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Glite Dictionary
to devoice

to devoice

9.1
Say a sound without using your voice
  • verb
  • /dɪˈvɔɪs/
  • Specialized
translation icon : desvocalizar
  • The teacher demonstrated how to devoice the syllable during the lesson.

Examples

  • She devoiced the sound to make it softer.

  • You should devoice the final consonant in that word.

  • In some dialects, speakers devoice final consonants in words.

  • Linguists observe that children sometimes mistakenly devoice voiced sounds when learning to speak.

  • In singing, one must sometimes devoice certain consonants for clarity.

  • When teaching pronunciation, we encourage students to devoice the final sounds of words.

  • To pronounce the word correctly, she had to devoice the 's' at the end.

How Voiced

to devoice
  • Specialized
9.1
whisper
110 1.0

Surface Forms

devoice infinitive
devoiced past
devoiced past participle
devoicing present participle
devoices third person singular

Morphology

devoice = voice (semi-transparent) = de + voice

Form is clearly de- + voice (meaning 'remove' or 'reduce' + 'voice'), but the sense is a technical phonetics term that may be unfamiliar to average learners.

Etymology

Devoice is made of de- meaning 'remove' and voice, so it literally means 'remove the voice'. That's why to devoice a sound is to say it without using your voice.