Voicelessness
Alveolar Palatal Velar
Stop d ɟ ɡ
Nasal n ɲ ŋ
Lateral l
Rhotic r
Semivowel j w
Lack of voicing contrast in obstruents
Many languages lack a distinction between voiced and voiceless obstruents ( stops , affricates , and fricatives ) . This is the case in nearly all Dravidian languages and Australian languages , and is widespread elsewhere , for example in Mandarin Chinese , Korean , Finnish , and the Polynesian languages . In many such languages , obstruents are realized as voiced in voiced environments , such as between vowels or between a vowel and a nasal , and voiceless elsewhere , such as at the beginning or end of the word or next to another obstruent . That is the case in Dravidian and Australian languages and in Korean but not in Mandarin or Polynesian . Usually , the variable sounds are transcribed with the voiceless IPA letters , but for Australian languages , the letters for voiced consonants are often used . It appears that voicelessness is not a single phenomenon in such languages . In some , such as the Polynesian languages , the vocal folds are required to actively open to allow an unimpeded ( silent ) airstream , which is sometimes called a breathed ( /ˈbrɛθt/ ) phonation ( not to be confused with breathy voice ) . In others , such as many Australian languages , voicing ceases during the hold of a stop ( few Australian languages have any other kind of obstruent ) because airflow is insufficient to sustain it , and if the vocal folds open , that is only from passive relaxation . Thus , Polynesian stops are reported to be held for longer than Australian stops and are seldom voiced , but Australian stops are prone to having voiced variants ( L & M 1996:53 ) , and the languages are often represented as having no phonemically voiceless consonants at all . In Southeast Asia , when stops occur at the end of a word they are voiceless because the glottis is closed , not open , so they are said to be unphonated ( have no phonation ) by some phoneticians , who considered `` breathed '' voicelessness to be a phonation . [ 1 ]
In linguistics, voicelessness is the property of sounds being pronounced without the larynx vibrating. Phonologically, it is a type of phonation, which contrasts with other states of the larynx, but some object that the word phonation implies voicing and that voicelessness is the lack of phonation. The International Phonetic Alphabet has distinct letters for many voiceless and modally voiced pairs of consonants (the obstruents), such as . Also, there are diacritics for voicelessness, and , which is used for letters with a descender. Diacritics are typically used with letters for prototypically voiced sounds, such as vowels and sonorant consonants: .