{{Short description|Phonetic sound change}} {{Sound change}} {{Use American English|date = February 2019}} {{IPA notice}}
In phonology, '''voicing''' (or '''sonorization''') is a sound change where a voiceless consonant becomes voiced due to the influence of its phonological environment; shift in the opposite direction is referred to as '''devoicing''' or '''surdization'''. Most commonly, the change is a result of sound assimilation with an adjacent sound of opposite voicing, but it can also occur word-finally or in contact with a specific vowel.
For example, the English suffix ''-s'' is pronounced {{IPA|[s]}} when it follows a voiceless phoneme (''cats''), and {{IPA|[z]}} when it follows a voiced phoneme (''dogs'').{{sfnp|Grijzenhout|2000|p=3}} This type of assimilation is called ''progressive'', where the second consonant assimilates to the first; ''regressive'' assimilation goes in the opposite direction, as can be seen in ''have to'' {{IPA|[hæftə]}}.
==English==<!-- This section is linked from English plural --> English no longer has a productive process of voicing stem-final fricatives when forming noun-verb pairs or plural nouns, but there are still examples of voicing from earlier in the history of English:
* belief ({{IPA|['''f''']}}) – believe ({{IPA|['''v''']}}) * shelf ({{IPA|['''f''']}}) – shelve ({{IPA|['''v''']}}) * grief ({{IPA|['''f''']}}) – grieve ({{IPA|['''v''']}}) * life ({{IPA|['''f''']}}) – live ({{IPA|['''v''']}}) * proof ({{IPA|['''f''']}}) – prove ({{IPA|['''v''']}}) * strife ({{IPA|['''f''']}}) – strive ({{IPA|['''v''']}}) * thief ({{IPA|['''f''']}}) – thieve ({{IPA|['''v''']}}) * bath ({{IPA|['''θ''']}}) - bathe ({{IPA|['''ð''']}}) * breath ({{IPA|['''θ''']}}) - breathe ({{IPA|['''ð''']}}) * mouth ({{IPA|['''θ''']}}, {{abbr|n.|noun}}) – mouth ({{IPA|['''ð''']}}, {{abbr|vb.|verb}}) * sheath ({{IPA|['''θ''']}}) - sheathe ({{IPA|['''ð''']}}) * wreath ({{IPA|['''θ''']}}) - wreathe ({{IPA|['''ð''']}}) * advice ({{IPA|['''s''']}}) – advise ({{IPA|['''z''']}}) * house ({{IPA|['''s''']}}, {{abbr|n.|noun}}) – house ({{IPA|['''z''']}}, {{abbr|vb.|verb}}) * use ({{IPA|['''s''']}}, {{abbr|n.|noun}}) – use ({{IPA|['''z''']}}, {{abbr|vb.|verb}})
Synchronically, the assimilation at morpheme boundaries is still productive, such as in:{{sfnp|Grijzenhout|2000|p=9}}
* cat + '''s''' → ca'''ts''' * dog + '''s''' → dogs ({{IPA|['''ɡz''']}}) * miss + '''ed''' → missed ({{IPA|['''st''']}}) * whizz + '''ed''' → whizzed ({{IPA|['''zd''']}})
The voicing alternation found in plural formation is losing ground in the modern language,{{Citation needed|date=December 2009}}. Of the alternations listed below many speakers retain only the {{IPA|[f-v]}} pattern, which is supported by the orthography. This voicing of {{IPA|/f/}} is a relic of Old English, at a time when the unvoiced consonants between voiced vowels were 'colored' by an allophonic voicing (lenition) rule {{IPA|/f/}} → {{IPA|[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 {{IPA|[f]}} and {{IPA|[v]}} occurs now as realizations of separate phonemes {{IPA|/f/}} and {{IPA|/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 ''lea'''f'''''~''lea'''v'''es'' in reference to 'outgrowth of plant stem' remains vigorous, the Toronto ice hockey team is uncontroversially named the ''Maple Lea'''f'''s''.
