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voicelessness

7.9

A speech sound made without the vocal cords vibrating

noun
/ˈvɔɪsləsnəs/

Specialized

: voicelessness

The voicelessness of the sound /s/ distinguishes it from its voiced counterpart /z/.

Examples

In English, the voicelessness of certain consonants can change the meaning of a word.
Students learned to produce voicelessness by not vibrating their vocal cords during pronunciation exercises.
The voicelessness of the sound made it difficult to identify.
In phonetics, voicelessness is an important concept.
In phonetics, the quality of voicelessness in sounds like /s/ is crucial for distinguishing between similar words.
Linguists often study voicelessness to understand how it affects the articulation of different languages.
Practicing voicelessness helps students improve their pronunciation of certain consonants in spoken English.

Synonyms

devoicing

vsvoicelessness

Specialized

7.4

To make a sound without using your voice

is the static quality of a sound made without vocal cord vibration

devocalization

vsvoicelessness

Specialized

9.5

A sound normally made with the voice that loses its voice in speech

is the static quality of a sound made without vocal cord vibration

How Voiced

voicing

3.9

vocality

Specialized

7.7

breathiness

Specialized

7.0

voicelessness

Specialized

7.9

Surface Forms

voicelessness singular

voicelessnesses plural

Morphology

voicelessness = voiceless (transparent) = voice + less + ness

Built from 'voiceless' + '-ness'; in phonetics it denotes the characteristic 'without vocal fold vibration', which is a direct extension of 'without voice'.

Etymology

Voicelessness comes from voice 'voice', plus -less 'without' and -ness 'state', and in speech it means 'the state of a sound made without the vocal cords vibrating'. So voicelessness explains why the sound /s/ is different from the voiced /z/.