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In phonetics, 'voice' or 'voicing' is one of the three major parameters used to describe a sound. It is usually treated as a binary parameter with sounds being described as either 'voiceless' ('unvoiced') or 'voiced', although in fact there can be degrees of voicing (see below).
A voiced sound is one in which the vocal cords vibrate, and a voiceless sound is one in which they do not. Voicing is the difference between pairs of sounds such as and in English. If one places the fingers on the voice box (ie the location of the Adam's apple in the upper throat), one can feel a vibration when one pronounces ''zzzz'', but not when one pronounces ''ssss''. (For a more detailed, technical explanation, see phonation.)
Vowels are usually voiced. Consonants may be voiced or unvoiced.

Contents

English examples

Voiceless vowels

Voicing in English

Degrees of voicing

See also

English examples

Voiceless consonant (surd)	Voiced equivalent
('''p'in'')	('''b'in'')
('''t'en'')	('''d'en'')
('''c'on'')	('''g'one'')
('''ch'in'')	('''g'in'')
('''f'an'')	('''v'an'')
''('th'in, 'th'igh)''	''('th'en, 'th'y)''
('''s'ip'')	('''z'ip'')
''(pre'ss'ure)''	''(plea's'ure)''

Obstruents commonly come in voiced and voiceless pairs like those above. Voiceless consonants are usually articulated more strongly than their voiced counterparts, because in voiced consonants, the airflow energy used in pronunciation is split between the laryngeal vibration and the oral articulation.

Voiceless vowels

The IPA diacritic for voicelessness is the under-ring, . This is used where no separate symbol is available, for example for voiceless vowels.
Vowels may be voiceless, usually allophonically. For example, the Japanese word ''sukiyaki'' is pronounced . This may sound like to an English speaker, but the lips can be seen compressing for the . Something very similar happens in English with words like ''p'e'culiar'' and ''p'ar'ticular''.

Voicing in English

Beside the pairs of voiceless and voiced 'obstruent' consonants given above, other voiced sounds in English are the nasals, i.e. ; the approximants, i.e. (the last spelled ); and the vowels. These sounds are called 'sonorants'.
In most languages, the difference between and is that are voiced, while are not. However, in English, the main distinction is not that are voiced, but rather that are aspirated. That is, they differ in when voicing starts. In most English dialects, are partially voiceless in some environments, such as word initially. In fact, after an , the contrast between and is lost; when a child learning English has acquired voicing distinctions, but not yet acquired the clusters , the child's pronunciation of ''spy, sty, sky'' sounds to an adult like ''buy, die, guy''.

Degrees of voicing

There are two variables to degrees of voicing: ''intensity'' (discussed under phonation), and ''duration'' (discussed under voice onset time). When a sound is described as "half voiced" or "partially voiced", it is not always clear whether that means that the voicing is weak (low intensity), or if the voicing only occurs during part of the sound (short duration). In the case of English, it is the latter.

See also

★ Phonation

★ Voice onset time

★ Manner of articulation

★ Place of articulation