What is voiced and voiceless sounds?

English as a Second Language Listening, speaking, pronunciation and accent
1

Can you list all the voiced and voiceless sounds? And how we pronounce the S and ED after them? Thank you.

2

I think the sounds which have a vibration
is a voiced and the sounds with out vibration
is voiceless
for example : V v.s F
V is voiced F is voiceless
Put your hand in your throat and say VVVVVV you will feel vibration do as you did but say FFFF you will not feel vibration
I’m not exactly sure from this information and you can check about it

3

What about t and d? Both make vibration in the throat but t is voiceless and d is voiced. And how s and ed are pronounced after such voiceless and voiced sounds?

4

Hello Winter,

First of all I am a bit confused on how to pronounce your user name, so I hope you do not mind that I call you Winter.

The gladiator has already given you a <> of what voiced and voiceless consonants are. I think I’d like to pick up where he left off, if you do not mind.^^
What you refer to as voiced and voiceless are actually features of consonants according the manner in which they are phonatized (produced by vibrating vocal chord). A voiced consonant is produced by vibrating your vocal chord while articulating the consonant. A vioceless consonant is produced without the vibration of vocal chord. There is no such thing as a voiceless vowel as it is impossible to produce a vowel without actually vibrating your vocal chord.

The following is the list of voiced consonants, their IPA (International Phonetics Alphabet) transcription and their pronounciation in a word.

The following is the list of voiceless consonants, their IPA (International Phonetics Alphabet) transcription and their pronounciation in a word.

Source : Hornby, A.S. 1995. Oxford Advanced Learner’s Dictionary of English. Oxford University Press.

As Alan would do it, here are the pronounciation of these consonants in sentences :

  1. John is back with a pack of cigarette.
  2. Someone put a dart on the tart!
  3. John sip his tea in a zip.
  4. Kate closed the gate.
  5. Mary plants some fine vines in her yard.
  6. Jane releases the chain.
  7. She has a vision about the use of fission theory.
  8. This glass is thin.

The consonants that I mentioned are those that are commonly used in English. However, there are many other voiced and voiceless consonants that exist in languages other than English. But that, my friend, is a story for another time.

5

Thank you very much.

6

Although those explanations given by the above posters are pretty much thorough, I’d like to share a link which I’ve used when Jamie from the other thread brought up this subject so that you have more resources to refer to. Here you go - esl.about.com/od/speakingenglish/a/voiced.htm

7

Thank you

8

Thank you for the support, Bulone.
We could not have found this useful link if you had not come up with it.

9

Hello everyone,
I’d like to attempt the pronounciation of these consonants in sentences with an American accent. I would really appreciate your comments on my pronunciation:

  1. John is back with a pack of cigarette.
  2. Someone put a dart on the tart!
  3. John sips his tea in a zip.
  4. Kate closed the gate.
  5. Mary plants some fine vines in her yard.
  6. Jane releases the chain.
  7. She has a vision about the use of fission theory.
  8. This glass is thin.

Thank you and regards,
JLTS

10

How to pronounce the endings s and ed after these voiceless and voiced consonants? And even when i:, i, u:, u…

11

^^I’m not phonetic guru but, I recalled I found something similar that might be of your interest when I was scouring connected speech resources. It’s called elision. Basically, it’s omission of /t/ and /d/ sound when it falls between two consonants. Here’s the link - bbc.co.uk/worldservice/learn … l#ellision

12

Thank you for helping me.

13

^^But do bear in mind that, the reference I’ve given to you tells you about in connected speech scenario. I don’t know if the same rule would apply on single word situation. I leave that for experts to answer. :slight_smile:

Bulone

14

Hi Bulone,

Thank you very much for your helpful link that reminds me of the phonetic lessons. Everyone can download the MP3 file to listen to. I just want to repeat with another accent.

Sounds disappear (elision)
When the sounds /t/ or /d/ occur between two consonant sounds, they will often disappear completely from the pronunciation.

I’m going nex(t) week
That was the wors(t) job I ever had!
Jus(t) one person came to the party!
I can’(t) swim

Thank you and regards,
JLTS

15

Is there any link about how to know whether it’s /u:/ or /u/ like in food and foot and /i:/ or /i/ like in feed and feet.

16

Hi Wanderer,

I try to put (/u/) them in some sentences as below:

  1. He wants some American food (/u:/)
  2. They go to work on foot (/u/)
  3. She feeds (/i:/) the animals everyday. That’s her job.
  4. He exchanges the white shirt for the blue (/u:/) one because it doesn’t fit (/i/) him at all.

Thank you and regards,
JLTS

17

You are welcome Joseph. I’m glad to know that you also find my link useful.

Bulone

18

Thank you.