Consonant voicing and devoicing

<h2 id="english">English</h2>
English no longer has a <a href="/facts/Productivity_(linguistics)/px1fUjDw">productive</a> process of voicing stem-final fricatives when forming noun-verb pairs or <a href="/facts/English_plural/lYlvArnh">plural</a> nouns, but there are still examples of voicing from earlier in the history of English:

<ul><li>belief ([f]) – believe ([v])</li>
<li>shelf ([f]) – shelve ([v])</li>
<li>grief ([f]) – grieve ([v])</li>
<li>life ([f]) – live ([v])</li>
<li>proof ([f]) – prove ([v])</li>
<li>strife ([f]) – strive ([v])</li>
<li>thief ([f]) – thieve ([v])</li>
<li>bath ([θ]) - bathe ([ð])</li>
<li>breath ([θ]) - breathe ([ð])</li>
<li>mouth ([θ], n.) – mouth ([ð], vb.)</li>
<li>sheath ([θ]) - sheathe ([ð])</li>
<li>wreath ([θ]) - wreathe ([ð])</li>
<li>advice ([s]) – advise ([z])</li>
<li>house ([s], n.) – house ([z], vb.)</li>
<li>use ([s], n.) – use ([z], vb.)</li></ul>
<a href="/facts/Synchronic_analysis/6xbpCYhK">Synchronically</a>, the assimilation at morpheme boundaries is still productive, such as in:<a class="footnote-ref" id="fnref:2" href="#fn:2">2</a>

<ul><li>cat + s → cats</li>
<li>dog + s → dogs ([ɡz])</li>
<li>miss + ed → missed ([st])</li>
<li>whizz + ed → whizzed ([zd])</li></ul>
The voicing alternation found in plural formation is losing ground in the modern language,. Of the alternations listed below many speakers retain only the [f-v] pattern, which is supported by the <a href="/facts/Orthography/sJPhCpsU">orthography</a>. This <a href="/facts/Voice_(phonetics)/VdqrEGQ3">voicing</a> of /f/ is a relic of Old English, at a time when the unvoiced consonants between voiced vowels were 'colored' by an <a href="/facts/Allophony/2gp1p5PN">allophonic</a> voicing (<a href="/facts/Lenition/htEV4TwT">lenition</a>) rule /f/ → [v]. 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 [f] and [v] occurs now as realizations of separate <a href="/facts/Phoneme/EXGHlJ7a">phonemes</a> /f/ and /v/. 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.

<ul><li>knife – knives</li>
<li>leaf – leaves</li>
<li>wife – wives</li>
<li>wolf – wolves</li></ul>
The following mutations are optional:

<ul><li>bath ([θ]) - baths ([ð])</li>
<li>mouth ([θ]) - mouths ([ð])</li>
<li>oath ([θ]) - oaths ([ð])</li>
<li>path ([θ]) - paths ([ð])</li>
<li>youth ([θ]) - youths ([ð])</li>
<li>house ([s]) – houses ([z])</li></ul>
Sonorants (/l r w j/) following aspirated fortis plosives (that is, /p t k/ in the onsets of stressed syllables unless preceded by /s/) are devoiced such as in please, crack, twin, and pewter.<a class="footnote-ref" id="fnref:3" href="#fn:3">3</a>
Several varieties of English have a productive synchronic rule of <a href="/facts/Flapping/NfyHN9ff">/t/-voicing</a> whereby intervocalic /t/ not followed by a stressed vowel is realized as <a href="/facts/Voiced_alveolar_flap/EvQ781EU">voiced alveolar flap</a> [ɾ], as in tutor, with the first /t/ pronounced as voiceless aspirated [tʰ] and the second as voiced [ɾ]. Voiced phoneme /d/ can also emerge as [ɾ], so that tutor and Tudor may be <a href="/facts/Homophone/6zEo7t7c">homophones</a>, both with [ɾ] (the voiceless identity of word-internal /t/ in tutor is manifested in tutorial, where stress shift assures [tʰ]).

<h2 id="in-other-languages">In other languages</h2>
<h3>Voicing assimilation</h3>
Main article: <a href="/facts/Assimilation_(linguistics)/YxIy0MBv">Assimilation (linguistics)</a>
In many languages, including <a href="/facts/Polish_language/lzpvYDvV">Polish</a> and <a href="/facts/Russian_language/ETXrTgHV">Russian</a>, there is <a href="/facts/Assimilation_(linguistics)/YxIy0MBv">anticipatory assimilation</a> of unvoiced <a href="/facts/Obstruent/cFCIaGGh">obstruents</a> immediately before voiced obstruents. For example, Russian просьба 'request' is pronounced /ˈprozʲbə/ (instead of */ˈprosʲbə/) and Polish prośba 'request' is pronounced /ˈprɔʑba/ (instead of */ˈprɔɕba/). The process can cross word boundaries as well: Russian дочь бы /ˈdod͡ʑ bɨ/ 'daughter would'. The opposite type of anticipatory assimilation happens to voiced obstruents before unvoiced ones: обсыпать /ɐpˈs̪ɨpətʲ/.
In <a href="/facts/Italian_language/YXsmvlQG">Italian</a>, /s/ before a voiced consonant is pronounced [z] within any phonological word: sbaglio [ˈzbaʎʎo] 'mistake', slitta [ˈzlitta] 'sled', snello [ˈznɛllo] 'slender'. The rule applies across morpheme boundaries (disdire [dizˈdiːre] 'cancel') and word boundaries (lapis nero [ˌlaːpizˈneːro] 'black pencil'). This voicing is productive and so it applies also to borrowings, not only to native lexicon: snob [znɔb].

