[VOICING WRONGLY] There's an interesting thing about English that hardly anyone thinks about.
There are two T-H sounds. And if you want to know why it took me 21 takes to record
this... [LAUGHTER]
And if you want to know why it took me 22 takes to record this intro, you try switching
them round.
The difference is voicing: it's you making your vocal folds vibrate. The vocal folds
are little flaps of mucous membrane that sit in your larynx.
So. Sit up straight, and put your thumb and fingers gently on your throat like this. You
don't actually need to sit up straight for this, but it's good practice. Now, with me,
make and hold a /s/ sound, like at the start of 'sing'. Ready? 'Sssss'. You shouldn't feel
anything really happening there.
But now, try a /z/ sound, like at the start of 'zoinks'. Ready? With me. 'Zzzzz'. Feel
that vibration? 'Zzz'. Try switching between the two: Ssszzsszz. You can feel it turning
on and off. That vibration is your vocal folds flapping around.
Now if you have a quick search around the web, you can find glorious full-colour slow-motion
video of vocal folds vibrating and moving. Frankly, it squicks me out, but it does show
off how much amazing control you have over those things, without even knowing it. If
you can hit a good middle C, [hums], like that wasn't, then you're able to make them
open and close 261 times a second exactly without even thinking about it.
[WHISPERING] Sometimes, you might just stop voicing entirely. Or [CREAKING] you might
restrict it and slow it down to create creaky voice: that's connected to the vocal fry phenomenon
that's been, like, making loads of people, like, really annoyed?
So, anyway, two very different sounds - /s/ and /z/ - are given two different letters.
But now let's try that same exercise with TH. Let's start with th, like at the start
of think. Ready? 'TH'. Nothing. And now, th, like at the start of then. Ready? 'TH'. There's
that vibration again. 'TH'; 'TH'; 'TH'; 'TH'. Exactly the same difference as S and Z...
but instead, both sounds are written with the same two letters.
But English has plenty of quirks like that, right. It sounds simple enough? S for the
unvoiced /s/, Z for the voiced /z/. Well, no. Believing that would be "unwice". The
depths of how voicing slips and slides between consonants is best left for a textbook and
a university lecturer because it's really bloody complicated.
But. As a starting point to get you thinking, though, let me say this: the difference between
"bob" and "pop" is voicing. So here's something to try and figure out: where does your voicing
turn on and off during the word "pop"? Because in most dialects, that O is voiced: like in
"mom and pop store". So think about the split-second timing required so that you say "pop" and
not "bop" or "pob".
And then, try and forget about it. Because your brain will just take care of it all for you.
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