Fall 2026      Volume 54, Number 4

A Warm wELLcome for Language Learners: Voicing and English Language Learners
By Kristin Lems

Document: Column  

Introductory Paragraph:   When teachers in my linguistics and literacy course learn the basics of linguistics, they get really excited. Some of the concepts are simple, dramatic, and usable in their teaching. One of those concepts is voicing, and in this column, I will share how voicing works and why it matters in your classroom. Whether you are teaching decoding and spelling in the early elementary years or listening and speaking skills to adolescent or adult English learners, you are bound to find something you can really use.  What exactly does voicing mean? Does it mean singing, or volume, or pitch? Does it mean “speaking up for yourself” or “finding your voice”?  Not quite!  Linguists recognized for a long time that voicing is a feature of how words are pronounced, and Chomsky and Halle (1968) represented voicing as part of their codification of the sounds of English. Voicing is a linguistics term that tells whether a consonant sound vibrates, or does not vibrate, your larynx (also called vocal cords or voice box, located at the front of your throat). All vowels are voiced, and many consonant sounds that we make while forming words are voiced too. Other consonants are not, and they are called voiceless (also called devoiced or unvoiced). To repeat: Voiced consonants vibrate the larynx, and voiceless consonants do not.

DOI:   https://doi.org/10.33600/IRCJ.54.4.2026.60

Page Numbers:   60-64