Voicelessness

In linguistics, voicelessness is when sounds are made without the larynx vibrating. This idea helps us study speech sounds. It is the opposite of voicing, when the larynx vibrates to make a sound.

The International Phonetic Alphabet (IPA) uses special symbols to show the difference between voiceless and voiced sounds. For example, it has pairs like [p b] and [t d], where one sound in each pair is voiceless and the other is voiced. There are also special marks added to letters to show voicelessness.

Voicelessness helps us understand how different languages use sounds. It shows why some sounds feel different when we say them, and it is important for studying how speech works.

Voiceless vowels and other sonorants

See also: Voiceless approximant and Sonorant § Voiceless

Sonorants are sounds such as vowels and nasals that are usually spoken with voice. But in some languages, these sounds can be made without voice. For example, the Japanese word sukiyaki is said with a quiet vowel, and it might sound like skijaki to someone who speaks English.

Voiceless vowels are also found in some languages in places like the American Southwest, the Great Basin, and the Great Plains. They appear in languages such as Hopi, Keres, Comanche, Cheyenne, and Arikara. They are also in Woleaian, unlike other Micronesian languages, which remove these sounds instead.

Some languages have sounds that are always voiceless, not just sometimes. For example, Standard Tibetan has a quiet sound like /l̥/ in Lhasa. Welsh also has several quiet sounds. In Moksha, there are quiet sounds such as /j̊/, /l̥/, and /r̥/. Kildin Sami also has a quiet /j̊/.

Lack of voicing contrast in obstruents

Many languages do not have different sounds between voiced and voiceless consonants. These are sounds made by the voice box and without it. This is true in most Australian languages and also in places like Mandarin Chinese, Korean, Danish, Estonian, and the Polynesian languages.

In these languages, sounds can change depending on where they appear in a word. For example, they might sound voiced between vowels but voiceless at the start or end of a word. This happens in some Australian and Dravidian languages, and in Korean, but not in Mandarin or Polynesian languages.

Different languages handle these sounds in unique ways. In Polynesian languages, the voice box must open to let air pass through without vibration. In many Australian languages, the voice stops during certain sounds because there isn’t enough air to keep it going.