Voiced and Voiceless (sometimes Unvoiced) describe the two different ways we can make sounds in our mouths.
The basic difference is this:
- voiced sounds occur when the vocal chords vibrate
- voiceless sounds occur when the vocal chords are still
An Example of Voiced & Unvoiced
The best way to explain this is with an example. Take these two words:
van – fan
To make both the /v/ sound and the /f/ sound we have our mouth and lips in exactly the same shape; in fact, the only difference between these two sounds is that /v/ is voiced and /f/ is unvoiced.
If you hold your hand lightly against your throat and make the two sounds /v/ and /f/ you can immediately feel the difference.
Try it and see!
Voiced & Voiceless Pairs
These are the most common voiced/voiceless pairs of sounds in English along with a few minimal pairs to help practice them:
| voiced | unvoiced | minimal pair |
| /b/ | /p/ | by – pie |
| /v/ | /f/ | van – fan |
| /ð/ | /θ/ | this – thistle1 |
| /d/ | /t/ | do – too |
| /z/ | /s/ | zed – said |
| /ʒ/ | /ʃ/ | genre – shone2 |
| /dʒ/ | /tʃ/ | gin – chin |
| /g/ | /k/ | god – cod |
1 this isn’t a minimal pair but it’s close enough
2 nor is this
Voiced, Voiceless and TEFL
It’s sometimes useful to teach these two words (voiced/voiceless) to your class when you come across a particular pronunciation problem which involves this. It’s also useful to show them exactly how we make those sounds – use the fingers on the throat method (but probably best not to put your hands round their throats).
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