There are
four types of glottal states, but the first two are the most important for
classifying phonetic sounds.
The first
glottal state is voicelessness; when the breath reaches the glottis
with the vocal cords pulled apart, the sounds produced are considered voiceless.
The second glottal state is voicing. As our breath reaches the glottis, a suction
affect is created and the vocal cords are pulled together by that suction. As
soon as the cords are together, they immediately pull apart again; the suction
process is repeated in quick succession, creating a vibration. That vibrating results in a voiced sound
.
The third glottal state is a whisper, produced with one section of the cords pulled together and
another section pulled apart. Whispers
are voiceless.
The fourth glottal state is the murmur, known as the breathy voice. The murmur is voiced, but not common in English.
When identifying a phonetic symbol, it is traditionally
identified as voiced or voiceless.
(O’Grady
19-20)
To continue,
click next.
O'
Grady, William, Archibald, John, Aronoff Mark, Rees-Miller, Janie. Contemporary
Linguistics
5th
Edition. Boston: Bedford St. Martin's, 2005.