Consonant Voicing and Devoicing

Consonant Voicing And Devoicing

In phonology, voicing (or sonorization) and devoicing are sound changes, whereby a consonant changes its type of voicing from voiceless to voiced, or vice versa, due to the influence of its phonological environment. Most commonly, the change is caused because of sound assimilation with an adjacent sound of opposite voicing, but it can also occur word-finally or in contact with specific vowel.

For example, English suffix -s is pronounced when it follows a voiceless phoneme (cats), and when it follows a voiced phoneme (dogs). This type of assimilation is called progressive, where the second consonant assimilates to the first; regressive assimilation goes in the opposite direction, as can be seen in have to .