Voicing (Voiced vs Voiceless Consonants)
Voicing is an on/off switch layered onto consonant formation: hold the mouth’s configuration roughly constant, and vocal-cord vibration can turn a voiceless consonant into its voiced partner.
Put your fingers against your throat and make a hard k sound. Almost nothing. Now make g without substantially changing the shape of your mouth: your throat suddenly buzzes. The decisive movement is happening somewhere you may not have associated with consonants at all.
E1The switch below the mouth
A consonant has multiple moving parts. The mouth shapes and obstructs the airstream, while the vocal cords either remain apart or vibrate as air passes through them. With vibration off, the result is voiceless; switch it on, and the consonant becomes voiced. This is why k/g and p/b can feel like near-twins in the mouth yet reach the ear as different sounds. Voicing changes one coordinate while much of the rest of the articulatory setup stays in place.
E1Where it shows up
The throat test
The contrast becomes physical when you alternate a voiceless consonant with its voiced partner while touching your throat. The mouth may report little change, but your fingertips detect the vibration that your ear identifies as a different consonant.
E1One switch, not the whole sound
Voicing explains only one dimension of a consonant. Sounds can also differ in where airflow is obstructed, how it is obstructed, or whether an extra burst of air follows. Two consonants that differ in several of these dimensions cannot be understood as a simple voiced–voiceless pair; you also need lenses such as Place of Articulation, Manner of Articulation, and Aspiration.
Turn pronunciation into a vibration check
Tomorrow, test a troublesome consonant pair by holding two fingers lightly against your throat and alternating the sounds. If the mouth position feels similar but only one produces a buzz, stop trying to reshape your tongue: practise switching vocal-cord vibration on and off.
E1Episodes that teach this
-
Mind-blowing Science of Indian Languages - Why Sanskrit is Amazing & Mother of All? FutureIQ
· explained at 3:28
333,107 views
"keep your hand here at the top... do c, nothing much happens, but if you say G it is vibrating a lot... it's called a voiced consonant as opposed to unvoiced."