Voiced consonant

A voiced consonant is a sound made as the vocal cords vibrate, as opposed to a voiceless consonant, where the vocal cords are relaxed. Examples are:

In English, the main distinction between /b, d, g/ and /p, t, k/ is not that the former are voiced, but rather that the latter are aspirated. There are indeed several English dialects where /b, d, g/ are voiceless.

In Japanese, the voicing sign is a dakuten (゛). For historical (but not phonologically valid) reasons, the sign that turns h into p is called a handakuten, or half-voicing (゜).

See also

• phonation
• manner of articulation
• list of phonetics topics