postvoicing

Postvoicing is a term used in phonetics and phonology to describe a pattern in which voicing begins after the release of a voiceless consonant closure. In a typical voiceless stop, voicing begins either during closing or at release; in postvoicing, the onset of voicing is delayed until after the stop has released, so that the vocal cords remain relatively lax until the moment of release, and voicing starts slightly later than the release and can continue into the following segment. This contrasts with prevoicing, where voicing begins before the release, and with plain voiceless stops that have little or no voicing during closure or immediately after release.

Postvoicing is typically described as a phonetic (or allophonic) phenomenon rather than a stable phonemic category. It can be conditioned by phonetic context (e.g., adjacent vowels, tempo, or stress) and may be more prominent in rapid speech or in certain dialects. Acoustic correlates include a positive voice onset time with a delayed onset of periodic vocal fold vibration and a characteristic glottal waveform pattern observable in spectrograms; glottal contacts measured with electroglottography (EGG) can reveal a relative lag in voicing onset.

Researchers discuss postvoicing alongside related concepts such as prevoicing and voicing lag, and it is considered in studies of obstruent voicing, aspiration, and timing. See also: voice onset time, voicing, prevoicing, aspiration, glottalization.