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Glite Dictionary
voiceless consonant

voiceless consonant

5.6
A consonant you make without the vocal cords moving, like the 'p' in pat
  • noun
  • /ˈvɔɪsləs ˈkɒnsənənt/
  • Specialized
translation icon : consonante sorda
  • In English phonetics, a voiceless consonant is produced without the vocal cords vibrating, such as in the sounds of 'p', 't', and 'k'.
  • production of a voiceless consonant

Examples

  • The error pattern of postvocalic devoicing occurs when a word-final voiced consonant is replaced by a voiceless consonant. It should be noted that for many adult speakers of English.

    Academic text (2015)

  • It has been hypothesized that the characteristic physiological behaviors that occur during the production of vowels before and after a voiceless consonant underlie these distinctive changes in the RFF.

    Academic text (2012)

  • Previous work did not find significant differences among these three voiceless consonant productions (Stepp et al., 2010).

    Academic text (2012)

  • We averaged the RFF for each speaker across all three voiceless consonant productions that were studied to provide a more stable estimate of RFF.

    Academic text (2012)

  • One reasonable thought related to voicing is that if F0 is one of the primary cues used by low-frequency acoustic hearing to improve electric hearing, then improvement for voiceless consonants should be minimal.

    Academic text (2012)

  • The teacher explained that a voiceless consonant is one where the vocal cords do not vibrate during its articulation.

  • Examples of voiceless consonants include 's' and 'f', which are essential in distinguishing meaning in spoken language.

Synonyms

surd
vsvoiceless consonant
  • Specialized
1 9.9

A consonant made without your vocal cords vibrating

uses a descriptive phrase rather than a short label

Antonyms

voiced
  • Specialized
5.3

A sound made when parts inside your throat vibrate

Surface Forms

voiceless consonant singular
voiceless consonants plural

Morphology

voiceless + consonant

The meaning is directly compositional: the adjective 'voiceless' (= produced without vocal fold vibration) modifies 'consonant' to indicate a consonant produced without vocal cord vibration. This modifier+noun pattern is regular and cross-linguistically common, so a B1 learner who knows both constituents should be able to infer the meaning.

Etymology

Voiceless consonant comes from a simple image: a consonant is a speech sound and voiceless means it is made without your vocal cords vibrating. That's why a voiceless consonant is a sound like 'p' or 't' made 'without voice', unlike the 'voiced' sounds that feel a buzz in your throat.