View source for Voicelessness

{{Short description|Consonant pronounced without the larynx vibrating}}
{{Redirect|Voiceless}}
{{More footnotes|date=August 2008}}
{{Infobox IPA
| above = Voiceless
| ipa symbol  = ◌̥
| ipa symbol2 = ◌̊
| decimal=805
}}
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 [[voice (phonetics)|voicing]] and that voicelessness is the lack of phonation.

The [[International Phonetic Alphabet]] (IPA) has distinct letters for many voiceless and [[modal voice|modally voiced]] pairs of consonants (the [[obstruent]]s), such as {{IPA|[p b], [t d], [k ɡ], [q ɢ], [c ɟ], [f v], and [s z]}}. Also, there are diacritics for voicelessness,  {{unichar|0325|COMBINING RING BELOW|ulink=Phonetic symbols in Unicode|cwith=◌}} and {{unichar|030A|COMBINING RING ABOVE|ulink=Phonetic symbols in Unicode|cwith=◌}}, which is used for letters with a [[descender]]. Diacritics are typically used with letters for prototypically voiced sounds, such as [[vowel]]s and [[sonorant consonant]]s: {{IPA|[ḁ], [l̥], [ŋ̊]}}.
In Russian use of the IPA, the voicing diacritic may be turned for voicelessness, e.g. {{angbr IPA|ṋ}}.<ref>E.g. Bondarko, Verbickaja & Gordina (1991) ''Osnovy obščej fonetiki.'' St. Petersburg University Press.</ref>

==Voiceless vowels and other sonorants==
[[Sonorant]]s are sounds such as vowels and [[nasal consonant|nasal]]s that are voiced in most of the world's languages. However, in some languages sonorants may be voiceless, usually [[allophone|allophonically]]. For example, the [[Japanese language|Japanese]] word ''[[sukiyaki]]'' is pronounced {{IPA|[sɯ̥kijaki]}} and may sound like {{IPA|[skijaki]}} to an English speaker, but the lips can be seen to compress for the {{IPA|[ɯ̥]}}.{{cn|date=September 2025}} Something similar happens in [[English language|English]] words like ''p'''e'''culiar'' {{IPA|[pʰə̥ˈkj̊uːliɚ]}} and ''p'''o'''tato'' {{IPA|[pʰə̥ˈtʰeɪ̯ɾoʊ̯]}}.

Voiceless vowels are also an areal feature in languages of the [[American Southwest]] (like [[Hopi language|Hopi]] and [[Keresan languages|Keres]]), the [[Great Basin]] (including all [[Numic languages]]), and the [[Great Plains]], where they are present in Numic [[Comanche language|Comanche]] but also in [[Algonquian languages|Algonquian]] [[Cheyenne language|Cheyenne]], and the [[Caddoan languages|Caddoan]] language [[Arikara language|Arikara]]. It also occurs in [[Woleaian language|Woleaian]], in contrast to the other [[Micronesian languages]], which instead delete it outright.

Contrastively voiceless vowels have been reported several times without ever being verified (L&M 1996:315).

Sonorants may also be contrastively, not just environmentally, voiceless. [[Standard Tibetan]], for example, has a voiceless {{IPA|/l̥/}} in ''[[Lhasa]]'', which sounds similar to but is less noisy than the [[voiceless alveolar lateral fricative|voiceless lateral fricative]] {{IPA|/ɬ/}} in [[Welsh language|Welsh]]; it contrasts with a modally voiced {{IPA|/l/}}. Welsh contrasts several voiceless sonorants: {{IPA|/m, m̥/}}, {{IPA|/n, n̥/}}, {{IPA|/ŋ, ŋ̊/}}, and {{IPA|/r, r̥/}}, the last represented by "rh".

In [[Moksha language|Moksha]], there is even a [[voiceless palatal approximant]] {{IPA|/j̊/}} (written in [[Cyrillic]] as {{angbr|[[й]][[х]]}} ''jh'') along with {{IPA|/l̥/}} and {{IPA|/r̥/}} (written as {{angbr|[[л]]х}} ''lh'' and {{angbr|[[р]]х}} ''rh''). The last two have palatalized counterparts {{IPA|/l̥ʲ/}} and {{IPA|/r̥ʲ/}} ({{angbr|л[[ь]]х}} and {{angbr|рьх}}). [[Kildin Sami language|Kildin Sami]] has also {{IPA|/j̊/}} {{angbr|[[ҋ]]}}.

==Lack of voicing contrast in obstruents==
Many languages lack a distinction between voiced and voiceless [[obstruent]]s (stops, affricates, and fricatives). This is the case in nearly all [[Australian languages]], and is widespread elsewhere, for example in [[Mandarin Chinese]], [[Korean language|Korean]], [[Danish language|Danish]], [[Estonian language|Estonian]] and the [[Polynesian languages]].

In many such languages, obstruents are realized as voiced in voiced environments, such as between vowels or between a vowel and a nasal, and voiceless elsewhere, such as at the beginning or end of the word or next to another obstruent. That is the case in Dravidian and Australian languages and in Korean but not in Mandarin or Polynesian. Usually, the variable sounds are transcribed with the voiceless IPA letters, but for Australian languages, the letters for voiced consonants are often used.

It appears that voicelessness is not a single phenomenon in such languages. In some, such as the Polynesian languages, the vocal folds are required to actively open to allow an unimpeded (silent) airstream, which is sometimes called a ''breathed'' phonation (not to be confused with [[breathy voice]]). In others, such as many Australian languages, voicing ceases during the hold of a stop (few Australian languages have any other kind of obstruent) because airflow is insufficient to sustain it, and if the vocal folds open, that is only from passive relaxation.

Thus, Polynesian stops are reported to be held for longer than Australian stops and are seldom voiced, but Australian stops are prone to having voiced variants (L&M 1996:53), and the languages are often represented as having no phonemically voiceless consonants at all.

In [[Southeast Asia]], when stops occur at the end of a word, they are voiceless because the glottis is closed, not open, so they are said to be unphonated (have no phonation) by some phoneticians, who considered "breathed" voicelessness to be a phonation.<ref>Jerold Edmondson, John Esling, Jimmy Harris, and James Wei, [http://ling.uta.edu/~jerry/suip.pdf "A phonetic study of the Sui consonants and tones"] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20090205031016/http://ling.uta.edu/~jerry/suip.pdf |date=2009-02-05 }} ''[[Mon-Khmer Studies]]'' '''34''':47–66</ref>

[[Yidiny language|Yidiny]] consonants have no underlyingly voiceless consonants.<ref>[[R. M. W. Dixon]]. (1977). ''A Grammar of Yidiny''. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.</ref>

==References==
{{reflist}}

==Further reading==
*{{SOWL}}

{{phonation}}

[[Category:Phonation]]