In
phonology
Phonology is the branch of linguistics that studies how languages or dialects systematically organize their sounds or, for sign languages, their constituent parts of signs. The term can also refer specifically to the sound or sign system of a ...
, voicing (or sonorization) is a
sound change
A sound change, in historical linguistics, is a change in the pronunciation of a language. A sound change can involve the replacement of one speech sound (or, more generally, one phonetic feature value) by a different one (called phonetic chang ...
where a
voiceless
In linguistics, voicelessness is the property of sounds being pronounced without the larynx vibrating. Phonologically, it is a type of phonation, which contrasts with other states of the larynx, but some object that the word phonation implies v ...
consonant
In articulatory phonetics, a consonant is a speech sound that is articulated with complete or partial closure of the vocal tract. Examples are and pronounced with the lips; and pronounced with the front of the tongue; and pronounced wit ...
becomes voiced due to the influence of its phonological environment; shift in the opposite direction is referred to as devoicing or desonorization. Most commonly, the change is a result of
sound assimilation
Assimilation is a sound change in which some phonemes (typically consonants or vowels) change to become more similar to other nearby sounds. A common type of phonological process across languages, assimilation can occur either within a word o ...
with an adjacent sound of opposite
voicing, but it can also occur word-finally or in contact with a specific vowel.
For example, the English suffix ''-s'' is pronounced when it follows a voiceless phoneme (''cats''), and when it follows a voiced phoneme (''dogs''). This type of assimilation is called ''progressive'', where the second consonant assimilates to the first; ''regressive'' assimilation goes in the opposite direction, as can be seen in ''have to'' .
English
English no longer has a
productive
Productivity is the efficiency of production of goods or services expressed by some measure. Measurements of productivity are often expressed as a ratio of an aggregate output to a single input or an aggregate input used in a production proces ...
process of voicing stem-final fricatives when forming noun-verb pairs or
plural
The plural (sometimes abbreviated pl., pl, or ), in many languages, is one of the values of the grammatical category of number. The plural of a noun typically denotes a quantity greater than the default quantity represented by that noun. This de ...
nouns, but there are still examples of voicing from earlier in the history of English:
* belief () – believe ()
* shelf () – shelve ()
* grief () – grieve ()
* life () – live ()
* proof () – prove ()
* strife () – strive ()
* thief () – thieve ()
* bath () - bathe ()
* breath () - breathe ()
* mouth (, ) – mouth (, )
* sheath () - sheathe ()
* wreath () - wreathe ()
* advice () – advise ()
* house (, ) – house (, )
* use (, ) – use (, )
Synchronically, the assimilation at morpheme boundaries is still productive, such as in:
* cat + s → cats
* dog + s → dogs ()
* miss + ed → missed ()
* whizz + ed → whizzed ()
The voicing alternation found in plural formation is losing ground in the modern language,. Of the alternations listed below many speakers retain only the pattern, which is supported by the
orthography
An orthography is a set of conventions for writing a language, including norms of spelling, hyphenation, capitalization, word breaks, emphasis, and punctuation.
Most transnational languages in the modern period have a writing system, and mos ...
. This
voicing of is a relic of Old English, at a time when the unvoiced consonants between voiced vowels were 'colored' by an
allophonic
In phonology, an allophone (; from the Greek , , 'other' and , , 'voice, sound') is a set of multiple possible spoken soundsor '' phones''or signs used to pronounce a single phoneme in a particular language. For example, in English, (as in '' ...
voicing (
lenition
In linguistics, lenition is a sound change that alters consonants, making them more sonority hierarchy, sonorous. The word ''lenition'' itself means "softening" or "weakening" (from Latin 'weak'). Lenition can happen both synchronic analysis, s ...
) rule → . As the language became more analytic and less inflectional, final vowels or syllables stopped being pronounced. For example, modern ''knives'' is a one syllable word instead of a two syllable word, with the vowel ''e'' not pronounced and no longer part of the word's structure. The voicing alternation between and occurs now as realizations of separate
phoneme
In phonology and linguistics, a phoneme () is a unit of sound that can distinguish one word from another in a particular language.
For example, in most dialects of English, with the notable exception of the West Midlands and the north-west o ...
s and . The alternation pattern is well maintained for the items listed immediately below, but its loss as a productive allophonic rule permits its abandonment for new usages of even well-established terms: while ''leaf''~''leaves'' in reference to 'outgrowth of plant stem' remains vigorous, the Toronto ice hockey team is uncontroversially named the ''Maple Leafs''.
* knife – knives
* leaf – leaves
* wife – wives
* wolf – wolves
The following mutations are optional:
* bath () - baths ()
* mouth () - mouths ()
* oath () - oaths ()
* path () - paths ()
* youth () - youths ()
* house () – houses ()
Sonorants () following aspirated fortis plosives (that is, in the onsets of stressed syllables unless preceded by ) are devoiced such as in ''please'', ''crack'', ''twin'', and ''pewter''.
Several varieties of English have a productive synchronic rule of
/t/-voicing whereby intervocalic /t/ not followed by a stressed vowel is realized as
voiced alveolar flap
The voiced alveolar tap or flap is a type of consonantal sound, used in some spoken languages. The symbol in the International Phonetic Alphabet that represents a dental consonant, dental, alveolar consonant, alveolar, or postalveolar consonant, p ...
as in ''tutor'', with the first /t/ pronounced as voiceless aspirated
ʰand the second as voiced
Voiced phoneme /d/ can also emerge as
so that ''tutor'' and ''Tudor'' may be
homophone
A homophone () is a word that is pronounced the same (to varying extent) as another word but differs in meaning. A ''homophone'' may also differ in spelling. The two words may be spelled the same, for example ''rose'' (flower) and ''rose'' (p ...
s, both with
(the voiceless identity of word-internal /t/ in ''tutor'' is manifested in ''tutorial'', where stress shift assures
ʰ.
