| Phonation |
|---|
| Glottal states |
| From open to closed: |
| Voicelessness (full airstream) |
| Breathy voice (murmur) |
| Slack voice |
| Modal voice (maximum vibration) |
| Stiff voice |
| Creaky voice (restricted airstream) |
| Glottalized (blocked airstream) |
| Supra-glottal phonation |
| Faucalized voice ("hollow") |
| Harsh voice ("pressed") |
| Strident (harsh trilled) |
| Non-phonemic phonation |
| Whisper |
| Falsetto |
The term stiff voice describes the pronunciation of consonants or vowels with a glottal opening narrower, and the vocal cords stiffer, than what occurs in modal voice. Although there is no specific IPA diacritic for stiff voice, the voicing diacritic (a subscript wedge) may be used in conjunction with the symbol for a voiced consonant.[1] In Bru, for example, stiff-voiced vowels have tenseness in the glottis and pharynx without going so far as to be creaky voiced, whereas slack-voiced vowels are lax in the glottis without going so far as to be breathy voice.[2]
One language with stiff voice is Thai [1]
| phonation | Thai | IPA | trans. | Thai | IPA | translation |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| stiff voice | บ้า | [b̬âː] | crazy | ด่า | [d̪̬àː] | curse, scold |
| tenuis | ป้า | [pâː] | aunt | ตา | [t̪āː] | eye |
| aspirated | ผ้า | [pʰâː] | cloth | ท่า | [t̪ʰâː] | landing place |
Javanese contrasts stiff and slack voiced bilabial, dental, retroflex, and velar stops[1]
| phonation | IPA | trans. | IPA | trans. | IPA | translation | IPA | trans. | IPA | trans. |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| stiff voice | [b̬aku] | nail | [d̬amu] | guest | [d̬z̬ariʔ] | sheet (of paper) | [ɖ̬iɖ̬iʔ] | little | [ɡ̌ali] | river |
| slack voice | [b̥aku] | standard | [d̥amu] | blow | [d̥z̥arit] | (type of women's clothing) | [ɖ̥isiʔ] | first | [ɡ̊ali] | dig |
Mpi (Loloish) contrasts modals and stiff voice in its vowels. This is not register: for each of the six Mpi tones, a word may have either a modal or stiff-voiced vowel. For example, low tone contrasts /sì/ 'blood' and /sì̬/ 'seven'.[1]