Thus one might describe the English voiced consonants
as having an unvoiced approach when initial, and an
unvoiced departure when final. A better description of



GLIDES, THEORY OF PLOSIVE CONSONANTS, ETC. 49

6 in the word these would be initially devocalised
and the _z would then be called finally devocalised.
It may here be set forth as a law, that all our so-called
voiced consonants are by most speakers initially devoca-
lised at the beginning of a breath-group, and finally
devocalised when they come at the end of a breath-group.
Medial voiced consonants are usually fully vocalised,
but there are many individuals who habitually devocalise
a voiced consonant between two voiced sounds, and even
carry on the devocalisation to a following voiced sound.
Such people would pronounce the word body pbodtii.
73. The glides spoken of in § 72 are unaccompanied
by the vibration of the vocal chords, and are hence
known as unvoiced glides. There are however voiced
glides, which, though not common in conversational style
in English, may yet be heard in declamation and from
the pulpit. We have all probably heard the preacher
who gave us the impression of introducing every voiced
consonant with 9 and of finishing all voiced consonants
with the same sound. Such a person's pronunciation of
the word these would give a simplified graph like the
following : —





_9


s


ii


z


9






^




~


~


A












>i













abed

Fig. 10.
If it be wished to indicate these glides in a phonetic



50 GENERAL PHONETICS

transcript one might write °8i:z^ , making use of a dia-
critical I to indicate that the formation of the consonant
is initially preceded by and finally followed by voice.