In other languages
Voicing assimilation
In many languages, including
Polish
Polish may refer to:
* Anything from or related to Poland, a country in Europe
* Polish language
* Poles
Poles,, ; singular masculine: ''Polak'', singular feminine: ''Polka'' or Polish people, are a West Slavic nation and ethnic group, w ...
and
Russian
Russian(s) refers to anything related to Russia, including:
*Russians (, ''russkiye''), an ethnic group of the East Slavic peoples, primarily living in Russia and neighboring countries
*Rossiyane (), Russian language term for all citizens and peo ...
, there is
anticipatory assimilation of unvoiced
obstruent
An obstruent () is a speech sound such as , , or that is formed by ''obstructing'' airflow. Obstruents contrast with sonorants, which have no such obstruction and so resonate. All obstruents are consonants, but sonorants include vowels as well as ...
s immediately before voiced obstruents. For example, Russian 'request' is pronounced (instead of ) and Polish 'request' is pronounced (instead of ). The process can cross word boundaries as well: Russian 'daughter would'. The opposite type of anticipatory assimilation happens to voiced obstruents before unvoiced ones: .
In
Italian
Italian(s) may refer to:
* Anything of, from, or related to the people of Italy over the centuries
** Italians, an ethnic group or simply a citizen of the Italian Republic or Italian Kingdom
** Italian language, a Romance language
*** Regional Ita ...
, /s/ before a voiced consonant is pronounced
within any phonological word: ''sbaglio''
zbaʎʎo'mistake', ''slitta''
zlitta'sled', ''snello''
znɛllo'slender'. The rule applies across morpheme boundaries (''disdire''
izˈdiːre'cancel') but not word boundaries (''lapis nero''
laːpisˈneːro'black pencil'). This voicing is productive and so it applies also to borrowings, not only to native lexicon: ''snob''
nɔb ''slinky'' (toy)
zliŋki
Final devoicing
''Final devoicing'' is a systematic phonological process occurring in languages such as
German
German(s) may refer to:
* Germany (of or related to)
** Germania (historical use)
* Germans, citizens of Germany, people of German ancestry, or native speakers of the German language
** For citizens of Germany, see also German nationality law
**Ge ...
,
Dutch
Dutch commonly refers to:
* Something of, from, or related to the Netherlands
* Dutch people ()
* Dutch language ()
Dutch may also refer to:
Places
* Dutch, West Virginia, a community in the United States
* Pennsylvania Dutch Country
People E ...
,
Polish
Polish may refer to:
* Anything from or related to Poland, a country in Europe
* Polish language
* Poles
Poles,, ; singular masculine: ''Polak'', singular feminine: ''Polka'' or Polish people, are a West Slavic nation and ethnic group, w ...
,
Russian
Russian(s) refers to anything related to Russia, including:
*Russians (, ''russkiye''), an ethnic group of the East Slavic peoples, primarily living in Russia and neighboring countries
*Rossiyane (), Russian language term for all citizens and peo ...
and
Catalan
Catalan may refer to:
Catalonia
From, or related to Catalonia:
* Catalan language, a Romance language
* Catalans, an ethnic group formed by the people from, or with origins in, Northern or southern Catalonia
Places
* 13178 Catalan, asteroid #1 ...
.
Such languages have voiced
obstruents
An obstruent () is a speech sound such as , , or that is formed by ''obstructing'' airflow. Obstruents contrast with sonorants, which have no such obstruction and so resonate. All obstruents are consonants, but sonorants include vowels as well a ...
in the
syllable coda
A syllable is a unit of organization for a sequence of Phone (phonetics), speech sounds typically made up of a syllable nucleus (most often a vowel) with optional initial and final margins (typically, consonants). Syllables are often considered t ...
or at the end of a
word
A word is a basic element of language that carries an semantics, objective or pragmatics, practical semantics, meaning, can be used on its own, and is uninterruptible. Despite the fact that language speakers often have an intuitive grasp of w ...
become voiceless.
Initial voicing
Initial voicing is a process of historical sound change in which voiceless consonants become voiced at the beginning of a word. For example, modern German , Yiddish , and Dutch (all "say") all begin with , which derives from in an earlier stage of Germanic, as is still attested in English ''say'', Swedish , and Icelandic . Some English dialects were affected as well, but it is rare in Modern English. One example is ''fox'' (with the original consonant) compared to ''vixen'' (with a voiced consonant).
Notes
References
*
* {{Citation
, last=Grijzenhout
, first=Janet
, year=2000
, title=Voicing and devoicing in English, German, and Dutch; evidence for domain-specific identity constraints
, url=http://user.phil-fak.uni-duesseldorf.de/~grijzenh/sfb116-voice.PDF
, access-date=2009-12-18
, archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20110719084837/http://user.phil-fak.uni-duesseldorf.de/~grijzenh/sfb116-voice.PDF
, archive-date=2011-07-19
, url-status=dead
Phonology
Phonotactics
Assimilation (linguistics)