cheap, chase, batch
• [k]: kick, lacking, truck
• [h]: happy, holiday, aha!

Voiced Sounds

In English, most consonants are voiced and all vowels are voiced. Here is the list of consonant sounds in English that are voiced along with some example words. You should feel vibration when producing these sounds.

• [b]: bite, bribe, fable
• [m]: monkey, hammer, rim
• [v]: very, flavor, save
• [ð]: this, the, those
• [d]: diet, den, had
• [n]: nice, ran, flannel
• [z]: zoo, phase, frazzle
• [ʒ]: azure, treasure, measure
• [d͡ʒ]: jump, badge, judge
• [r]: rim, hard, far
• [l]: light, plunder, tall
• [j]: yes, you, yam
• [w]: white, win, away
• [ŋ]: sing, fling, bang
• [g]: group, go, haggle

We'll cover vowels later; just remember that they're all voiced!

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