This week’s practice is all about voicing.
If you remember, voice refers to how a sound vibrates when it is produced, meaning that some sounds are made with our vocal folds (vocal cords or voice box) vibrating, and some sounds are made when it’s not moving. You can tell if your vocal folds are vibrating by placing your hand against the base of your throat and making noise. If you feel the faint “buzz”, that’s a voiced sound!
There are a couple “tricks” to understanding voicing. The first is that all vowel sounds are voiced. We can’t produce any kind of vowel sound without making vibrations, because that’s where the tone comes from. So if you’re saying a word or sound that contains a vowel, you should feel the vibration.
The second trick is that a lot of sounds in English are in voicing pairs (I mentioned this briefly in my previous post). If you’re doing Pinwheels or have taken Foundations for Teaching, Reading, Writing & Spelling, then you are probably familiar with Sound Siblings—the concept that many sounds are “made” in the same way (same place in your mouth, same movement of your tongue or lips), and the only difference between the two siblings is that one is voiced and one is voiceless.
There are lots of Sound Siblings, and they appear across many different languages. In fact, a lot of languages have pairs of words that only differ because of a voiced and voiceless sound. This might sound a little confusing, so let me explain with an English example.
English has the sound pair “t” and “d”. These are Sound Siblings because they are produced the exact same way except for voicing (and I can prove it).
*A small side note: I am describing sounds based on my variety of English, which is Midwestern American. If you speak a different variety of English or come from a different first language, you might produce your sounds a little differently. But that’s just one of the cool things about language! There are patterns and expected pronunciations, but everyone does things a little differently! :)
Back to “t” and “d” . . .
Make the sound “t”. Something important here: don’t say “tuh”, with a vowel sound, otherwise it might mess up how it feels. Remember that all vowels are voiced, so if you make a vowel sound, you will feel the vibrations. Just say “t”.
It will probably be a little puff of air made with the tip of your tongue against the back of your teeth, near the roof of your mouth. In the world of phonetics, that spot is called your alveolar ridge. So the “t” is an alveolar sound.
In phonetics, that puff of air is called a “plosive”, because the air “explodes” (gently) to make the sound. If you were looking for some good word study, <plose/plode> are real bangers! (Get it?)
If you say the sound “t” with your hand against the base of your throat, you probably won’t feel anything. Now make the sound “d”. Remember to not add a vowel (don’t say “duh”). You should feel the vibration suddenly turn on, but nothing else changed!
That’s because “t” is a voiceless alveolar plosive and “d” is a voiced alveolar plosive. Kinda cool, right?
Okay. So you’re not a phonetician, you don’t catalogue languages…why do you care that “t” and “d” are Sound Siblings? Actually, for the same reason that linguists and phoneticians care. You just might not realize it.
As English speakers, our ears and brains are noticing that subtle difference in sound and recognizing the meaning difference it creates. The difference in voiced and voiceless is why we know that “bag” and “tag” are two different words. Voicing is often phonemic: a feature that creates differences in meaning—even though it is the only thing that changes.
If you’re teaching your child to read and write, this is important. It is especially important for students who have weak phonological processing or struggle to distinguish between sounds. If you are not hearing a big difference between “t” and “d”, then spelling becomes more difficult, your sound-to-letter connections are not being solidified, reading becomes less fluent with those letters/sounds, and making those verbal distinctions becomes less clear. It is a vicious cycle.
But if you work on those sounds, on their placement and voicing, on hearing the difference, making the difference, connecting sounds and spellings, reading with those letters and sounds…suddenly we are building a virtuous cycle, where weaker skills are being supported and the whole system gets stronger.
So what am I doing with this for my Arabic alphabet practice?
Much like voicing in English, voicing in Arabic is also phonemic. Sometimes a sound is voiced, sometimes it is voiceless, making it two different sounds. While working on the alphabet this week, I was paying attention to certain sounds that are difficult for me to voice, including a couple sounds that don’t happen in English very often.
Much like voicing in English, voicing in Arabic is also phonemic. Sometimes a sound is voiced, sometimes it is voiceless, making it two different sounds. While working on the alphabet this week, I was paying attention to certain sounds that are difficult for me to voice, including a couple sounds that don’t happen in English very often.
The hardest one for me is the “h” sound. Arabic actually has three different “h” sounds. One sounds just like the “h” in English (like “hat”). The second has a little friction or vibration to it, which is like voicing. And the third is very scratchy, like you’re clearing your throat.
Those last two sounds don’t exist is typical English words. So, as you might guess, I’m bad at them!
I spent time working on those sounds, practicing the letter names and a couple words I know that use those sounds. I also worked on a few letter names that have “th”. Some letters are voiceless “th” (like “thing”) and some are voiced (like “this”). Finally, I worked on the voiced “sh”, which is often written as “zh”. It happens in English, but only in the middle of words (like “pleasure”). But it’s really common in Arabic!
In this week’s recording, I go through those target letters first, then the whole alphabet. You can (hopefully) hear the different “h” sounds, voiced and voiceless “th”, and the “zh” sound.
~ Claire
