The Devoicing of Fricatives in Southern British English

In connection with the phonological distinction between voiced and voiceless sounds in languages, it can be observed that voiced sounds are relatively frequently devoiced, i.e. they are realized phonetically with little or no vocal fold vibration. This study investigated the devoicing of /v/ and /z/ in Standard Southern British English (SSBE) by means of a production experiment in which vocal fold activity during fricative articulation was established by means of laryngography. From the results it appears that fricative devoicing in SSBE is much more frequent than previously assumed; 1 in 2 fricatives is devoiced. Fricative devoicing is found to be related to gender and particularly to its interaction with the age of the speakers. This suggests that besides physiological factors which determine fricative devoicing, a socio-linguistic component may have to be recognized: the difference in fricative devoicing between women and men is more marked in the older age group and this may be an indication of phonetic change in progress.