In English, voiced consonants at the end of a word are only partially voiced1. To indicate that they are voiced – rather than voiceless – speakers will make the previous vowel longer. This is the most important distinction between words ending in voiced and voiceless consonants.
The Rule
Is the final consonant voiced?
Yes No
make previous vowel longer
make previous vowel shorter
If your native language only allows voiceless consonants at the ends of words, then you may replace voiced consonants with voiceless ones and make the previous vowel shorter. Sometimes this can change the meaning of a word. In the following example you can see the words mad and mat. The arrow indicates the vowel length.
ma d ma t
Practise reading the following pairs of words – listen to the audio file to help you. Voiceless-Voiced Shorter Vowel Longer Vowel white /wʌɪt/ wide /wʌɪd/ leak
*Notice that the letter s can represent /s/ or /z/. Also notice that two vowel letters oo does not necessarily indicate a long vowel.
The length mark ː is used in dictionaries to show that a vowel is long in general. Unfortunately, dictionaries will not mark the difference between a shorter or longer vowel before a voiceless/voiced consonant.
1 They are partially voiced if at the end of a word and before a pause (e.g. at the end of a sentence). Another distinction between voiced and voiceless consonants is that voiceless consonants tend to be pronounced with more muscular effort and breath force. Also voiceless consonants tend to be pronounced with glottal reinforcement at the end of a syllable.
For more information on this, see
1) Tell me about the [ʔ] symbol - the Glottal Stop. 2) 3)
I want to listen to examples of pre-fortis clipping but you haven't given me any words to listen to... Initial and final voiced plosives/fricatives/affricates sound pretty voiceless to me. 4) What's the difference between voiced/voiceless and lenis/fortis?
