WEBVTT
Kind: captions
Language: en-GB

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[VOICING WRONGLY] There's an interesting thing
about English that hardly anyone thinks about.

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There are two T-H sounds. And if you want
to know why it took me 21 takes to record

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this... [LAUGHTER]

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And if you want to know why it took me 22
takes to record this intro, you try switching

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them round.

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The difference is voicing: it's you making
your vocal folds vibrate. The vocal folds

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are little flaps of mucous membrane that sit
in your larynx.

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So. Sit up straight, and put your thumb and
fingers gently on your throat like this. You

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don't actually need to sit up straight for
this, but it's good practice. Now, with me,

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make and hold a /s/ sound, like at the start
of 'sing'. Ready? 'Sssss'. You shouldn't feel

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anything really happening there.

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But now, try a /z/ sound, like at the start
of 'zoinks'. Ready? With me. 'Zzzzz'. Feel

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that vibration? 'Zzz'. Try switching between
the two: Ssszzsszz. You can feel it turning

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on and off. That vibration is your vocal folds
flapping around.

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Now if you have a quick search around the
web, you can find glorious full-colour slow-motion

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video of vocal folds vibrating and moving.
Frankly, it squicks me out, but it does show

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off how much amazing control you have over
those things, without even knowing it. If

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you can hit a good middle C, [hums], like
that wasn't, then you're able to make them

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open and close 261 times a second exactly
without even thinking about it.

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[WHISPERING] Sometimes, you might just stop
voicing entirely. Or [CREAKING] you might

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restrict it and slow it down to create creaky
voice: that's connected to the vocal fry phenomenon

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that's been, like, making loads of people,
like, really annoyed?

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So, anyway, two very different sounds - /s/
and /z/ - are given two different letters.

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But now let's try that same exercise with
TH. Let's start with th, like at the start

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of think. Ready? 'TH'. Nothing. And now, th,
like at the start of then. Ready? 'TH'. There's

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that vibration again. 'TH'; 'TH'; 'TH'; 'TH'.
Exactly the same difference as S and Z...

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but instead, both sounds are written with
the same two letters.

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But English has plenty of quirks like that,
right. It sounds simple enough? S for the

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unvoiced /s/, Z for the voiced /z/. Well,
no. Believing that would be "unwice". The

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depths of how voicing slips and slides between
consonants is best left for a textbook and

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a university lecturer because it's really
bloody complicated.

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But. As a starting point to get you thinking,
though, let me say this: the difference between

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"bob" and "pop" is voicing. So here's something
to try and figure out: where does your voicing

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turn on and off during the word "pop"? Because
in most dialects, that O is voiced: like in

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"mom and pop store". So think about the split-second
timing required so that you say "pop" and

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not "bop" or "pob".

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And then, try and forget about it. Because
your brain will just take care of it all for you.

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