* kni'''f'''e – kni'''v'''es * lea'''f''' – lea'''v'''es * wi'''f'''e – wi'''v'''es * wol'''f''' – wol'''v'''es
The following mutations are optional:{{Citation needed|date=December 2009}}
* bath ({{IPA|['''θ''']}}) - baths ({{IPA|['''ð''']}}) * mouth ({{IPA|['''θ''']}}) - mouths ({{IPA|['''ð''']}}) * oath ({{IPA|['''θ''']}}) - oaths ({{IPA|['''ð''']}}) * path ({{IPA|['''θ''']}}) - paths ({{IPA|['''ð''']}}) * youth ({{IPA|['''θ''']}}) - youths ({{IPA|['''ð''']}}) * house ({{IPA|['''s''']}}) – houses ({{IPA|['''z''']}})
Sonorants ({{IPA|/l r w j/}}) following aspirated fortis plosives (that is, {{IPA|/p t k/}} in the onsets of stressed syllables unless preceded by {{IPA|/s/}}) are devoiced such as in ''please'', ''crack'', ''twin'', and ''pewter''.{{sfnp|Roach|2004|p=240}}
Several varieties of English have a productive synchronic rule of /t/-voicing whereby intervocalic /t/ not followed by a stressed vowel is realized as voiced alveolar flap [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 homophones, both with [ɾ] (the voiceless identity of word-internal /t/ in ''tutor'' is manifested in ''tutorial'', where stress shift assures [tʰ]).
== In other languages == === Voicing assimilation === {{main|Assimilation (linguistics)}} In many languages, including Polish and Russian, there is anticipatory assimilation of unvoiced obstruents immediately before voiced obstruents. For example, Russian {{lang|ru|про'''сь'''ба}} 'request' is pronounced {{IPA|/ˈprozʲbə/}} (instead of {{IPA|*/ˈprosʲbə/}}) and Polish {{lang|pl|pro'''ś'''ba}} 'request' is pronounced {{IPA|/ˈprɔʑba/}} (instead of {{IPA|*/ˈprɔɕba/}}). The process can cross word boundaries as well: Russian {{lang|ru|дочь бы}} {{IPA|/ˈdod͡ʑ bɨ/}} 'daughter would'. The opposite type of anticipatory assimilation happens to voiced obstruents before unvoiced ones: {{lang|ru|о'''б'''сыпать}} {{IPA|/ɐpˈs̪ɨpətʲ/}}.
In Italian, {{IPA|/s/}} before a voiced consonant is pronounced {{IPA|[z]}} within any phonological word: {{lang|it|sbaglio}} {{IPA|[ˈzbaʎʎo]}} 'mistake', {{lang|it|slitta}} {{IPA|[ˈzlitta]}} 'sled', {{lang|it|snello}} {{IPA|[ˈznɛllo]}} 'slender'. The rule applies across morpheme boundaries ({{lang|it|disdire}} {{IPA|[dizˈdiːre]}} 'cancel') and word boundaries ({{lang|it|lapis nero}} {{IPA|[ˌlaːpizˈneːro]}} 'black pencil'). This voicing is productive and so it applies also to borrowings, not only to native lexicon: {{lang|it|snob}} {{IPA|[znɔb]}}.
=== Final devoicing === {{main|Final-obstruent devoicing}} ''Final devoicing'' is a systematic phonological process occurring in languages such as German, Dutch, Polish, Russian and Catalan.<ref>{{cite journal |date=2 June 2009 |editor1-last=Nasukawa |editor1-first=Kuniya |editor2-last=Backley |editor2-first=Phillip |title=Strength Relations in Phonology |journal=Studies in Generative Grammar |volume=103 |isbn=9783110218596}}</ref>{{Page needed|reason=This is a whole journal. Which paper verifies this fact?|date=November 2022}} Such languages have voiced obstruents in the syllable coda or at the end of a word become voiceless.
=== Initial voicing === 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 {{lang|de|sagen}} {{IPA|[ˈzaːɡn̩]}}, Yiddish {{lang|yi|זאָגן|rtl=yes}} {{IPA|[ˈzɔɡn̩]}}, and Dutch {{lang|nl|zeggen}} {{IPA|[ˈzɛɣə]}} (all "say") all begin with {{IPA|[z]}}, which derives from {{IPA|[s]}} in an earlier stage of Germanic, as is still attested in English ''say'', Swedish {{lang|sv|säga}} {{IPA|[ˈsɛjːa]}}, and Icelandic {{lang|is|segja}} {{IPA|[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).
== Notes == {{reflist}}
== References == * {{Citation |last=Roach |first=Peter |year=2004 |title=British English: Received Pronunciation |journal=Journal of the International Phonetic Association |volume=34 |issue=2 |pages=239–245 |doi=10.1017/S0025100304001768 |doi-access=free }} * {{Citation |last=Grijzenhout |first=Janet |year=2000 |title=Voicing and devoicing in English, German, and Dutch; evidence for domain-specific identity constraints |url=http://user.phil-fak.uni-duesseldorf.de/~grijzenh/sfb116-voice.PDF |access-date=2009-12-18 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20110719084837/http://user.phil-fak.uni-duesseldorf.de/~grijzenh/sfb116-voice.PDF |archive-date=2011-07-19 |url-status=dead }}
Category:Phonology Category:Phonotactics Category:Assimilation (linguistics)