<h3>Final devoicing</h3>
Main article: <a href="/facts/Final-obstruent_devoicing/IKphdbIF">Final-obstruent devoicing</a>
Final devoicing is a systematic phonological process occurring in languages such as <a href="/facts/German_language/oWaQIDA8">German</a>, <a href="/facts/Dutch_language/yIB5lbsx">Dutch</a>, <a href="/facts/Polish_language/lzpvYDvV">Polish</a>, <a href="/facts/Russian_language/ETXrTgHV">Russian</a> and <a href="/facts/Catalan_language/W2uTbK8Q">Catalan</a>.<a class="footnote-ref" id="fnref:4" href="#fn:4">4</a> Such languages have voiced <a href="/facts/Obstruents/cFCIaGGh">obstruents</a> in the <a href="/facts/Syllable_coda/Ylt7pyJe">syllable coda</a> or at the end of a <a href="/facts/Word/sD4KyoLF">word</a> become voiceless.

<h3>Initial voicing</h3>
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 sagen [ˈzaːɡn̩], Yiddish זאָגן [ˈzɔɡn̩], and Dutch zeggen [ˈzɛɣə] (all "say") all begin with [z], which derives from [s] in an earlier stage of Germanic, as is still attested in English say, Swedish säga [ˈsɛjːa], and Icelandic segja [ˈseiːja]. 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).

<h2 id="notes">Notes</h2>

<ul><li>Roach, Peter (2004), "British English: Received Pronunciation", Journal of the International Phonetic Association, 34 (2): 239–245, <a href="/facts/Doi_(identifier)/muM9Etpq">doi</a>:<a href="https://doi.org/10.1017%2FS0025100304001768">10.1017/S0025100304001768</a> (inactive 5 April 2025){{citation}}: CS1 maint: DOI inactive as of April 2025 (link)</li>
<li>Grijzenhout, Janet (2000), <a href="https://web.archive.org/web/20110719084837/http://user.phil-fak.uni-duesseldorf.de/~grijzenh/sfb116-voice.PDF">Voicing and devoicing in English, German, and Dutch; evidence for domain-specific identity constraints</a> (PDF), archived from <a href="http://user.phil-fak.uni-duesseldorf.de/~grijzenh/sfb116-voice.PDF">the original</a> (PDF) on 2011-07-19, retrieved 2009-12-18</li></ul>

<h2 id="references">References</h2>

<ol>
<li id="fn:1">Grijzenhout (2000), p. 3. - Grijzenhout, Janet (2000), Voicing and devoicing in English, German, and Dutch; evidence for domain-specific identity constraints (PDF), archived from the original (PDF) on 2011-07-19, retrieved 2009-12-18 <a href="https://web.archive.org/web/20110719084837/http://user.phil-fak.uni-duesseldorf.de/~grijzenh/sfb116-voice.PDF" target="_blank">https://web.archive.org/web/20110719084837/http://user.phil-fak.uni-duesseldorf.de/~grijzenh/sfb116-voice.PDF</a> <a href="#fnref:1" class="footnote-back-ref">↩</a></li>
<li id="fn:2">Grijzenhout (2000), p. 9. - Grijzenhout, Janet (2000), Voicing and devoicing in English, German, and Dutch; evidence for domain-specific identity constraints (PDF), archived from the original (PDF) on 2011-07-19, retrieved 2009-12-18 <a href="https://web.archive.org/web/20110719084837/http://user.phil-fak.uni-duesseldorf.de/~grijzenh/sfb116-voice.PDF" target="_blank">https://web.archive.org/web/20110719084837/http://user.phil-fak.uni-duesseldorf.de/~grijzenh/sfb116-voice.PDF</a> <a href="#fnref:2" class="footnote-back-ref">↩</a></li>
<li id="fn:3">Roach (2004), p. 240. - Roach, Peter (2004), "British English: Received Pronunciation", Journal of the International Phonetic Association, 34 (2): 239–245, doi:10.1017/S0025100304001768 (inactive 5 April 2025) <a href="https://doi.org/10.1017%2FS0025100304001768" target="_blank">https://doi.org/10.1017%2FS0025100304001768</a> <a href="#fnref:3" class="footnote-back-ref">↩</a></li>
<li id="fn:4">Nasukawa, Kuniya; Backley, Phillip, eds. (2 June 2009). "Strength Relations in Phonology". Studies in Generative Grammar. 103. ISBN 9783110218596. <a href="9783110218596" target="_blank">9783110218596</a> <a href="#fnref:4" class="footnote-back-ref">↩</a></li>
</ol>

Consonant voicing and devoicing open-in-new

Consonant voicing and devoicing