Voice And Voiceless Phonetics English

Phoneticists, who study the sound of the human voice, divide consonants into two types: voiced and voiceless. Voiced consonants require the use of the vocal cords to produce their signature sounds; voiceless consonants do not. Both types use the breath, lips, teeth, and upper palette to modify speech further.


VOICED CONSONANTS

Your vocal cords, which are actually mucous membranes, stretch across the larynx at the back of the throat. By tightening and relaxing as you speak, the vocal cords modulate the flow of breath expelled from the lungs. 
An easy way to determine whether a consonant is voiced or not is to place a finger on your throat. As you pronounce a letter, feel the vibration of your vocal cords. An easy to test by putting your finger on your throat. If you feel a vibration the consonant is a voiced one.
These are the voiced consonants: B, D, G, J, L, M, N, Ng, R, Sz, Th (as in the word "then"), V, W, Y, and Z. But if consonants are only single letters, what are Ng, Sz, and Th? They're common sounds that are produced by blending the two consonants phonetically. 
Here are some examples of words that include voiced consonants:
  • traveled
  • gloves
  • shells
  • started
  • changed
  • wheels
  • lived
  • dreams
  • exchanged
  • globes
  • phones
  • listened
  • organized

VOICELESS CONSONANTS

Voiceless consonants do not use the vocal cords to produce their hard, percussive sounds. Instead, they're slack, allowing air to flow freely from the lungs to the mouth, where the tongue, teeth, and lips engage to modulate the sound.
These are the voiceless consonants: Ch, F, K, P, S, Sh, T, and Th (as in "thing").
Common words using them include:
  • washed
  • coats
  • watched
  • books
  • seats
  • dropped
  • carts

VOWELS

Vowel sounds (A, E, I, O, U) and diphthongs (combination of two vowel sounds) are all voiced. That also includes the letter Y when pronounced like a long E. Examples: city, pity, gritty

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